Official F1 Journal Saturday Formula 1 Round Up- Zandvoort

26/8/2023

Practice 3- WET

Practice 3 started with rain falling and the very best of the field were being caught out in the rain, Max was off at turn 3, Norris was off in the same place, with Perez also find the gravel, all recovering with no damage. Redbull reserve driver and Redbull Academy driver Liam Lawson completed his first few laps around the wet Zandvoort after his very short notice call to driver after the news Daniel Ricciardo had broken his hand and couldn't compete any further in the weekends racing.

Most of the field ran the full wet tyres with the exception of both Mclaren's, Alpine's, Zhou and Magnussen. Sargeant had a small moment finding the grass before a Red Flag was thrown for the broken HAAS of Magnussen. Facing backwards in the wall after he lost the rear accelerating out of the challenging turn 3. Running resumed with 43 minutes to go on the clock and it wasn't long before the rain started to fall and the dry line that had started to form was gone in seconds.

The run down to turn 1 became a real challenge for the Ferrari's who both had issues stopping into the first corner, both almost hitting the wall, but running was brief and at 37 minutes to go running was halted again by a Red flag for the beached Alfa Romeo of Guanyu Zhou, who went off at turn 13 and got himself stuck in the wet gravel.
When the pit lane lights went green again with 26 minutes to go the Mclaren's were loving the conditions and their cars, swapping top times lap after lap, Russell and Perez however were both low down the order in 15th & 16th. Both Ferrari's and Fernando Alonso took further trips into the run off at turn but didn't hit the wall, Ocon was not so lucky and he hit the wall with a fair bump damaging his front wing but recovering to return to the pit lane.

Lawson also had a moment and despite getting going again, a 3rd Red flag was called but running got going again very quickly and with 8 minutes to go we started to see the times tumble, drivers who had been struggling low down in the timings, such as Russell, Perez and Alonso set great times, both Mclaren's were setting good laps but Max Verstappen was just mighty finishing the session 4 tenths up on closest rival George Russell. It was a 3rd tough session of the weekend for the Ferrari duo, both not seeming comfortable in the car at Zandvoort this weekend.

Practice 3 Result

1 VER 2 RUS
3 PER 4 ALO
5 HAM 6 ALB
7 PIA 8 BOT
9 LEC 10 NOR
11 GAS 12 SAI
13 TSU 14 SAR
15 HUL 16 OCO
17 STR 18 LAW
19 ZHO 20 MAG

©Mclaren media

Qualifying-

Q1- WET

The clock started and the track was very wet, and mistakes were being made all over the track, Albon had a big moment and had to take to the gravel between turn 11 & 12, Max followed Hulkenburg into the gravel of turn 1 but all carried on with no damage to their cars. As the cars ran more the water cleared faster and the times began to fall, despite Max Verstappen complaining about his car over the radio.
Both Mclaren's were setting very fast laps and purple sectors on every lap, until while exiting the pits Sainz almost crashed into Piastri, who had to take avoiding action.

Eliminated Drivers

16 ZHO
17 OCO
18 MAG
19 BOT
20 LAW

©Alfa Romeo

With 3 to go the rain was falling and big names like Sainz, Hamilton and Leclerc found themselves in the drop zone, Sainz set a decent time followed by the Hamilton putting both drivers safely into the top 10 but Leclerc had a much harder lap but managed to just avoid going out in Q1 by getting a time worthy of 14th just keeping him in for Q2.

Q2- Wet but drying

Q2 began wit a damp but drying track with the potential to get to Dry tyre running, but would anyone make the jump?
Hamilton wasn't happy with his car from the beginging of the session asking for multiple changes to be made to try and find time with the car in these changing conditions that Lewis is normally so confident in. sainz was also struggling with not just the car but traffic also compromising his fastest laps.
With 4 minutes to go Perez went 2nd but was down on team mate Verstappen by over a second.

Eliminated Drivers

11 STR
12 GAS
13 HAM
14 TSU
15 HUL

The track was almost dry at the end but no drivers chose to pit for slicks. Albon was flying and setting the top times in the closing minutes of Q2 and as the other drivers started setting faster laps the 2 ferraris were in the drop zone with just 2 flying laps of time avaliable, thankfully both drivers set times that took them through to Q3 but Hamilton was not so lucky and just couldn't put a strong enough lap together and was out as the checkered flag fell on the session.

Sargeant gets through to Q3 for the first time this season and the first time Williams have had both cars into Q3 in 2023.

Q3- Almost a dry track

Only 4 driver chose to start the final session on the dry tyres, despite the track being very close to the whole field choosing the dry option. Russell, Albon, Sargeant & Sainz chose the dry tyre but only 2 minutes into the session Sargeant found the wall backwards in his Willams racing car, not his ideal end to his first Q3 but unfortunately he just kissed a wetter part of the track and dropped the rear and hit the wall hard.
After a lengthy barrier fix all 10 cars came out on dry soft tyres. Russell came out of the garage flying beating the times from before the red flag by over 3 seconds until the 2 Mclaren's went faster. Then with 4 to go a 2nd red flag for Q3 as Charles Leclerc hits the barriers on the exit of turn 9, leaving Norris top Piastri 2nd & Verstappen 3rd with 4 minutes left on the clock with a rapidly drying track.

Top 10

1 VER
2 NOR
3 RUS
4 ALB
5 ALO
6 SAI
7 PER
8 PIA
9 LEC
10 SAR

All the cars again came out on dry tyres, Perez, Albon and Alonso went out straight away to set a banker lap, with the rest joining them shortly after. Despite being 7 tenths up after the first sector from Max Verstappen behind him Lando Norris was another a tenth faster than that, but a slow middle sector left him 2nd to the Dutchman. Russell and Albon put in mighty laps to finish 3rd and 4th followed by Alonso and Sainz in 5th & 6th meaning there are 6 different constructors in the top 6 on the grid. . Vertsappen taking a mighty pole by 0.537 seconds at his home race, in what was a brilliant Qualifying for not just him but also the Mclaren's Alex Albon is continuing a strong weekend here at Zandvoort.

On to tomorrow for the Dutch Grand Prix, lets hope the weather gives up as much controversy then as it has today.

Joanna Blackmore
Writer @ F1 Journal

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FORMULA 1