Welcome back to The Roar’s F1 talking points.
It’s been a few weeks since our last edition with plenty happening in the meantime. With another race in the books, just what is on the agenda when it comes to the world of F1?
Direct from the Netherlands, it’s time to get into them.
Sea of Orange ruins Sea of Orange
Lando Norris has always joked about the Max Verstappen fans being there to support McLaren rather than their Dutch hero, and in Zandvoort, he may have been right.
On arrival at the Zandvoort circuit, you are greeted by a ‘welcome to the Sea of Orange’ sign in preparation for all the rabid Dutch fans, but it was interesting to see a myriad of McLaren fans that have emerged from the woodwork since their recent revival.
With Norris absolutely crushing his title rival to ruin the hopes of the home fans, it was a very different happy sea of orange this time around at the Dutch Grand Prix.
(Photo by Athabasca Advocate)
Even after his now trademark poor start from pole, there seemed to be no stopping Norris on his quest for only his second-ever F1 victory.
A crushing margin of more than 20 seconds only solidified just how dominant his race was.
For long-suffering McLaren fans, this is nothing but good news. It has been a tough time for the team over the last decade and a half, particularly during the mid-2010s when they fell right towards the back of the pack.
With McLaren winning and Verstappen still attracting his massive legion of fans, F1 is very much an orange sport right now wherever you look.
Norris can win the title
Nine rounds remain in this marathon F1 season. Lando Norris currently finds himself 70 points behind Max Verstappen.
That’s two and a bit wins essentially. Sounds like a massive margin right?
Let’s do some basic math. If Norris was to win every race for the remainder of the season and Verstappen was to finish second, he would fall just short by seven points in winning the title.
However, when you factor in nine available fastest lap points, and three more sprint races to come, that opens things up slightly for Norris if that were to be the case.
Of course, you don’t expect Norris to win every race for the rest of the season, nor do you expect Verstappen to finish second in every race.
A lot can still happen. But given that Verstappen has now gone five races without winning and he is single-handedly keeping Red Bull alive in both Championships, you would be a safe bet to put money on Norris keeping up the momentum as the title fight keeps going to the end of the year.
(Photo by CNN)
Rewind to the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in May where Verstappen had won five of the opening seven rounds of the season, and you would’ve had very long odds that the Championship fight would remotely be close.
No matter how you look at it, Norris has the form and the pace to challenge Verstappen for the 2024 title.
Ferrari provide a surprise
Even the most confident of Ferrari fans would not have hoped to see one of their cars on the podium at Zandvoort.
Particularly myself sitting on a hill, decked out in Ferrari red on race day.
But low and behold out of nowhere, Charles Leclerc drove a storming race to find himself in third and secure back-to-back podiums for the Scuderia for the first time since May.
Added to that was the strong drive from Carlos Sainz, who went from tenth to fifth on Sunday.
Both Sainz and Leclerc were seemingly shocked at their race pace, with both Ferraris arguably the second fastest car during the race, only behind the dominant McLarens.
This was on show with Leclerc, who somehow managed to hold off Oscar Piastri’s McLaren to hold on for his seventh podium of the season.
While one race doesn’t exactly give them a return to form that we saw earlier in 2024, it gives a slight glimmer of hope to the team coming into their home race in Monza this weekend.
Let’s once again hope for a red-coloured miracle in Italy.
Sargeant has almost run out of lives
I’ve been a supporter of Logan Sargeant for his entire F1 career, but it’s hard to remain in that camp for much longer given his recent form.
A heavy crash for the American on Saturday in the Netherlands only added fuel to the fire that he may be released early from his contract, with sharks circling around his position and rumours circulating that Liam Lawson or Mick Schumacher may be set to fill the second Williams seat for the remainder of 2024.
It’s a harsh reality in the world of F1 that no matter where your seat is on the grid, you have to perform.
(Photo by CNN)
Sadly for Sargeant, his flashes of good form have been so little that it’s all about the bad flashes that are set to cost him his seat.
Could that be in time for Monza this weekend? It’s very much a possibility.
With both Lawson and Schumacher seeking a return to the grid next season in one of the three remaining seats at Mercedes, Kick Sauber and RB, it could be a perfect opportunity for either of them to show what they are capable of.
Sadly, for Sargeant, it seems as though he won’t have the same chance.
The learnings of an overseas race
It’s always interesting to go to a new race that you haven’t experienced before as a fan, particularly one in the hotbed of F1 in Europe.
Off the back of the Olympics, I stuck around in Europe for a few weeks with the intention of seeing at least one F1 race – that happened to be the Dutch Grand Prix.
I braced myself for the previously mentioned seas of orange, and the expected Dutch army did not disappoint.
Compared to the Australian Grand Prix, the atmosphere was second to none. The chanting. The fan support. The music. The party atmosphere. Definitely something that Australia could take a page from.
The proximity to the beach and a train station also made it an interesting experience.
Yes, the queues were long. Yes, there were long waits for transport back into Amsterdam.
But being able to leave a track and be on the beach to enjoy some beers and burgers and a party atmosphere was something I never thought possible at a Grand Prix. It certainly was a fun time.
However, while this worked and gave the Dutch Grand Prix a leg up over the Australian Grand Prix, there were definitely things it lacked and Melbourne by far holds a candle to it.
In Australia, you barely go five minutes without some form of action happening on track.
There is always something happening – and off track too.
The access a fan has around the entire circuit is amazing – and no matter what your taste in motorsport, you will have something to entertain you.
Added to this is a four-day event versus a three-day event, and the Australian Grand Prix still holds the title as the most complete race of the season when it comes to on and off-track activities.
Melbourne also has updates and access in its favour too. No matter where you sit at Albert Park you have access to either track commentary or a screen, always keeping you updated on what is going on in any form of race.
At Zandvoort it was difficult to stay up to date with what was happening in large parts of the track, making it very hard to follow what was happening.
The very one-sided nature of the crowd also made it somewhat lacklustre once Max Verstappen wasn’t going to win, while in Australia the large diversity of F1 fans always makes it unique to whoever is going to win and the celebrations that come with it.
A very interesting difference.
Of course, there is plenty more to go on both sides, but one thing is for sure.
The Dutch Grand Prix was an incredibly well-put-together race that is worth a visit at least once for any F1 fan.
This article was originally written for The Roar. You can read the published version here
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