Let’s Catch Up!
What a summer break we have had. We left before the summer break with McLaren storming away with a fierce battle between both drivers, Piastri and Norris fighting for the lead of the drivers’ championship.
A sudden, swift exit for Christian Horner, leaving Redbull and many rumours swirling around if he will return to Formula 1 with another team. Over the summer break, we had Cadillac drivers announced, and they are a well-known pair of drivers.
No stranger to the sport, Valtteri Bottas has driven for Williams, Mercedes, Alfa Romeo, and his last team was Sauber, where he finished his driving career in 2024. He waited patiently in the 2025 season as a reserve driver for Mercedes, reuniting with his former boss, Toto Wolff, and will now be one of the drivers for Cadillac.
Sergio (Checo) Perez was also announced as a new driver for Cadillac, who also finished driving in 2024 with Red Bull and has driven for several teams, including McLaren and Force India. A fierce Mexican driver ready to get back on track.
Both of these drivers have experience and passion, and are ready to return for the 2026 season. I, for one, am very excited to see these drivers fighting for podiums again.
Now back to the first race after the summer break, we start in Zandvoort at the Dutch Grand Prix, Max Verstappen’s home grand prix, and the flurry of orange appears in all the grandstands.
Whether they’re supporting Verstappen or McLaren, the sea of orange is here.
Are the Drivers Still on the Break?
It definitely seems like some of the drivers are a little rusty, as several spins and crashes occur during the practice sessions.
Hamilton, Tsunoda, and Antoneli have huge spins in practice 1, and the session ends with the home favourite, Verstappen, having a nasty crash. Followed by Stroll crashing into the barrier for the second practice, and Albon heads into the wall too.
This all leads to a very entertaining weekend ahead.
A Desperate Qualifying
A quick qualifying for Stroll as it’s over in minutes due to a severe crash spinning through the gravel and into the barrier, and that finishes his qualifying in last place.
Sadly, it’s a double whammy for Haas as both drivers are the next ones out. Let’s see if they can get points in the race. Hulkenburg misses out, as does Colapinto.
Albon has a devastating finish, finishing in 15th alongside other midfield cars, including Gasly in the Alpine and Bortoleto in the Sauber, which both go out in Q2.
A sudden exit for two drivers in the form of Tsunoda for Redbull and Antonelli for Mercedes, both an annoying result as they just missed out on Q3.
McLaren has looked on top all weekend, the summer break not dampening their stride at all. It was a tight battle between Norris and Piastri to see who came out on top in this qualifying. The close championship battle between drivers will surely cause tension within the team. However, this time Norris was not able to beat Piastri and his perfect qualifying puts him at the top.
The Dutch fans were willing Verstappen to be on top, but he just missed out, slotting in 3rd position behind the McLarens. I bet Norris is worried about the start with Verstappen racing behind him.
A stupendous result for Hadjar, the rookie Racing Bull. Let’s hope he can hold onto that tomorrow with Russel right behind him. As well as both Ferraris in 6th and 7th on par with each other, followed by Hadjar’s teammate Lawson and Sainz and Alonso snapping up the last two places in the top 10.
And that concludes the qualifying. Can McLaren hold onto the lead, and who will be able to score vital points in the Dutch Grand Prix?
Formula 1 Is Back, Baby!
As the cars roar and the lights go out, the sound of tyres screeching away signals the start of the Dutch Grand Prix.
It’s a tricky start for Norris as Verstappen nearly overtakes both McLarens on the first round, but Piastri holds off Verstappen, and Norris loses a place. Norris really needs to focus on his starts, as they are consistently letting him down.
Hadjar is depsterate to hold onto his fourth position, if he finishes the race, that would be the rookie’s best finish, but Russel and Leclerc are fighting hard behind him, and Leclerc overtakes Russel on the first lap, leaving Russel desperate to gain the position back.
