Verstappen facing four-car barrier to fourth straight success at home · RaceFans

As much as its name implies that teams down tools for some much needed respite over August, the ‘summer shutdown’ is actually a critical opportunity for teams to take a major step forward in the development race.

If you’re not showing up for the first race back with a raft of shiny new upgrades designed to wring at least a tenth or two out of your car, you can guarantee your nearest rivals will.

Red Bull have sat atop Formula 1’s perch throughout the ground effect era so far that was easy to assume that the world champions would turn up to Max Verstappen’s home grand prix and seize back their place at the front once more after several rounds of being bested by McLaren and Mercedes. Instead, the feedback from the championship leader after a tricky and windy opening day of practice at Zandvoort was that little progress had been made in their efforts to return to the front of the field.

“We’re a bit too slow”, was Verstappen’s assessment after setting the fifth-fastest time in the dry second practice session on Friday afternoon, while team mate Sergio Perez was well down the order in 12th.

But it was not just the RB20’s performance over a single lap that concerned the only Dutch driver in the field this weekend. The dry conditions of the second practice session provided drivers the opportunity to carry out multiple high-fuel runs on both medium and soft compounds later in the hours. And Red Bull were slower than both McLaren and Mercedes through their long runs on the medium rubber.

While the caveat, as always, remains that fuel loads remain unknown, signs point to McLaren and Mercedes – the two latest teams to have achieved grand prix victories – being in the strongest positions heading into the two most important days of the weekend. Even Belgian Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton, who rarely seems to climb out of his car on a Friday in an optimistic mood, was refreshingly positive about his team’s prospects.

“I felt okay today,” Hamilton said after the session. “It’s not a bad start to the weekend.

“It’s a big, big difference compared to last year. The car is definitely feeling more alive. We’re right up there at the front.”

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His team mate George Russell, who set the pace on Friday with the best time on soft tyres despite a couple of trips through the gravel over the two sessions, was as happy with the performance of the revised new floor that his team had been forced to take off last time out at Spa as he was with his lap time.

“The car was performing really well. We’ve got the upgrades on, which seemed to be working as expected. It looks like quite a close battle with the McLarens, with Max, but it could all be different again tomorrow.”

But if Mercedes think that their success in Spa will set them up to be the team to beat on Sunday, McLaren have come to hit the ground running for the second phase of the season with a new rear wing designed to improve their high-downforce performance along with a raft of other upgrades. Although the team’s pace looked encouraging with their new parts, Lando Norris was unsure whether they were enough to make McLaren the team to beat heading into qualifying and the race.

“I don’t think there is a ‘quickest’,” he said. “It just depends on different factors.

“We’ve been in good form since Miami, but we’ve not really bought any updates since Miami. This weekend’s our first time trying to make a bit more progress with the car. So I’m optimistic, but I have no idea if it’s working or not or how it’s performing at the minute. But today was a reasonable day and we’re there or thereabouts, so a little bit more to find overnight, hopefully, and we can challenge the Mercedes.”

Qualifying sessions throughout 2024 have been uniquely competitive and a relatively short circuit like Zandvoort is likely to produce one of the closest qualifying hours of the season. With the narrow nature of the circuit, traffic is going to be more of concern than ever – both for drivers trying to ensure they get clean flying laps in and for everyone else looking to avoid a summons from the stewards after the session for impeding.

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The last two qualifying Saturdays have seem some intriguing instances of mind games being played between the two highest-ranked drivers, Verstappen and Norris. McLaren just happened to send Norris out at the Hungaroring to be running through the final corners when Verstappen arrived behind him on his push lap, as if to provide a little distraction for the world champion.

Then at Spa, Verstappen returned the favour to the McLaren driver through the final chicane at the end of Norris’s first push lap in Q1. It’s almost inevitable that the two rivals will meet on track at some stage in qualifying, and it will be interesting to see how courteous they are to each other.

But anyone hoping for a clear answer about who is truly the fastest after tomorrow’s qualifying session will likely be left disappointed, given that rain could complicate matters once again.
Although current forecasts have qualifying at 3pm more likely to be dry than wet, the skies overhead will offer an ever-present threat of rain throughout the hour. That’s not what Russell was hoping for.

“The first six races, the car was off the pace but the weather was consistent and it was pretty straightforward race weekends for everyone,” Russell said. “And then suddenly as soon as the car’s been quick – Canada, Silverstone – all sorts has been being thrown at us.

“But it’s the same for everyone. I’m just really excited to be back. I can’t wait to go out in qualifying and feel that battle and excitement that qualifying always offers.”

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Combined practice times

2024 Dutch Grand Prix

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