Lando Norris Far Ahead With Pole Position at Zandvoort

Qualifying in Zandvoort for the Dutch Grand Prix saw McLaren’s Lando Norris dominate the field. The pole setting lap came on the last lap of Q3 where Max Verstappen had set a lap good enough for provisional pole. However, a few seconds later Norris dropped the hammer beating Verstappen’s lap time by nearly 4 tenths of a second. In the recent shift of dominance the McLarens seem to have found pace where the Red Bulls have fallen backward. The battle at the top of the table is heating up as the field returns from the mid season break.

Lando Norris said, “An amazing day,” said pole-sitter Norris. “It’s nice to be back and start with a pole. It was a nice lap, honestly. The qualifying was always pretty smooth and I put in some good laps, especially the one at the end, which is always the most important. A great job by the team and I’m happy with today.

I’m excited for tomorrow. I’m sure it’s going to be tough. Max has been quick all weekend. I know we got him today, but he’s still second and he’s going to be putting up a good fight, specially at his home race. I’m looking forward to it.”

Sergio Perez Fails to Find Pace Again

With every finish that gives ground to McLaren Red Bull will be left scratching their heads on what’s gone wrong as we move into the second half of the season. The early season championship lead has dwindled down to a margin that could swing either way in tomorrow’s race. For the first time in 2024 we could see a new championship lead depending on where the drivers finish.

Alex Albon Disqualified from Qualifying

Alex Albon was disqualified from qualifying after a breach in the technical regulations regarding the floor in hos Williams car. The team did no dispute the finding and thus Albon will start the race at the back of the grid. “The Stewards determine that the result of the measurement conducted with the FIA system in Parc Ferme is the relevant one and the due process prescribed by the regulations has been followed. Therefore the standard penalty for such an infringement is applied.”

Qualifying Results

George Russell put on a display of tire management mastery on his way to what initially was a win in the Belgium grand Prix. However, after the race Russell was stripped of the win due to a technical breach related to the minimum weight of his car after the race.

FIA Releases the Decision to DQ Russell

The official statement reads, “The car was weighed again on the FIA inside and outside scales and the weight was 796.5 kg. The calibration of the outside and inside scales was confirmed and witnessed by the competitor.

As this is 1.5 kg below the minimum weight requested in TR Article 4.1, which also has to be respected at all times during the competition, I am referring this matter to the stewards for their consideration.”

As a result, Hamilton was promoted to P1, while Oscar Piastri moved up to take P2 and Charles Leclerc moves up to P3. After the race the FIA released the following comments from the stewards’ hearing: “During the hearing the team representative confirmed that the measurement is correct and that all required procedures were performed correctly. The team also acknowledged that there were no mitigating circumstances and that it was a genuine error by the team.

The stewards determine that Article 4.1 of the FIA Formula 1 Technical Regulations has been breached and therefore the standard penalty for such an infringement needs to be applied.”

George Russell Responds to the DQ

Geroge Russell Stated, “It is heartbreaking to be disqualified from today’s race. It had been an unbelievable Grand Prix for us to make the one-stop strategy work. In what turned out to be my final stint, the tyres just kept getting better and better. I was nursing them in the early stages and as we went further, I became more and more convinced we could get to the end on them. It was a risk worth taking and it looked like it had paid off.

“Despite the disqualification, I am of course proud to have crossed the line first. It is also good that the team was still able to take the victory with Lewis. He drove a great race and was the fastest car out there on the two-stop strategy. Whilst I’m incredibly disappointed, I know we will bounce back stronger after the summer break, starting in Zandvoort.”

Sergio Perez Moves Backwards Again

After a recent stretch of bad form Sergio Perez found himself in the hotseat coming into the race weekend. Perez found redemption in qualifying but once again failed to capitalize on the opportunity losing 4 position and finishing P7. To make matters worse, the McLarens out scored the Red Bulls yet again further cutting into the lead that Red Bull established early in the season. The rumor mill is filled with speculation as to whether Red Bull will remove Perez due to lack of performance.

