Ahead of the start of the 2022 Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix, Scuderia Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto told Sky Sports F1 that the Italian side were not planning splitting Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz’s strategies to put pressure on Max Verstappen.
“I don’t think we can split the strategies because we’ve got the Mercedes behind,” said the Ferrari team boss. “We’ll follow what is the optimum for us, not only trying to attack if possible but trying to protect. Max may have a pace advantage at the start because of his new softs but we’ll try to stay with him. We’re staying focused on the race weekend and not the championship.” – the Ferrari boss explained.
The formation lap was therefore under way and Circuit Zandvoort and we had confirmation that Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were both starting on medium tyres, unlike Scuderia Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, who began the race on softs, just like the Red Bull drivers.
Max Verstappen covered off Charles Leclerc into Turn 1 as the lights were out and there was almost contact between Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton but the Mercedes driver managed to retain position despite seeming to lose control of his car momentarily. While Hamilton hung onto his place but there was no such luck for his Mercedes team-mate George Russell: Lando Norris snuck past his fellow Brit at the start and was into sixth.
Kevin Magnussen went over the gravel and hit the barrier, but managed to keep his Haas going and there was need for the Safety Car intervention, while Max Verstappen wasn’t storming away from Charles Leclerc just yet – the Ferrari had DRS for some laps and managed to stay within one second of his rival. Several drivers were reporting that there was a little bit of rain in the air. It wasn’t not strong enough to bring out the umbrellas in the grandstands, but was certainly worth keeping an eye on.
Carlos Sainz was the first to pit from the top six, bit it was a disastrous pit stop for the Spaniard: there appeared to be no rear left available, and he was kept stationary for what felt like an eternity. That was the end of his podium hopes as he came out way down in 11th. Charles Leclerc was beginning to fall back from Max Verstappen – with the Dutchman now 4.5s clear and saying the tyres were “not too bad”. Ferrari therefore decided to pit him for the first time and there was no dramas this time in the Ferrari pit box: the Monegasque driver came back out in fourth, with Hamilton and Russell now second and third for Mercedes.
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One lap later, it was Max Verstappen’s turn to pit: despite not being the fastest stop from Red Bull, the Dutchman was still back out after 3.4 seconds stationary. That meant Lewis Hamilton took over the lead, with Mercedes team-mate George Russell in second. But George Russell could not hold up Max Verstappen too long: the Red Bull driver used DRS up the home straight and eased up the inside of the British driver into Turn 1. The 2021 F1 world champion was now chasing Lewis Hamilton.
Max Verstappen didn’t need to pass Lewis Hamilton, as the Brit came in for his first (and at this stage most likely only) pit stop. It was a great stop at only 2.6 seconds, as Hamilton got the hard tyres on to attempt to go to the end of the race. George Russell was the final member of the top six to pit: it was another clean Mercedes stop, just 2.8 seconds, as Russell came out in fifth, comfortably ahead of Carlos Sainz.
Hamilton closed in on Perez and tried to go around the outside but the Red Bull locked up and then aggressively forced the Mercedes wide! He left a car’s width so there wasn’t a penalty, but that was certainly feisty. The Mexican couldn’t stop Lewis Hamilton on the following lap!: the Mercedes passed round the outside into Turn 1, but there was more drama as Sebastian Vettel come out of the pits right in front of Hamilton, and almost allowed Perez the chance to retake his place from the Brit. The other Mercedes also cruised past Sergio Perez into Turn 1, and he was up to fourth, as both W13 cars were now chasing Charles Leclerc, who still had to make a second pot stop.
Sergio Perez, who at this stage was struggling badly on the mediums, came in for his second stop and put on hards. Amid some Tsunoda drama (who stopped on side of track with ‘tyres not fitted’… before getting going again), Carlos Sainz made his second stop. The Ferrari F1-75 returned to the track in ninth, and tried to pick his way through the Alpines and Lando Norris to get back into the top six. It was then the other Ferrari’s turn to pit: the Monegasque driver came in and put on a set of hard tyres, returning in P4, the best part of 20 seconds back from George Russell in third.
Unfortunately, all was completely lost for the Maranello team when a Virtual Safety Car was deployed, as Tsunoda was once again told to stop: this gave Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell the chance to make a free pitstop, all of them resuming the race on front of Charles. The pace of the F1-75 was clearly not strong enough to make a difference, which meant there was no way for the Monegasque to recover the time lost.
With 16 laps to go, Valtteri Bottas stopped on the home straight and we had yellow flags, which then turned into a Safety car: Red Bull decided to pit Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, while Charles Leclerc also made an additional stop. George Russell told Mercedes he wants to be on the soft tyres and Mercedes listen – stopping the Brit as he dropped back to third! So no car in between Verstappen and Hamilton at the restart, with Verstappen on fresh softs and Hamilton in front on the mediums.
Carlos Sainz also stopped, and was caught up in more pit lane drama, as he was released into the path of Fernando Alonso. Before that, amid the Bottas safety car, the Spaniard was in trouble for overtaking the other Alpine of Esteban Ocon under yellow flags.
Lewis Hamilton was a sitting duck at the restart, and Max Verstappen eased past him on the home straight. George Russell closed up on Hamilton and almost run into the back of him on the home straight, but get past into the first corner. Hamilton was fuming on team radio – more colourful messages questioning the team’s decision to let Russell pit. Charles Leclerc also took advantage of the fresh soft tyres to get past the Mercedes driver and save a third place finish for Ferrari, in a race in which realistically the F1-75 was only the third fastest car.
It kept getting worse for Carlos Sainz, as the Spaniard received a five-second penalty for that unsafe release in the pits. The battle between Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez continued, as the Red Bull tried to overtake round the outside in Turn 1. Carlos held firm and pushed Perez wide, with the Mexican continuing off track momentarily before coming under pressure from Fernando Alonso behind him. The Mexican claimed over team radio that Carlos pushed him off, but that looked pretty fair from the Ferrari.
Verstappen therefore won the Dutch GP, George Russell came home second, with Charles Leclerc taking the final podium spot. Due to the five-second penalty, Carlos finished in P8.
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