Bortoleto and Stroll got entangled on the first corner, and several pieces of Bortoleto’s car brought out a virtual safety car due to the debris on the track.
There’s excitement in the air as the weather forecast detects incoming rain, spinning all the team strategists into chaos. After some heated moves between the cars, Norris can take his second position back from Verstappen on the 9th lap.
Alonso sets off the wave of pit stops as the rain starts to fall, Leclerc decides to do his first pit, and just as he comes out of the pit lane, his teammate crashes…
Lewis Hamilton crashes into the barrier, the slippery roads illustrating the devastating impact of the rain. A regrettable incident for Hamilton; I hope it will go better for him in Monza.
After a few laps under the safety car, which saw several vehicles take advantage of pit stops, Leclerc lost out, having just pitted. Piastri is off flying away on the restart as Russel sees his shot to overtake Hadjar, but he doesn’t quite manage it.
Only a few laps later, another collision happens between Sainz and Lawson as Sainz tries to overtake Lawson, causing punctures on both cars and parts of debris scattering all over the track. Sainz received a 10-second penalty, and both drivers lost point-scoring positions.
Halfway through the lap, both Russel and Leclerc had some touchy moments, quite literally as they touched wheels and chastise, leaving some damage to Russel’s car. The stewards decided after the race that no further action would be taken.
On lap 53, a devastating incident for Leclerc meant both Ferraris were out of the race. After Leclerc pitted, Antonelli tried a move at the wrong time, which spun Leclerc off track and into a barrier.
Let’s hope the Monza result will be better for the sake of the Italian fans.
This brought out the 2nd safety car of the race for the 2nd Ferrari driver and a close call for Lawson as he swiftly came around the bend and nearly crashed into Leclerc’s standstill car.
Piastri had to begin another restart after the safety car ended, but still showed a masterful performance as he surged ahead of the other drivers behind him.
Bearman shows a brilliant performance as he gets back up into the points with only 32 laps to go. Considering he started from the pit lane, he’s capitalised well on the safety car incidents.
Tragedy hit with only seven laps to go for Lando Norris and McLaren fans as a spray of smoke ejected from the back of his car, and a trail of oil ran behind him. The engine failure cut his race short and caused the third and final safety car for this race.
A regrettable incident for Norris, which raises questions about the reliability of the McLaren car and whether this will be a recurring problem. I hope it won’t be.
The final few laps after another safety car restart were tense and daring, particularly for Isack Hadjar, who had previously maintained his fourth position throughout the race. With Norris out of the race, it meant Verstappen was in second place and Hadjar was in third.
He was on track for his first-ever podium in Formula 1, and the Dutch fans were ecstatic at Verstappen’s new position.
Piastri rounds the final corner, demonstrating a masterful performance of control and strength in his race. He didn’t waver, even with the many interruptions of safety cars, and even his teammate causing one.
There’s a 34-point gap now between Piastri and Norris, the championship is still all to play for, but it’s definitely favouring Piastri at the moment.
A huge congratulations to Hadjar, earning his first podium in Formula 1, the youngest ever Frenchman to achieve a podium in Formula 1. Rookie of the Year is definitely being rumoured for him, as well as a fantastic performance for Bearman, finishing 6th from the pitlane.
A good outcome in the end for Aston Martin, who had both drivers score a few points which is important for the midfield battles, especially as Racing Bulls have leaped forward thanks to Hadjar.
Albon achieved 5th place for Williams, and Tsunoda and Ocon also snuck into 9th and 10th place, scoring some points for their teams.
A lacklustre race for Sauber and Alpine, both teams having a pointless race and a shocking double DNF for Ferrari.
Let’s just say, if you are a Ferrari fan, I hope the next race will be much better.
As Ferrari fans say, ‘Forza Ferrari’.
See you in Monza!
Great to see the review. Very well written . Thought the fox might have got a mention 🤣. Sad to see Norris retire. I was looking forward to a great finish. C’est La Vie.