“It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster for me recently, as a Team we need to re-group and take some time during the summer break to understand everything and hopefully we hit the ground running for the second half of the season,” Perez said. “I’m looking forward to getting some time with my family over the break and getting back in to a good training routine and just really resetting. There is still a long championship ahead.”

Final Belgium Grand Prix Results

Max Verstappen stormed back to the top of the table after recent shortcomings that have seen McLaren close the gap to Red Bull as the teams fight through the mid season hurdle. Qualifying was plagued with wet weather but as history has shown Verstappen continued to show his masterful pace in the rain. However despite the qualifying success Verstappen was handed a 10 place grid penalty due to using a new combustion unit beyond the 2024 allocation. Charles Leclerc inherited pole having set the second fastest time.

Verstappen said, “That was a nice qualifying,” the reigning world champion commented afterwards. “Luckily the weather was okay – it was raining a little bit but at least we could do a decent qualifying. Everything worked well, every tire set that we were on we could do good lap times.

I was also of course thinking about Q3 not knowing if it was going to dry out, so was trying to keep two new sets for Q3 and luckily we escaped Q1 and Q2 so, yeah, very happy. The car was working quite well in the wet, so I could just do my laps and try to do clean lap times in the wet, which is always quite tricky.

“But tomorrow I know it’s going to be quite a different day. It’s going to be warmer, normally no rain, so it’s all about tire degradation and we just need to make sure we’re good on that…Of course I have to start 10 places back, so this is the best I could do today and then go from there. I don’t know how quick we’re going to be, I hope we can be in the mix to try and move forward.”

Full Belgium Grand Prix Qualifying Results

70 laps decided the fate of McLaren in today’s Formula 1 race for the Hungarian Grand Prix. McLaren found glory after finishing 1-2 in Hungary continuing their recent run of success that is threatening the dominance of Red Bull. Max Verstappen finished behind in P5 after a rough race. Verstappen was 21+ seconds behind the lead after a failed defensive strategy after making contact with Lewis Hamilton leaving the track in third and rejoining where he finished. Verstappen was furious after the race reagrding the outcome of no further action.

He said, “I went for a move that was fully on,” reckoned Verstappen, “but then in the middle of the braking zone, when I’m already committed of course to the move, he suddenly just keeps [moving] right, and if I wouldn’t have turned while braking straight, I would have made contact with him. So I went in the air…you cannot do that when someone’s committed to the inside.

That’s why I locked up, because otherwise we would have collided anyway, because he would have just turned in on me.” Lewis Hamilton inherited 3rd and finished P3 in the race behind the McLarens.

Lewis Hamilton Congratulates McLaren

After the race Lewis Hamilton said, “Firstly, a huge congratulations to McLaren on the one-two and Oscar (Piastri) on his maiden victory. They were incredibly strong today and deserved the result. Oscar has been doing a fantastic job ever since he got into F1, been very consistent, and it was only a matter of time before he got a win.
 
The team has done a great job to continue making progress with our car. We knew we didn’t have the speed of Oscar or Lando (Norris) today, but we were able to secure the final spot on the podium. It was a challenge at times to keep Verstappen behind whilst also making the tires last. Our battle at the end was a little hair-raising but that’s motor racing. I’m really happy to be back on the podium and for another solid points haul. We now head to Spa looking to finish the first half of the season on a high.”

Hungarian Grand Prix Results

Lando Norris has once again beats Max Verstappen to pole position; this time for the Hungarian Grand Prix. The McLarens are beginning to solidify themselves as the top performing car on the grid as the woe at Red Bull continue to see their early season dominance dwindle. The margin to pole was very slim with P1-3 being separated by 0.05s however the real concern for Red Bull is the continued lack of performance from Sergio Perez. Perez crashed out of Q1 and the session was red flagged. He will start P16 in Sunday’s race.

