Zandvoort, The Netherlands – Formula 1 entered the second half of it 2024 season with Max Verstappen’s home race as the Dutch World Champion started from second while Sergio Pérez began his race from fifth on the grid. Both drivers were looking to extend Oracle Red Bull Racing’s lead in the Constructors’ Championships.
As the lights went out, Max was quicker off the line than his title rival Lando Norris who started from pole and powered past heading into Turn 1. Checo didn’t have quite the same start, as he got hemmed in on the approach to Tarzan and dropped back to sixth.
Max then looked to push himself out of DRS range, and though the McLaren driver stayed within one second at the end of the first lap, but by the end of the next lap he had built a 1.2s advantage over the Briton.
However, after dropping out of the dirty air coming off Max’s RB20, Norris began to close in. On lap 15, the McLaren driver was suddenly back in DRS range while Max was reporting that his tyres “don’t grip.”
As if sensing the Dutchman’s woes, the McLaren driver attacked for the first time into Turn 1 on lap 17. Max managed to brush off the attempt, but as at the end of the lap, there was nothing the champion could do as Norris, with the aid of DRS, powered past to take the lead across the start/finish line. With 21 laps gone, a few cars behind, Checo was also struggling for grip, and he was now almost three seconds off the Ferrari driver.
By lap 27, Max was struggling to stay in touch with Norris. The Brit had built a 5.6s lead, so the Team pulled the trigger on the Dutchman’s first stop, and at the end of lap 27, the champion dived in for a set of hard tyres.
He rejoined in fifth place, behind Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. McLaren reacted immediately and Norris headed into the pit lane at the end of the following lap. Norris took on Hard tyres before emerging 5 seconds ahead of Max.
Checo was called in next time round, and when he rejoined it was in ninth place, behind Alonso, though with the aid of fresh rubber and pit stops ahead of him, he soon began to claw his way back up the order, rising back to P6 on lap 34.
As the business end of the race began, Checo was now coming under pressure from Sainz. The Ferrari driver attacked the Mexican, however Checo wasn’t going to let it go without a fight. He was smartly placing his car exactly where it would frustrate the Spaniard. However, at the third time of asking, Sainz used DRS and a late-braking lunge to get past the Mexican into Tarzan on lap 48.
At the front, Norris was pulling away from Max, and with 20 laps left, the champion, still battling heavy tyre degradation, was 14.5 seconds off the lead. Behind him, Leclerc’s battle with Piastri was helping, however, and the Ferrari and McLaren drivers were now over six seconds off Max.
Mercedes pitted Russell for a set of used soft tyres. Using the pace of the C3 tyres Russell was on a mission to haul his way back past Checo, who had been boosted to sixth again, and Sainz. Checo was alive to the potential threat, however, and over the closing stages of the race, consistent good pace kept the Mexican in his place for eight valuable points.
Max was now in management mode. With Norris comfortably in the lead and any threat from behind nullified by tyre wear, the championship leader throttled back and settled for his 10th podium finish of the year. Second place at his home circuit means Max still controls the Driver’s title standings on 295 points, 70 ahead of Norris.
A second-placed finish but still looking for improvements, Max Verstappen said, “Today the start was good and we got a lead in front, which was a positive start. However, once I was overtaken it became about managing my own race, as I know I didn’t have the pace to catch Lando.
“The car balance has been difficult this weekend, we just didn’t have the pace and we struggled with our tyres. I tried my best, but it just didn’t work today and we had quite a big gap. We didn’t have our best weekend and we will go back and analyse what we can do better.”
Taking valuable points for the Team, Sergio Pérez said, I had a great start, but unfortunately was squeezed into turn one and then lost a position to Charles Leclerc. In the beginning things were looking really good, but we just didn’t have the pace to keep up, as the other cars started to pull ahead.
“We were struggling with the grip on the hard tyre and balance all race. We have a lot of work to do, but it has been a good weekend in terms of understanding the car issues and we can go forward to take this as the base and to develop from here.”
Next up for Oracle Red Bull Racing is the Italian Grand Prix at Monza on the 1st of September.