What the teams said – Race day in the Netherlands

McLaren

Norris followed his Hungary victory with success at Zandvoort, to reignite his Championship charge. Despite losing out to Antonelli at the second standing start, Norris kept close to the Italian and really closed him down in the second stints. That was when he pulled off a brilliant move to take the race lead and, from there, never looked in danger of being passed.

Despite not stopping under the late VSC and thus being on older tyres than his rival, Norris was able to pull away to win by over 11 seconds. As for Piastri, he too pulled off an incredible move – his was on Russell, to run third. But his race was undone by a slow pit stop, which dropped him behind the Mercedes. From there, he started to struggle for grip and was passed by both Ferraris to come home a distant sixth.

Lando Norris, 1st

"I'm incredibly happy to take the win at the final race here in Zandvoort, but it was a real fight. For the first half of the race, especially on the Soft tyre, I honestly didn't think a win was possible. I struggled a lot with the pace and balance, and it felt like a bit of a repeat of Saturday's struggles. However, once we put the Hard tyres on, the car came alive. I felt much more comfortable, I could push, and we were able to put Mercedes under pressure, forcing them into an early stop which ultimately opened the door for us.

"The team's strategy was perfect, and that gave me the opportunity on fresh tyres to attack while Kimi was battling with Lewis. I knew that was my one and only chance, and I had to make it stick. Committing to the outside of Turn 1 was the move that won us the race. Despite the win, I'm not fully satisfied. We still have weaknesses, particularly in the slow-speed corners, and we need to improve if we want to fight for the championship. I'll be pushing the team harder than ever because the work doesn't stop here; we need more performance."

Oscar Piastri, 6th

"A frustrating afternoon with a disappointing result but still some points on the board. The main positive we can take away is the start and the first lap after the Red Flag, where the car felt good and we were able to make up positions. The first stint felt reasonable, but from the second stint onwards, the pace was simply not there, and it became a real struggle.

"We will review the entire weekend and analyse to understand why we experienced such a significant performance drop-off. A slow pit stop didn't help, but the fundamental issue was the lack of pace, which is something we’ll work on ahead of Monza. That’s the priority now, to dig into the data with the team to find the root cause and ensure we can move forward in a more positive direction for the upcoming races."

Andrea Stella, Team Principal

“Overall, it has been a positive weekend in Zandvoort, with Pole position and the Grand Prix victory this afternoon, but certainly this is not one to be taken for granted. After the Sprint, we knew we needed to improve the race pace, and the drivers and engineers did a very good job of finding the extra performance we needed.

“Lando was on top of his game, driving like the World Champion he is, and fully deserved this victory. He capitalised on what was available from the car and the tyres, managed some very difficult conditions extremely well, and produced some excellent overtaking manoeuvres. I also want to recognise the work of the team on strategy. We extended the second stint to attack Andrea Kimi Antonelli and that worked well, so credit to everyone involved.

“With Oscar, the finishing result of P6 is not a fair reflection of the competitiveness he demonstrated throughout the weekend. We lost time at the pit stop and then struggled to switch on the Hard tyre in the second stint, which cost him several positions. His pace in the first and final stints was much more representative. We know there is more potential that we can extract.

“This victory for the team is important because it confirms the progress we made in Hungary and shows we are in the game for victory. At the same time, Formula 1 is incredibly close at the moment, and we have to keep improving the car because the other teams will continue to bring upgrades. We go race by race, focusing on ourselves, developing the car further and maximising what is available each weekend. Monza will be a very different challenge, and will help us understand further our true potential.”

Mercedes

Mercedes bagged a double podium in Zandvoort, but it was certainly not straightforward. Antonelli picked off Russell at the initial race start to run second, and then overtook Norris on the second start to take the lead. He had the measure of Norris in the first stint, but struggled for pace after that and lost out to the McLaren man. The team opted to pit him again under a late VSC, but he did not have enough pace advantage to chase back up for the win.

Russell had a harder start to the race, losing out to Piastri to run fourth. He made his way back past the Australian thanks to a slow McLaren pit stop, and was fighting with the Ferraris for the final podium place on a day where he did not have the pace for more. He did let his freshly shod team mate pass late on, and just had enough in the tank to keep a charging Hamilton at bay for the final few laps to limit his Championship losses.

Kimi Antonelli, 2nd

"I am disappointed to have led so many laps today and not won. Unfortunately, the pace wasn’t quite there, and that’s a shame. P2 was ultimately the maximum we could have done, though, given that, so we must be happy coming away with that and a double podium secured. It is a great result for the team with George doing a brilliant job to keep the Ferraris behind and take P3.

"We made two good starts and gained places at both. That gave us belief we could fight for victory, but I didn’t have the feeling with the car on the second set of Hard tyres and that was when Lando (Norris) was able to get past. I was a little nervous in the closing stages after we pitted under the Virtual Safety Car, but it turned out well. We were able to have both cars finish ahead of the Ferraris and extend our lead in the Constructors’ Championship, which is a good feeling leaving Zandvoort."

George Russell, 3rd

"We did our best today, and it was clear that we were going to have a tough time of it defending from Lando (Norris) and the Ferraris, who were incredibly fast. The field is even more competitive than at any point during the season; that said, the pace of both McLaren and Ferrari has surprised us. To come away with a Sprint victory and a P3 is a solid return, therefore, on what has been a challenging weekend from a pace perspective.

"My race wasn’t the smoothest. I lost a couple of positions early on, but was able to fight my way back to P3. That became P2 when Kimi pitted under the Virtual Safety Car, but ultimately, Kimi was ahead of me before that, so the position was his. It was clear that we couldn’t cost ourselves any time fighting, as we needed to protect from the Ferraris behind, too. If we had, we would have likely lost a lot of time, and I would have lost the podium. In the end, we were able to maximise the result for the team, and that’s positive."

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

"We ultimately didn’t have the pace to fight for victory today. Finishing second and third was very much damage limitation therefore, but both the drivers and the team did a good job to maximise our result.

"We were able to gain track position early on, but it became clear that it would be a tall order to hold onto that, given the pace of our rivals. Once Norris had passed Kimi, we knew our race was about finishing ahead of the Ferraris. The Virtual Safety Car gave Kimi the chance to stop and protect from them behind, using fresher tyres and on the Soft compound rather than the Hard. We were then able to invert the cars on track, and George then did a brilliant job to keep both Lewis (Hamilton) and Charles (Leclerc) behind. We were able to avoid losing time fighting together, and have discussed similar situations like this all year. If it had been the other way around, we would have made the same decision.

"We leave Zandvoort knowing that we need to improve the pace of the car. We have further developments to come, but over the past two weekends, we haven’t had the fastest car. It is a tight championship fight, but we are happy to leave here having extended our advantage in the Constructors."

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

"That was a busy afternoon, where we weren't quick enough to fight for victory, but raced well to maximise our points scoring. The drivers did a good job of getting the absolute most out of what we had, and a double podium with P2 and P3 is a solid result.

"The conditions at the start were tricky, but the track was too dry to go for anything other than a slick tyre. George struggled for grip on the dirty side of the grid, which allowed Kimi to get ahead before the race was red flagged. On the restart, Kimi made another strong start, held the inside line and took the lead from Norris. He was able to build enough of a lead to protect from Norris undercutting him, but it was clear the McLaren had superior pace, and we would need to box ahead of him to protect the position.

"George was able to take P3 from Piastri at his first stop, but faced a similar situation with the faster Ferraris behind. After our second stops, both drivers were looking to hold off the cars behind, but Norris ultimately made his way past Kimi before the Virtual Safety Car was deployed. That ultimately worked well for Kimi, as once both Ferraris stopped, we were able to get him onto the Soft tyre and back out ahead of them, although he gave up track position to George. Once Kimi caught up, we decided to invert the cars, as Kimi had the pace to get through, but had they raced, it would have put both drivers at greater risk to the Ferraris.

"George did an amazing job to defend on those final laps. It was a very difficult situation to handle, but ultimately staying out gave George his only shot at making the podium. He did brilliantly to achieve that, and secure the strongest result for the team we could have got today. Whilst it's been a difficult weekend, we still managed our second highest point score of the season to date, and have extended the lead in both championships."