George Russell also had a day to forget after he also failed to make it out of Q1 putting an end to his recent streak of success. Russel was visibly frustrated with the result and said, “We didn’t do a good enough job today. I was unable to put a lap together earlier in Q1 and that had left us vulnerable near the cut-off. After the red flag, we were on track at its most damp and then we didn’t have enough fuel complete a push lap as it was at its most dry. We should have been comfortably through and that is frustrating…We shouldn’t have been in that position though in the first place and that’s on me. We will go through it tonight to understand what happened, what went wrong, and how to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
 
P17 is clearly not where we should be qualifying. We should have a car to battle back into the points tomorrow though. We have shown good speed throughout practice and our long run pace was encouraging. Tomorrow is a new day, and we will see what we can achieve.”

Adrian Newey’s RB17 design was unveiled at the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed this weekend. The team released the following trailer after the RB17 was announced:

Formula 1 team principal Christian Horner said, “With 20 years of legacy in the world of F1 to draw from, and as a performance centered organization, it only made sense for us to design our own Hypercar from the ground up. Combining technical innovation, achievement and emotional appeal, the RB17 is a landmark car. I’m very proud of the team and am delighted to see it make its world debut. We expect the RB17 to be a future classic.”

Adrian Newey added: “I had been mulling around the idea to take on the challenge to design our very own hypercar, from concept to delivery, for many years and it has been a magnificent project and journey.

For it to finally be the day we pull the covers off and see the birth of the RB17, is truly remarkable. The RB17 Hypercar embraces everything we stand for: undeniable power, speed and beauty. It is very adaptable in its abilities, and we made sure to design it as a two seater so that the thrill of driving at F1 speeds can be enjoyed with a friend or partner.”

Lewis Hamilton has finally returned to the top of the podium at Silverstone after winning the British Grand Prix this weekend for Mercedes. Hamilton held off an eager Verstappen who was looking to bounce back after finishing P5 in the previous grand prix; surprisingly one of his worst finishes of the year. Hamilton has been searching for a path back towards the top and what better scenario for that to occur on home soil. Hamilton said,

“Today means so much. It is the most incredible honour to be standing on the top step of the podium here at Silverstone. I think my heart is still racing! We’ve had so many amazing times here and today was the most emotional end to a win I’ve ever had. It has been a really challenging few years for everyone in the team. Knowing how hard everyone has worked to fight back, I think it was a real release of emotion. I am forever grateful to everyone in this team, to Mercedes, and to all our partners. To finally succeed is the greatest feeling I remember having.

It was a tricky race out there. The changeable conditions made it a real challenge. We kept our cool though and made the right call at the right time to switch back to slicks. That helped us take back the lead and from there, we were able to bring it home.”

Unfortunately for Hamilton’s teammate George Russell, Mercedes would settle for a single points finish which holds the team in P4 in the constructors championship race.

British Grand Prix Results

Note – Sainz scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race.

George Russell provided a stroke of brilliance in Austria after a somewhat disappointing day one in Austria failing to get on the podium in the Sprint Race. Russell however found the pace to outshine the competition He said, “Incredible! That’s the only way I can describe it. We had a tough fight in the early stages to make sure we held on to P3. That would prove crucial at the end. I could see that Max (Verstappen) and Lando (Norris) were having a big battle. We were only just over 10 seconds behind the pair of them, which is really encouraging pace-wise.

I knew there was a possibility that they could come together, even if it was only a slim chance. You have to be there at the end to pick up the pieces and that’s exactly where we were. I am so proud to be back on the top step of the podium.

The team have done an amazing job to get us closer to the fight at the front. We have made so many strides since the start of the season. The last few races have been great and hopefully there is more to come. It’s no secret that Max and Lando are a little bit ahead of us at present but we’re now consistently putting ourselves in that third position. It’s an exciting time for us; we’re riding a bit of a wave, and I can’t wait to go to my home race at Silverstone next week and see what we can do there.”

