Dutch Grand Prix 2022
2022 FIA Formula One World Championship
Circuit Zandvoort
Circuit Zandvoort, Netherlands
Welcome back to Zandvoort and you know what that means! It’s a party weekend where the Orange Army will be out in full force to welcome home World Champion Max Verstappen.
After a 36-year absence from the Formula one Calendar, the Dutch Grand Prix returned last year and it was a fantastic race for the Bulls with Max taking the win and Checo finishing in the points. And, with the bulls dominating in Spa last weekend, who would bet against the Team scoring a hatful of points again on Sunday?
Zandvoort is fast and some drivers say a ‘little bit crazy’. With 18-degrees of banking on the corners it gives plenty of chance for overtaking and with the new cars, it’s very promising. The track length is 4.259km long and there will be 72 laps on Sunday. Lewis Hamilton currently holds the track record, which he set in 2021 and sits at 1:11.097.
Starting Off The Weekend In Zandvoort
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01
Friday's Free Practice
Friday’s Free Practice sessions did not go according to plan for Oracle Red Bull Racing, with Checo in P7 at the end of FP1 after Max had to retire from the session after only 10 minutes. The Dutchman could only manage P8 in Free Practice Two with Checo in P12.
Max began the session in front of a sea of orange, making full use of the new DRS zone through turn 14, topping the timesheets early on with a time of 1:14.714 on hard tyre. As he as he continued on track, he radioed into his Engineer that there was “something with the gear box.” He stopped on track, causing a red flag and the end of his FP1.
After a 10-minute delay, the pitlane was open and cars re-joined the track. Checo was out on soft tyres to try and maximise pace, setting a lap of of 1:13.416, which saw him in P7 at the end of the session, Max’s early exit from FP1 left him in P19.
The team worked hard to get Max out at the start of Free Practice Two and much to the delight of the home crowd he started the session on a set of fresh soft tyres, while Checo started on the medium tyre.
Both drivers stuck to those compounds for the entire session, with both Max and Checo setting their best times of a 1:13.042 and 1:13.493 respectively early on in FP2. Although not the fastest times of the day, the Bulls switched tactics for the latter half of the session and chose to complete some high-fuel race simulation laps.
Max completed 22 laps in total whilst his teammate circled the track 23 times. Max finished the day in P8 with Checo in P12.
02
What The Bulls Said
Checo
Checo Chats Free Practice
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We haven’t been as happy as we were in Belgium so there are things we need to look at to make sure we pick up on everything to be in the mix for quali.
“Things are very marginal and Ferrari seem to be very strong around this circuit so, as I predicted, it is going to be an interesting weekend. It is a pretty challenging track and I think we are lacking speed throughout at the moment, we haven’t been quick in any of the sectors, so there is analysis to be done. We haven’t been as happy as we were in Belgium so there are things we need to look at to make sure we pick up on everything to be in the mix for quali. I got a lot of traffic today, I got one of the Ferraris on my fast lap and I couldn’t get a proper read on my soft tyre unfortunately, without causing an incident. Degradation seems to be pretty high on the long runs so it will be interesting to see what we are able to do with the strategy. We certainly need to improve for qualifying tomorrow.”
Max
Max On Friday In Zandvoort
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Today wasn’t great but we’ll have a look at everything overnight, for sure we can do better than this. There are a lot of things that we can improve on
“We missed out on valuable time in FP1 and then the balance wasn’t great in FP2. In an hour-long session you can’t really change much on the car, so we just had to deal with what we had. Today wasn’t great but we’ll have a look at everything overnight, for sure we can do better than this. I wasn’t surprised when I saw the time difference, there are a lot of things that we can improve on, we’ve got FP3 tomorrow morning to try out a few things ahead of qualifying.”
03
Saturday's Session
Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez both took giant steps forward in Saturday’s Free Practice Three after a disappointing day yesterday. Max finished the session in P3, with his teammate in P6.
Back On The Charge For FP3
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Max left the pits at the start of the session on fresh red-rimmed soft tyres and on his first push lap set – at that point – the fastest time of the weekend with a 1:12.309, putting him provisionally P1. His second flyer was even faster, setting purple times in sectors two and three. Checo also improved on his time with a 1:13.503, which saw him in P4 at that point.
Both Bulls then returned to the garages before emerging for some high-fuel race simulation laps. Max and Checo were out on their used soft tyres and both completed 11 laps at trace pace before returning to the pits once more.
Looking ahead to qualifying, and as the clock was counting down, Both drivers came out on fresh soft tyres to try and improve their times. Max set a 1:11.973, which saw him third behind Charles Leclerc in P1 and George Russell in second. Checo’s best time was a 1:12.176, which placed him P6. The Bulls were split by Carlos Sainz in fourth and Lewis Hamilton in P5.
Join us later today for qualifying, starting at 15:00 local time.
04
Free Practice Results
FP At The Dutch Grand Prix
Position
Driver
Team
Time
1
George Russell
Mercedes
1.12.455
2
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
1.12.695
3
Carlos Sainz
Ferrari
1.12.845
4
Lando Norris
McLaren
1.12.929
5
Daniel Ricciardo
McLaren
1.13.077
6
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
1.13.127
7
Oracle Red Bull Racing
1.13.416
8
Fernando Alonso
Alpine
1.13.633
9
Esteban Ocon
Alpine
1.13.963
10
Alex Albon
Williams
1.14.063
...
...
...
...
05
Snaps From Free Practice
The RB18's First Date With Zandvoort
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A Disappointing First Session, But Onto The Next
© Getty Images
A Happy Checo Getting Ready For Practice In Zandvoort
© Getty Images
Eye Of The Lion
© Getty Images