The Dutch Grand Prix may be hosting its final meeting on the Formula One calendar this weekend but its farewell heralds the opening of a championship run-in that is far from over. Rested, reset and ready to rumble, there is an anticipatory air among the title contenders in Zandvoort as they enter the sharp end of a fight which, as last season demonstrated, could yet be taken to the finale.
Resuming after F1’s summer break there is, as always, a sprightly atmosphere to the sport. Team members have had time with their families and drivers have had a chance to decompress, assess, heck, even have a bit of fun, with Mercedes’ George Russell becoming engaged to his partner Carmen Montero Mundt and Lando Norris out and about in Ibiza with pals. Lewis Hamilton got his head down and trained hard, proclaiming himself fitter then ever, energised and refreshed, while Max Verstappen emerged at his home race to announce a new contract with his Red Bull team.
They reconvene here in the dunes on the North Sea coast, with much work still to do and for all that Mercedes and the championship leader Kimi Antonelli are holding the whip hand, there are 12 meetings to come and all to play for with five different winners from the last five races.
Last year after the Dutch GP, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri led his teammate Norris by 34 points and Verstappen by 104. By the season finale in Abu Dhabi Norris took the title from Verstappen by just two points, with Piastri back in third. This time out Antonelli leads Ferrari’s Hamilton by 50, with Russell third, 59 in arrears. Norris is a full 91 behind but he and McLaren are on something of a roll, with victory at the last round in Hungary. The numbers are ominous but in Zandvoort none of the chasing pack feel Antonelli is out of reach.
The 19-year-old Italian has been a revelation this season, with six wins demonstrating confidence and control perhaps beyond his years but also a verve and ebullient enthusiasm. Yet the teenager knows he cannot afford to lose any focus, while Mercedes’ reliability issues have been their achilles heel and the reason there is no chicken counting occurring in Brackley.
Hamilton too cut a charged-up figure in the Netherlands. The seven-time champion is enjoying a season that could not stand in starker contrast to the annus horribilis of his debut year with Ferrari. The team are sharp, the car is to his liking and there is a palpable sense that the Scuderia is on course. The gap to Antonelli is a gulf but not insurmountable, not least as Ferrari have another engine upgrade to come, expected to be introduced in Monza, and are deploying an upgraded floor in Zandvoort. Hamilton is hungry, a player once more in the title fight.
“It’s amazing to come out of a break and be in a scenario where we’re right in the mix with the top four teams, second in the championship,” he said. “Ferrari one step away from where they belong. Our goal is to make that next step.”
A great leap forward that cannot be ruled out, Ferrari’s aerodynamic upgrades this season have been enormously effective and the seven-time champion has a wealth of formidable experience to bring to bear if he puts Antonelli under pressure.
Russell believes he too has more to come, exhibiting the same mindset as Norris did last year. Nothing is over until it’s over.
“I want to not overthink it, trust in my ability and drive a little more instinctively. That’s maybe what I wasn’t doing before the break,” he said. The 28-year-old has suffered no little bad luck thus far but nonetheless has yet to match his teammate’s pace and given they are in the same machinery both will benefit equally from car development, so the forthcoming three races will demonstrate if he can make his instincts count.
Norris and McLaren have a way to go but they too are not quite out of the fight. The team are still adapting to making the most of their Mercedes engine and how best to exploit it, while their aero developments have also been impressive thus far, progress they hope will be furthered by a swathe of upgrades here and ensuring Norris has written nothing off.
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“I would say I was more focused and ready to get back into things this year, I still believe it’s possible,” he said. “I know there’s still a chance and if there’s a chance, then I want to fight for it but I’m not the main contender in the championship.”
Verstappen, with a new deal under his belt, has lost none of his desire to win and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc is equally feisty but it is Antonelli who remains the key player. He has appeared entirely relaxed and at ease in the Netherlands and with a title at stake in only his second season, his understated observation of Zandvoort’s final race demonstrated quite how cool he is in this crucible.
“Mercedes hasn’t won here since 1955, it’s been a long time,” he noted with a smile. “So it would be nice to finish off with a win for me and for the team.”
In Friday’s sprint qualifying at Zandvoort Russell took pole position for the short-form race to be held on Saturday, with a strong lap to beat Norris into second place by four-hundredths of a second.
The McLarens had looked strong across the day but when it mattered Russell had the edge for his third sprint pole, exactly the opening to the second half of the season he would have wanted, particularly as Antonelli could manage only fifth.
Leclerc was third, Piastri fourth and Verstappen and Hamilton in sixth and seventh.