Ferrari

Ferrari’s race pace looked every bit as strong as their Sprint pace, leaving a taste of ‘what might have been’ had they qualified higher yesterday. Leclerc was initially the faster of the two, starting well and in the fight for the final podium slot. Hamilton made contact with Verstappen at the first start, and then ran a longer first stint than the other front runners.

That led to Hamilton chasing down and passing his team mate on fresher tyres midway through, which is how he finished ahead of the Monegasque driver. Both were pitted again under the VSC and it looked like Hamilton would take the last podium slot, but he just could not find a way past Russell who was on older tyres, not helped by Leclerc getting involved and fighting with his team mate on the final lap.

Lewis Hamilton, 4th

"Overall, it was a solid race and despite the qualifying positions, we had good pace today and brought some important points home for the team. I’m really grateful to everyone back at the factory, who continue to push and find small gains through the upgrades we’re bringing to the car. The team did a great job both with the strategy and in the pit lane, and the mechanics once again were excellent. It wasn’t an easy race but we were competitive.

"While it was a good race, we know we need to do more to make sure we’re maximising every opportunity to stay in the championship fight. We’ll go away over the next couple of weeks and see what else we can do to make sure we come back from Monza strong and ready."

Charles Leclerc, 5th

"Our pace was strong, and I believed in it until the very end because we weren’t that far off George (Russell). We didn’t really have luck on our side today, as the timing of the Virtual Safety Car was not ideal for our race. On the other hand, we did a good job with tyre management and I enjoyed the overtake on Oscar (Piastri). Our main limitation was probably our starting position, so we have to review and understand where we can improve our qualifying pace.

"I’m excited for Monza next. I have really great memories which I will never forget from there, and it’s just a really special place for us, where we meet so many of our tifosi year after year. I hope we can make good memories there again this year."

Fred Vasseur, Team Principal

"Our race pace was decent today, but our execution was not perfect. We lost the position to Oscar Piastri with Charles at the second start and also had a slow pit stop, so there are areas in which we need to improve if we want to maximise the result in such a tight field. Today the difference between the tyre compounds was very small, which made the strategy difficult to read, and at one stage we considered going to the end with Lewis before the Virtual Safety Car came out. Overall, I think what we lacked more this weekend was qualifying pace rather than race pace. We will analyse what we could have done better and make sure we execute a cleaner weekend in Monza."

Red Bull

Verstappen’s final home race did not go as planned, as a messy opening lap ended with a hefty crash. He made contact with Hamilton and Lawson as he made his way round the damp track, before he got on the slippery white lines and lost control. The Dutchman hit the barriers hard to bring out the red flags, but thankfully walked away.

That left Lawson to fly the flag for the team, and bar one penalty for a yellow flag infringement, he drove well to come home seventh on a day the Red Bull did not have the pace to fight with the other top cars.

Max Verstappen, DNF

“It was a shame how my race ended today, but I am all okay. It looked like it was dry in that spot, so I tried to accelerate and it just caught me out. I was a bit unlucky, lost the car and went into the wall unfortunately. We didn’t have the pace this weekend to fight for the win, which is something that we still need to work on. I have mixed emotions as it was positive seeing so many fans here for one final time but obviously a huge shame and quite disappointing to not finish the race. Luckily, we have such positive memories here and were able to achieve great things at this track, so I want to thank the fans for all the support. It has been something really special and I hope they have enjoyed it as well over all these years”. 

Liam Lawson, 7th

“It was a pretty lonely race for me today. We just didn’t have the pace to fight with the guys in front so it was tricky. I’m happy I got points for the Team. I knew coming into the weekend it’d be difficult, especially at a circuit like Zandvoort where you need a lot of confidence in the car, but I feel like we extracted everything we could. It was a shame to see what happened to Max. That part of the track was incredibly slippery, on slick tyres it was so easy to lose the car there. I was right behind him, so it was a pretty scary moment. I’m glad he’s okay. It’s never easy stepping into an entirely new car, but the Team did a good job in making me feel comfortable, and I’m grateful for the opportunity.”

Laurent Mekies, Team Principal

“A difficult weekend for the Team in Zandvoort. First of all, I think the most important thing is that Max is okay. It was a pretty big shunt and we were all glad to see him get out of the car unharmed. That’s what matters the most. 

