The second race of the only triple-header of the 2022 season sees Formula 1 return to Zandvoort for the second Dutch Grand Prix to be held around the extensively revamped classic venue.
With thousands of fans set to see a Dutch world champion racing at home for the first time with even more fans in attendance than last year, it’s sure to be a lively race weekend in the Netherlands. But will they see a close contest, or a repeat of last week’s Red Bull rout?
A tougher time for Verstappen at home?
Having won the world championship in 2021, Max Verstappen appears to be cruising towards his second title after three consecutive race wins see him hold an astonishing 93 point lead in the drivers’ championship. And with his two most recent wins coming from 10th and 14th on the grid, it would be easy to assume that it will be another easy victory for the Red Bull driver, especially if he does not have the same setbacks this weekend as he had to deal with in Hungary and Belgium.
However, Red Bull’s high top speed at Spa and across the season so far has suggested that lower downforce circuits play to their car’s strengths. Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto believes that the high-speed nature of Spa-Francorchamps may have played into Red Bull’s hands last weekend.
“I think that Spa is always amplifying the gaps because it’s a long track and whenever you’ve got a slight advantage on efficiency, normally, it’s amplified and very obviously in such a circuit,” Binotto said. “So yes, we hope to be back in the next races to be closer while I still believe that they’ve got today a slightly faster car.”
After Mercedes were not even close to being within reach of the Red Bulls last weekend, they will be hoping for performance more akin to what they enjoyed at the Hungaroring – a circuit far similar to Zandvoort than Spa is.
“We’ve got a couple of days to regroup and plan for Zandvoort,” said Mercedes’ trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin. “It’s got some similar challenges with very fast corners, so hopefully we can make a bit of progress having analysed the data from this weekend.”
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Banking on better racing
The reviews of the updated Zandvoort track from drivers after the first race back in 2021 were widely positive. But while the circuit offered a challenge to drivers to nail a perfect lap – as multiple mistakes during last year’s qualifying session proved – overtaking…
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