Verstappen Hit With 10 Second Penalty

Despite his early season dominance with Red Bull. The Dutchman Max Verstappen seems to be a bit off of his game after a collision awarded him a 10 second penalty which dropped his finish to P5 in today’s grand prix in Austria. Verstappen ahd the following comments after the race.

“We were battling today and Lando tried to move around the outside, and then we touched with the rear tyres. It was very hot so immediately we had a puncture. From my side it seemed like a weird move but we obviously need to review this and of course we will talk about it. The shape of the corner also provides these kinds of issues sometimes and it is never nice to come together. This, however, isn’t currently my main focus as we need to take a look at the overall performance today and the difficulties we had with the car.

It was very hard to manage the tires, the first stint was not too bad and I had a fairly comfortable lead, the second stint was difficult; I think we stayed out a bit too long and then there was the issue with the pit stop. The overall Team performance wasn’t what we expected it to be and the strategy didn’t work that well in this case. It was a shame because of the lead that we had. There are definitely a few things we need to improve looking to next week and hopefully we can work on the performance, tires and balance.”

Austrian Grand Prix Results

Note – Albon received a five-second time penalty for crossing the line at pit entry. Norris received a five-second time penalty for leaving the track without a justifiable reason multiple times. Verstappen received a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision.

Max Verstappen won the Austrian Grand Prix Sprint race. Verstappen got away immediately and didn’t look back. Verstappen said, “It was a good day today. I am extremely happy that we got P1 in the Sprint and put it on pole in Qualifying and am really proud of the Team that we were able to be so competitive. We definitely saw some good improvements after the Sprint race, it all connected and the balance of the car felt a lot better, so hopefully we can keep that going. I could really push to the limit and it felt great to be that competitive in qualifying.

The whole session went really well and the car was in a better window; I could push harder, the car was sticking and I am actually quite surprised by the gap! It shows that small changes that you make to the car can really make a difference. I am looking forward to tomorrow. We have had a really good weekend so far but the most important part has to happen tomorrow, so let’s see what the race brings.”

McLaren Continues Points Chase to Red Bull

Despite not winning the race McLaren had an incredible showing in the race finishing P2 and P3 securing 13 points for the team as they encroach on Red Bull’s lead. McLaren has taken advantage of Sergio Perez’s shortcomings as of late and with time red Bull will start asking whether signing Perez for a contract extension was the right move as they continue to lose ground to their competitors. Tomorrow is the grand prix. We will see if McLaren can improve on their result.

Austrian Sprint Race Results

Note – Hulkenberg received a 10-second time penalty for forcing another driver off the track.

Max Verstappen has once again topped the F1 tables on day of the Austrian Grand Prix Weekend. This weekend Verstappen has Lando Norris slowly finding pace behind; making it a real fight at the front between Red Bull and McLaren. It’s clear the pair wouldn’t have it any other way however. Given their relationship off track, Norris and Verstappen have emerged as one of F1’s favorite rivalries. McLaren have found a recent stroke of confidence in their development of the 2024 car and that success at the factory has shown making them very formidable contenders in the championship this year.

Sergio Perez Continues to Fall Behind Verstappen?

To make matter worse for Sergio Perez, he qualifying an unimpressive P7 for Red Bull. Considering his recent contract extension, Perez has some answering to do as he has yet again finished behind both McLarens and doesn’t seem to have an answer from his teammates continued success at the front. The Austrian Grand Prix Sprint is a few hours time away and Perez will need to prove that he can hold his seat because one thing that holds true at Red Bull is if you don’t perform you are out and Red Bull is losing its grip on the constructors championship with every sub top 5 finish Perez contributes. The Sprint race is up next and we will report how the championship standings sit after the dust settles.

Sprint Race Qualifying Results From Austria