"Performance-wise, there’s nowhere to hide. It was a very tough weekend, and it seems like we have taken a bit of a step backwards compared to where we were before the summer break. Of course, we’ll never know what the real pace of the car would have been in the race with Max, but it’s fair to say that as the sessions progressed it was clearly more difficult for us than in Austria, Belgium or in Hungary.  

"Beyond that, Liam did a good job stepping into Isack’s car this weekend. It’s never easy to step into a different team and different car but he did very well. He was just one tenth away from Max yesterday in qualifying and today took he the points that were available to him with the seventh place. Even though he wasn’t in the cockpit, Isack with us this weekend, taking the learnings from it and that will help us to all push together as strongly for the next race.  

"A lot of work for us to do, to regroup and to see whether the competition has done a better job on upgrades, or whether something has limited us more than it should have here in Zandvoort. That will be the task over the next two weeks, before we fight back in Monza”. 

Audi

Bortoleto started in the top 10, but had a bad initial getaway, which dropped him to 14th. He managed to swap places with his team mate twice on an action-packed opening lap, and was ahead of Hulkenberg when he spun into the final corner. The German was left blinded by white smoke and just narrowly avoided hitting the Brazilian’s car, somehow the duo coming through that hairy moment unscathed.

From there, Hulkenberg showed the car has good pace as he climbed back through the field, overtaking Gasly and Tsunoda at points to finish as ‘best of the rest’ in P8. Bortoleto dropped to 18th following his spin, and did well to recover to 13th at the flag.

Nico Hulkenberg, 8th

“It was a very good race, although the end of the first lap was quite scary. I saw what was happening ahead of me and just reacted instinctively, so I was relieved to avoid the incident. From there, we had a clean race, a good strategy and some fun battles along the way. It feels really good to come away with points today. They are important for us in the championship and give everyone in the team a lift, while also confirming that the work we are putting in is taking us in the right direction. It wasn‘t the easiest weekend so it feels even better to come away with a strong result and some valuable points today.”

Gabriel Bortoleto, 13th

"It's been a bit of a disappointing end to the weekend for us. We had some issues at the start that unfortunately didn’t allow us to maximise our grid position; on top of that, once I saw the smoke for Max [Verstappen]'s car, I made a small steering correction and lost my car - thankfully, I managed to keep it out of the wall. The team did a fantastic job trying to put me in the best possible position to make it back up the field, so it's a shame we couldn't get the result we wanted, although it was good to see Nico bringing some more points home today. Our pace was good, and I was happy with how I felt with the car up until yesterday, so we'll take these positives and move on to Monza in two weeks."

Allan McNish, Racing Director

“Overall, it was a very intense race, with the weather coming in at the beginning and the strategic questions that followed. The first lap incident was a little too close for comfort: Gabi had a spin on the banking at Turn 14 in the damp conditions, just behind where Verstappen crashed, with Nico directly following him. Thankfully, both cars were able to continue, so we were very fortunate there.

“After the restart, Nico was in a strong position in P12 and muscled his way through with some fantastic overtakes to put us firmly in the points in P8. From there, it was about controlling the gap to Gasly behind. I have to say, Nico’s race was superb today.

“On Gabi’s side, restarting from 17th meant it was always going to be very difficult, but he fought his way back as far as he could in very challenging conditions. We come away with four points on the board and our fourth consecutive race in the points, having recovered from a very difficult first lap. I think the team can be pleased with that, but we also know there is still quite a lot of work to do.”

Aston Martin

Alonso scored two points for the team with a fighting drive from P18 on the grid as he finished ninth. He opted to two-stop, holding onto his hard tyres for a mighty 37 laps and just staying ahead of the chasing midfield pack, making his car as wide as possible with Gasly in his wing mirrors in the closing stages. That result will give the team a lift, with the upgraded Honda PU making a difference. Stroll had a less positive race, winding up retiring with a car handling issue.

Fernando Alonso, 9th

“It's great to finish in the points here in Zandvoort. I wasn’t expecting it, so it’s a credit to the team for maximising everything we had. We still have some driveability issues, but this weekend is another step forward. We’ll take this momentum and keep pushing to get the most out of the car.”

