August 24, 2023
Welcome back! After about four weeks of basking in the sun, biking through Colorado (Valtteri Bottas), and being a golf boyfriend (Alex Albon), F1 returns from its summer break for a jam-packed second half of the season. This weekend’s trip to the Netherlands, the land of Max Verstappen, is the first of 10 races scheduled over the next 13 weeks. Here is everything you need to know for the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix:
Weekend Schedule (in EST):
Practice 1: Friday 08/25, 6:30-7:30 AM
Practice 2: Friday 08/25, 10:00-11:00 AM
Practice 3: Saturday 08/26, 5:30-6:30 AM
Qualifying: Saturday 08/26, 9:00-10:00 AM
Race: Sunday 08/27, 09:00 AM
Circuit Zandvoort
Located on the coast of Holland, Circuit Zandvoort is regarded as the “rollercoaster” of the race calendar. The narrow, medium-to-high downforce track features 2 DRS zones and 14 corners, two of which are banked at 15-18°. To put that into perspective, 15-18° is about double the banking of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the Indy 500 is held. Such slopes are some of the only overtaking opportunities on the track because they can be taken at much higher speeds than the average corner and make for multiple racing lines. The rest of the track is far too narrow for drivers to go wheel to wheel. Zandvoort also gets quite slippery due to winds that blow sand from nearby beaches and dunes onto the track. With all of these challenges at a track that punishes even the slightest of mistakes, teams and drivers are in for quite a treat this weekend.
The banking of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Imagine a corner on double that tilt.
So far, Red Bull have won every race of the season and it doesn’t look like they are stopping any time soon. And not only is Red Bull on track to win both championships well before the season ends, but they are breaking records left and right. They broke McLaren’s longstanding record for most consecutive wins by a single team and this weekend, Max Verstappen can match Sebastian Vettel’s record of 9 consecutive race wins. 2023 is just one historic season for the Austrian team.
Although first place has virtually already been decided, the fight for second in the constructors championship is heating up. Mercedes currently holds the position with a 51 point lead on Aston Martin and Ferrari and McLaren not too far behind. The Papaya team had mixed results in Spa’s rainy, low-speed conditions. While Oscar Piastri got his maiden F1 trophy with P2 in the Sprint, Sunday’s race saw him retire after contact with Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris only finished P7. Meanwhile, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc managed to finish best of the rest in P3, Mercedes had a good points haul with P4 and P6, and Aston Martin finished P5 and P9. These top four teams all have different strengths that allow them to excel at certain tracks but struggle at others. Zandvoort should play to the strengths of McLaren and Mercedes, so hopefully we can get another McLaren podium.
Starting last year, F1 implemented a rule requiring teams to give a minimum of two practice sessions to young drivers throughout the season. This weekend, Ferrari reserve driver Robert Schwartzman will take the wheel of Carlos Sainz’s SF-23 for FP1. As the season progresses, we will see other teams put their junior or reserve drivers in the car as well.
Now onto Silly Season. Well, I guess it is the lack of Silly Season. Summer break is usually the time of year when teams announce their driver swaps or contract extensions for the next year. Unfortunately for us, this year’s Silly Season seems to be delayed. Haas and AlphaTauri both have seats up for grabs, but I don’t know if anything will change. Guenther Steiner probably won’t get rid of Kevin Magnussen or Nico Hulkeberg because 1) both of them have been doing fairly well this season and 2) there isn’t really anyone else for Haas to hire. AlphaTauri, on the other hand, just switched Nyck de Vries for Daniel Ricciardo mid-season so they probably won’t confirm anything about their 2024 driver lineup until much later in the season. If they do make a change, it would most likely be to give reserve driver Liam Lawson a chance, but we still don’t know whose seat he would take.
At Williams, Logan Sargeant’s spot is up in the air. There have been rumors about Mick Schumacher replacing the American but we don’t know how accurate they are. Last year’s Williams team principal, Jost Capitano, said the team intended to give Sargeant a test season because they knew it was a big jump to make after only one season in F2. However, that was last year’s boss. With James Vowels now in charge, we don’t know what the situation is. Regardless, Sargeant will probably want to start putting points on the board to secure his spot for 2024.
Speaking of team bosses, Alpine doesn’t have one anymore! Ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, it was announced that team principal Otmar Szafnauer and Sporting Director Alan Permane were leaving the team after that weekend. Alpine’s management have been hounding Szafnauer and the team to deliver more consistent and promising results all season, and it looks like they decided enough was enough. I feel like the team has done reasonably well this season with their podium in Monaco and P6 standing in the championship. Even in Spa, with the team’s leaders leaving, Pierre Gasly finished P3 in the Sprint and Esteban Ocon scored points on Sunday. I guess it wasn’t good enough. For the time being, interim team principal Bruno Famin will lead the team as management searches for Szafnauer’s replacement. It will be interesting to see how these structural changes have impacted the team.
That’s all for now. Zandvoort should be interesting with Max Verstappen as the hometown hero and teams bringing their post summer updates. Spa was always the season re-opener because of its history as a test track but this season it’s different. This will be the first time Zandvoort tests major upgrades and with its layout, I am keen to see how that works out.
I will be back after the race.
Happy Race Weekend!
- Divya
Where I got these
from: