ORANGE you glad it is time for the 2022 Dutch Grand Prix?

September 1, 2022

The second part of the triple header takes Formula 1 to the Netherlands for the Dutch Grand Prix. This race is Max Verstappen’s home race and his home crowd is a sight to see. Everyone is wearing orange, Red Bull merch, or waving Dutch flags. It truly is something special. And something equally special is Lando Norris thanking the Verstappen fans for supporting McLaren with their papaya orange. This GP isn’t all just about the orange though, so here is everything you need to know for the Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2022. 

Weekend Schedule (in EST):

Practice 1: Friday 9/2, 6:30-7:30 AM

Practice 2: Friday 9/2, 10:00-11:00 AM-PM

Practice 3: Saturday 9/3, 6:00-7:00 AM

Qualifying: Saturday 9/3, 9:00-10:00 AM

Race: Sunday 9/4, 9:00 AM

The Oscar Piastri situation is getting messier by the minute. Alpine has claimed that Piastri’s contract forces him to drive for the team in 2023. If this is true, any negotiations with McLaren for a 2023 seat would be useless and could mean that Piastri violated his Alpine contract. All of the commotion about Piastri has led the FIA’s Contract Recognition Board (CRB) to review the situation. They met this week to figure out if Piastri has a contract with Alpine or McLaren for 2023. The CRB will probably take a couple of days to resolve the conflict, so by the end of the weekend, we might know where Piastri is going next season.

I had said before that I think Mick Schumacher might get the open seat at Alpine. However, reports have now said that Alpine is looking into getting Pierre Gasly to fill that seat. This would give the French team an all French driver lineup. If this ends up happening, Red Bull would have to replace Gasly at AlphaTauri and they could hire IndyCar driver Colton Herta. This would certainly be an unexpected twist in the driver market. 

IndyCar racer Colton Herta could join AlphaTauri if Pierre Gasly leaves the team for Alpine

Now that the news in the driver market has been covered, it’s time to discuss actual racing news. In Spa, the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton was involved in a collision that sent his car into the air and led to his first DNF of the season. The damage of Hamilton’s car is still being reviewed by Mercedes, but it is very likely that they will have to replace his gearbox or power unit. A gearbox change would not warrant a grid penalty because Hamilton would still be within his allotted amount for the season, but a new power unit would result in Hamilton starting at the back of the grid. If Hamilton is forced to take this penalty in Zandvoort, a track where overtaking is not as easy as it was in Spa, he will have a lot of work to do during the race. 

Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton made contact on the first lap of the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix

Just before the summer break, Haas debuted their upgrades package at the Hungarian Grand Prix. They have been testing the package, but it hasn’t seemed to give the VF-22 any significant advantages. In Spa, Mick Schumacher started in P19 due to his grid penalties and he finished in P17 with Kevin Magnussen starting P12 and finishing down in P16. Team principal Guenther Steiner has said that Spa didn’t necessarily suit the Haas car, but a good sign for the upgrades was that the data on the car matched the data the team had predicted and previously collected. This could mean that the upgrades work the way the team wanted or expected them to, and they now need to unlock the car’s maximum potential.

Max Verstappen and Red Bull’s performance at Spa was amazing. With just one Q3 run, Verstappen out-qualified everyone by over six tenths of a second and he won the race with a twenty second lead after starting from P14. The car, strategy, and driver were just on point last weekend. Part of this dominant success might come from the fact that the track perfectly suited the RB18 and the team managed to get the perfect setup for the car. Ferrari and Mercedes however, shouldn’t have been so far off of Verstappen’s pace and need to make up for it at the Circuit Zandvoort. The track, located in the seaside town of Zandvoort, has only one long straight but fourteen corners and two DRS zones. The Ferrari is better in corners than the Red Bull is, so hopefully they can be more competitive during the Dutch Grand Prix. 

Circuit Zandvoort

Honorable Mentions:

• At the Belgian Grand Prix, it was announced that Audi would join F1 in 2026 as a power unit supplier. The FIA has published new power unit regulations for 2026, including increased electrical power and 100% sustainable fuels. Audi has not announced which team it will be working with, but it is suspected that their team will be with Sauber. I guess we should give Audi a nice, warm welcome to F1.

• Max Verstappen has a special helmet for this race that pays tribute to his dad, former F1 driver Jos Verstappen. He used his dad’s old racing helmet design and put his own spin on it to create this weekend’s helmet. While this IS very wholesome and sweet, nothing will ever compare to Alex Albon’s albon_pets Silverstone helmet.

Jos Verstappen's helmet (left) and Max Verstappen's tribute helmet (right)

The greatest helmet of all time, the Albon Pets helmet

The Dutch Grand Prix should hopefully have Ferrari getting a double podium, Haas improving their performance, and help us gain some clarity on the Oscar Piastri situation. I will be back next week to tell you if any of these wishes ended up coming true!

Brace yourselves for the orange.

Happy Race Weekend!

- Divya

Where I got these

from:

• https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.verstappens-home-crowd-and-the-latest-on-piastri-5-storylines-were-excited.17PMz7jbLNsA1jobMm7N9M.html 

• https://www.racefans.net/2021/09/01/no-drs-zone-through-zandvoorts-banked-final-turn/#:~:text=Zandvoort%20has%20a%20reputation%20for,point%20prior%20to%20turn%2010 

• https://www.racefans.net/f1-information/going-to-a-race/zandvoort/

• https://www.formula1.com/en/racing/2022/Netherlands/Circuit.html

• https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/drivers.html 

• https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.mercedes-strategy-chief-says-hamilton-determined-to-fight-at-zandvoort-after.6PcNGVuBgHvJ5p1qANjaYl.html 

• https://www.haasf1team.com/news/dutch-grand-prix-preview-0 

• https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.breaking-audi-to-join-formula-1-from-2026.yr9pFVd5nSQBbZ7EZZDLJ.html 

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0ykvCtjLwI

Pictures:

• https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/oOMVUAMJEBTzisWCUE1zNw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjtoPTY2Ng--/https://s.yimg.com/os/creatr-uploaded-images/2021-09/6f50ba40-0e8a-11ec-b7f6-dad492f7daea 

• https://d3cm515ijfiu6w.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/16143837/Colton-Herta-greeting-fans-planetF1-1200x630.jpg 

• https://d3cm515ijfiu6w.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/29083656/lewis-hamilton-takes-flight-at-spa-planetf1-1200x630.jpg 

• https://www.formula1.com/content/dam/fom-website/2018-redesign-assets/Circuit%20maps%2016x9/Netherlands_Circuit.png 

• https://news.verstappen.com/img/2022/Speciale_Dutch_GP_2022_helm/MV_DGP_2022_Helmet_21-22b.jpg 

• https://cdn.sanity.io/images/fnx611yr/production/506b628694816e8c60ba38a3cf8febbc1c8b4b7e-1920x1080.png?w=920&auto=format