Lance Stroll, DNF

“We picked up some damage early on, which compromised the performance of the car. We had no pace and were sliding around a lot, so we stopped early for the hard tyre, but unfortunately nothing helped. There’s still a lot of work to do to improve the driveability of the car.”

Adrian Newey, Team Principal

“After the red flag, we fitted Fernando with a fresh set of Softs and, with good management, he was able to run almost half the race on those tyres. That set up an effective one-stop race, which we felt was our best chance of finishing in the points. It was only in the final few laps that Fernando came under pressure from Gasly, but we had the pace to hold on for P9 and two important points. Lance was suffering with a handling issue – which we suspect could have been caused by picking up some car damage – and we had to retire the car. The points scored today are a valuable reward for everyone’s efforts, and I would like to say thank you to the whole team at Silverstone, who have worked so hard to improve our performance in recent months.”

Alpine

Gasly got a great start and was running eighth in the early stages, just avoiding Verstappen’s car when it bounced back across the track. Colapinto also made his way into the top 10, but then the Argentine was handed a drive through penalty for overtaking under yellow flags. That was not the last time he crossed the stewards, as he picked up a second penalty for a yellow flag infringement late on too.

That ended his chance of points, but Gasly did manage to stay in the top 10 after several entertaining fights with his rivals. He was half a second behind Alonso for much of the closing stages, but could not find a way past the wily Spaniard.

Pierre Gasly, 10th

“It was quite a frustrating race in the end, even if our start was very good and just what we needed after starting from P11. We managed to get up to P9, then had to avoid Max [Verstappen] at the final corner. After the second restart, following the red flag, again, we did quite well to hold onto P8 and from there it became quite tough and frantic. Clearly Racing Bulls are our direct rivals and they had a plan to maximise their race and impact ours. That was to be expected but it was an annoying one behind the wheel! It is a long season, I'll remember it, and the fight in the Championship is definitely on. I'm glad we had upgrades this weekend which has put us in a much more competitive position and that is reflected in the points we have been able to score. We have a lot to assess from the weekend but I am already looking forward to Monza and continuing the on-track battle.”

Franco Colapinto, 14th

“A challenging race for us today, which was made even more difficult after the drive through penalty we received for the incident on the opening lap. I had a very strong start, overtook four cars, and was up into the points. From then on it was looking like it would be a good race for us, but after the penalty our day was compromised. I find it harsh and it is one we will review and try to learn and understand further. After that, as I said, our race was not easy. We struggled for tyre grip, and this held back our pace afterwards as we tried to come back, finishing in P14, where I started. It is positive that Pierre finished in P10 and was able to score a point with the upgraded package. I will have the same upgrades at the next round in Monza and I'm looking forward to racing with it and really being in contention for scoring points.”

Flavio Briatore, Executive Advisor

“We leave Zandvoort a little frustrated even if we gained two points on our direct rivals in the Championship with Pierre scoring a point yesterday in the Sprint and today in the Grand Prix. We brought upgrades to this race, which have clearly made an impact, but it is obvious we need to learn more about them and keep adding more performance in order to increase the gap in the Constructors' as the Racing Bulls remain competitive and, today, Audi was exceptionally fast. Franco's race was very much over from the start after a severe, and harsh, drive through penalty. While we know it's disappointing for him, we acknowledge that these rules are in place for safety and it is something we must learn from. Far from a perfect race weekend for us, but we head to Monza ready to continue the fight.”

Racing Bulls

No points for Racing Bulls in Zandvoort, despite both drivers being in contention at various stages. Lindblad picked up an early drive through penalty for overtaking under yellow flags during Verstappen’s crash, which dropped him down the order. He managed to climb back through the field and with Tsunoda was battling hard with the likes of Hulkenberg and Gasly, overtaking both at various points.

But in the end it was not to be for either, with Tsunoda’s three-stop strategy proving slower than Alonso’s two-stop, which enabled the Aston Martin man to jump ahead.

Arvid Lindblad, 12th

"It’s a bit of a shame about today’s race. We had a good start but was given a drive-through penalty due to a Yellow Flag Infringement, which effectively took us out of the fight for the rest of the race. With all the debris flying around, I was just focused on holding my line and avoiding anything on track. Once we got going again, I think it was probably one of the best races I’ve done this year in terms of pace, commitment to overtakes and helping the team where I could. Overall I think we made good progress, we made some changes that helped us become more competitive as the weekend progressed. It’s disappointing not to come away with any points, but we’ll now turn our focus to preparing for the next race in Monza."

Yuki Tsunoda, 11th

"I did everything I could today and I really enjoyed it. I’ve missed being out there, racing wheel-to-wheel and making overtakes, so it was great to experience that again. We were really close to the points and just missed out, which was a shame, but overall it’s been an incredible few days. The team has supported me so much throughout the week, and I’ve been able to get up to speed quite quickly, so a huge thank you to everyone for giving me this opportunity. I’ll take away some unforgettable memories from this weekend. Most importantly, I hope Isack has a speedy recovery."

Alan Permane, Team Principal

"A tough race for us today. It was very difficult, if not impossible for Arvid to recover after that penalty, but he did a great job in keeping Gasly at bay, which allowed Yuki to pull away after his overtake. Unfortunately, Yuki slid off the track which set him back a bit; that being said, we were very close to the points and for him to do that on a one-race stand in is phenomenal. We thank him ever so much for standing in and for all his hard work over the weekend. We look forward to racing on home turf in two weeks in Monza, coming back stronger and getting both our cars back in the points."

Williams

Williams saw their drivers clash out on track, something a team never wants to experience. Sainz had made his way into the top 10 in the first part of the race, after running a long first stint. Both were on different strategies, the Spaniard running two sets of softs and Albon running two sets of the hard compound.

But both wound up on the same part of the track late on, and Sainz locked up under braking, hitting his team mate who wound up retiring with car damage. The stewards deemed the Spaniard at fault and handed him a 10-second time penalty for the incident.

Carlos Sainz, 16th

“First of all, sorry to Alex and the team for the contact at the end of the race. I had very worn hard tyres and braked over the bump in turn 1, locked up and couldn’t stop the car in time. It was obviously the last thing I wanted to end an already tough weekend. Again, apologies to him and the team.

Overall, we struggled to get into a good rhythm throughout the weekend and had to run a number of tests to explore the issues we were having, which put us on the backfoot and meant we weren't able to fight for any more today. The positive is that we've found some solutions and have good learnings to take forward to the upcoming races, so we'll look to come back stronger in Monza.”

Alex Albon, DNF

“In clean air the car felt good today, not far off the midfield pace, so there are positives to take. The moment with Carlos was just one of those racing incidents – we were going for the same corner and he locked up. It's not how we wanted to end the weekend, and not what the team needs, but it is what it is and we'll discuss together as we always do.

We need to review our strategy today as we were fighting Fernando and he finished ahead – I think we pitted too early on the first stop, reacting to a potential undercut rather than running our own race. That left us catching a lot of blue flags and stuck in dirty air, which made my second stint messy. We'll review everything as a team and look forward to a cleaner weekend in Monza.”

James Vowles, Team Principal

“Tough day. I was hoping the weather would stay for longer, as I think we could've had an interesting race in those mixed conditions but unfortunately, not meant to be.

We don't have the car pace. We need to make sure that we bring performance to the car, efficiently and quickly, however that won't be for a few races.

Whilst our cars came together, we put Carlos in a tricky situation of being on very used tyres, and for us, whether we're fighting for 14th or points, we want to make sure we give it the same level of tenacity and determination. Unfortunately, we accumulated a bit of damage this weekend, so we need to use the break before Monza to get back on top of that.”

Cadillac

Bottas was unable to finish the race in Zandvoort, the team pitting his car with an undisclosed issue. They could not fix that and get him back out, so the Finn recorded his sixth DNF of the season. Perez started from the pit lane after making car changes overnight, and he at least saw the chequered flag in Zandvoort. He finished ahead of a Williams, but Sainz was hampered by his late crash with his team mate.

Sergio Perez, 15th

“I think starting from the pit lane was the right decision, and we made some good progress throughout the race. Our pace was strong, and after being stuck behind Valtteri on the first lap, we managed to make the overcut work and move ahead. Unfortunately, we were a little unlucky with the Virtual Safety Car, which took away an opportunity we had been building towards.

"Still, we managed to finish ahead of Williams, so there are positives to take from the race. We always give our best, and today we showed some good pace and made progress.”

Valtteri Bottas, DNF

“Unfortunately, we suffered from a hydraulic issue that was affecting the rear wing. Checo had the same issue earlier this weekend and now it’s hampered us with only a handful of laps to go, which is a shame, but I’m confident the team will be able to resolve it. In the race itself, the first stint was decent as we were close to the Williams, but there’s some learnings to be had from our second stint as we analyze everything from this weekend and turn our focus to Monza.”

Marcin Budkowski, Team Principal

“An eventful debut and refresher for me with the Cadillac F1 Team, with plenty of complex decisions to make on strategy in changeable conditions in Zandvoort. It was great to see Checo finish P15 and fight for position throughout the race, although he was a little unfortunate with the timing of the VSC. Valtteri was only around 10 laps from the finish when we had to retire the car because of a hydraulic issue. It’s good to be back and I want to thank the team for all the hard work during a busy Grand Prix weekend. We have work to do on pace and reliability, but we’ll get there.”

Haas

Not to be for Haas, who did not see the chequered flag with either car. Bearman was the first to retire, pulling over at the end of the Formation Lap after the red flag period as his car shut down. He could not get restarted, and thus headed off for an early bath. Ocon completed most of the race but also pulled over late on with a technical issue for the team’s first double DNF of the season.

Oliver Bearman, DNF

“We had a good start and a good first lap, and then of course the red flag came out. After that, the engine turned off on the formation lap, and because we haven’t had any time with the car yet, we’re not entirely sure what the issue was, but on my side, I felt a total switch-off, which is a shame. It’s been a really horrible weekend, not the one we wanted to come back to, but we have some updates coming next week, and I really hope they can better our performance.”

Esteban Ocon, DNF

“We haven’t had any reliability issues this year, this is the first one, and we think it’s related to the PU, but we’ll need to look into it first to properly understand. Both cars had issues, so neither of us finished the race, but it wasn’t going to change the world as we weren’t in point scoring positions anyway. The updates are coming, they’re needed, so we’ll see what the impact is.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal

“It’s very disappointing to finish the weekend on a double DNF with PU failures, so we need to look into it. It’s a shame, as Ollie virtually had no race, and with Esteban, we struggled a bit more in the race than in qualifying. In terms of trackside, I think what we got out of the car – before the failures – is what we had. The pit stops were very good, and with Esteban’s, stop we did our quickest of the season. That’s the positive, so I hope when we get a slightly faster car, we can make use of it.”

Pirelli

Dario Marrafuschi, Pirelli Motorsport Director

"The most recent race at Zandvoort proved full of twists and turns and highly unpredictable, particularly from a strategic perspective, with all three available compounds coming into play. The picture painted by the previous sessions ultimately proved inaccurate for the teams, forcing them to revise their approach to the Grand Prix in light of new variables and pushing them towards either two or three-stop strategies.

"The weather played a significant role, with an unexpected rain shower before the start preventing the track from evolving as anticipated and altering the temperature profile, which was noticeably higher than during Saturday’s Sprint.

"Tyre degradation, which had appeared relatively limited until the previous day, turned out to be significant, largely due to the increased wear caused by track conditions that had deteriorated and become particularly slippery following the rain.

"After the stint following the restart, teams immediately realised that the conditions would not allow them to remain competitive with a one-stop strategy. Influenced by events on track as well, they therefore sought to identify the most effective tyre combinations for their drivers. Following the first red flag, almost ten different strategies emerged, with notable variations even among the leading teams. For example, Lawson did not use the Hard compound, while McLaren opted not to fit the Medium again after the initial start. By contrast, other drivers, such as Leclerc, made use of all three available compounds.

"As a result, we witnessed a highly engaging Grand Prix from a strategic standpoint, in which the teams were able to exploit the characteristics of each compound, all of which proved effective under specific conditions, identifying those best suited to maximising the strengths of their respective cars.

"Particularly illustrative in this regard was the use of the Soft tyre by Antonelli and the two Ferrari drivers in the closing stages of the race, enabling them to make up ground on their direct rivals and, in the Italian’s case, even gain a position on his team-mate."