F1 News: A title fight kicks off the most important storylines at the Dutch F1 Grand Prix

42 points.

As Formula 1 returns from its summer break for the Dutch Grand Prix this week, Red Bull and McLaren are separated by just 42 points in the Constructors’ Championship. Buoyed by a fast car and two fast drivers, McLaren built on its strong finish to the 2023 season and put the rest of the F1 world on notice in the first half of the 2024 season.

But can they really catch Max Verstappen, Sergio Pérez and Red Bull?

Given the current form of both teams, it looks as though they could do just that. After all, McLaren has outperformed every team – including Red Bull – in the eight races since the Miami Grand Prix, when Lando Norris made his breakthrough with his first F1 victory.

There are also Reason to believe that McLaren could be even better on the home straight. Miami was the first real upgrade package the team introduced this year and in recent days team boss Andrea Stella has stated that they will be bringing out even more upgrades towards the end of the season. Of course they have to work on getting McLaren to show even more improvements but if they do that…

The rest of the field will not sit idly by, however. Mercedes has its own claim to the title of ‘hottest team in Formula 1’, having won three of the last four Grands Prix and was on course for a one-two finish at the Belgian Grand Prix until George Russell was disqualified.

What helped Lewis Hamilton win.

At Ferrari, they were only 24 points behind Red Bull after Charles Leclerc’s long-awaited victory at the Monaco Grand Prix. They have slipped since then – McLaren overtook them to take second place in the Constructors’ Championship as Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. have only managed two podiums between them since Monaco – but if they can get the SF-24 under control, they could still play a role down the home straight.

And then of course there is Red Bull.

Verstappen is still Verstappen, and the Dutch driver is on course for his fourth consecutive drivers’ title as he currently holds a 78-point lead over Lando Norris. But on the constructors’ side, Red Bull is under pressure. Perhaps this season is best summed up by the results at Silverstone. Red Bull got so many strategy decisions right with Verstappen despite conditions changing during the race, and yet he still only finished second behind Hamilton.

Even if they do perfectly this year, it might not be enough for Red Bull.

With just ten races left, this constructors’ battle could become a fight for the ages, kicking off this weekend at the Dutch Grand Prix.

Here are some other important storylines to follow this week.

What is happening in the driver market?

Four seats. A handful of frontrunners, countless options and a lot of speculation left.

This is the status of the F1 driver market as the game of musical chairs comes to an end. There are only four places left for the 2025 season: one at the RB F1 Team, the place vacated by Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, one at Alpine and one at Sauber alongside Nico Hülkenberg.

Will there be any news before this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix? Will the results of the next few races, including this weekend, influence a decision at VCARB?

Beginning of summer We made our predictions here at SB Nation how the rest of the driver market will play out. In short, we think Mercedes will select Andrea Kimi Antonelli, the young phenomenon currently racing in F2. We think Jack Doohan will get the nod at Alpine, while Valtteri Bottas will keep his current seat at Sauber. At VCARB, we have given the nod to Liam Lawson, which might be the most difficult decision regarding these final four spots.

We may see this week whether these predictions were correct…

The battle for sixth place

The battle at the front of the field will capture the attention of the F1 world over the next few months.

But that is not the only fight that is worth watching and reporting on.

A thrilling battle for sixth place is brewing between the Visa Cash App RB F1 Team and Haas, and this battle has become increasingly exciting in recent weeks. Thanks to this Graphic by Formula1Points You can see how this race has become tighter:

When the F1 tripleheader began in mid-summer, VCARB held a 28-7 lead in the Constructors’ Championship thanks to an eighth-place finish (and the corresponding four points from that result) by Daniel Ricciardo at the Canadian Grand Prix.

While both teams came away empty-handed at the Spanish Grand Prix, two P6 results from Nico Hülkenberg at the Red Bull Ring and Silverstone earned Haas 16 vital points. While Yuki Tsunoda put VCARB on the list with a tenth-place finish at the British Grand Prix and Ricciardo added two more points in Austria, these results saw Haas narrow the gap to 31-27.

VCARB was able to put some distance between the two in the last two races before the summer break. Tsunoda took two points with a ninth place in Hungary and his tenth place in Spa brought another important point. After the summer break the gap between the teams is now 34-27.

But Haas is determined to catch up with its rivals.

“If we look at where we are now, we are seven points behind P6 – RB – so we have to try to reach P6 in the championship,” Haas team boss Ayao Komatso recently said“That is our goal for the rest of the season.

“We will see straight after the race break in Zandvoort whether we can perform and score points again. Budapest and Spa were tough – we are investigating why we were not able to do well in those two races. It is too late to influence the development because the development for the rest of the season is now complete. But just in terms of how we set up the car on the track, how we deal with the tires, etc., anything we can learn from Budapest and Spa would be beneficial. So it really is an ongoing process, but our sporting goal would be to fight for sixth place in the championship.”

The battle at the top will grab most of the headlines, but don’t miss the battle for sixth place.

Will the weather play a role?

Photo by Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images

The weather was a major factor at the Dutch Grand Prix last year as rain began to fall in wet conditions, prompting many drivers to switch to intermediates. The rain eased mid-race but later showers led to the red flag following a crash by Zhou Guanyu, halting the race for around 45 minutes. Verstappen survived a slippery restart to take another win, but the weather was a major factor.

Will it be the same again this year?

At the moment it looks like the race will take place in dry conditions, but it could be wet on Saturday. According to this weather reportIsolated rain showers are expected on Saturday, both during FP3 and qualifying.

So that’s something else to watch out for this week.

Can Sauber join the board?

When was the last time an F1 team was without any points at halftime? This came back in 2021 as Haas reached the summer final point of the year without either Nikita Mazepin or Mick Schumacher scoring a single point.

Unfortunately for Haas, the year ended the same way, with none of the drivers managing to finish in the top ten that season.

That was in 2021. And now? Sauber is facing the same situation. Although both Mazepin and Schumacher were rookies back then, Sauber has two experienced drivers in Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Gunayu.

And yet they have not yet achieved a single point for their efforts.

Their best result? Zhou’s eleventh place at the season opener, the Bahrain Grand Prix. Since then, the season has been “challenging,” as Valtteri Bottas recently described it.

“It was a challenging year for us,” Bottas told the official formula 1 channel. “We haven’t scored a single point yet, which wasn’t our goal for the season. We wanted to see an improvement compared to last year, but that didn’t happen.”

“We started the season with a car that was not so easy to set up and even in terms of pure speed we were not quite at our peak. Since then we have made some improvements but unlike some of the other teams around us they have been small steps rather than big leaps.”

Bottas sounded satisfied with his performance this season and noted: “But yes, I am happy with my performance and my job for the rest of the season is to get everything I can out of the package every weekend. That is my job.”

However, one thing is missing: a faster racing car.

Is that missing? Maybe a “miracle” according to Bottas“At the moment we still need some kind of miracle to get into the top ten,” added Bottas.

Can they deliver the faster race car – or maybe that miracle – this weekend?

The return of the F1 Academy

Photo by Pauline Ballet – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images

The end of the summer break means that F1 cars will soon be back on track. But that’s not the only return taking place this week. The F1 Academy, which last raced at the Spanish Grand Prix, is back in action this week at Zandvoort.

Alpine rider Abbi Pulling currently leads the championship with 147 points, ahead of Doriane Pin and Chloe Chambers, who both have 81 points this season. While Pin won the first race of the season, Pulling then took four consecutive victories to jump to the top of the championship standings.

But it was Chambers who made the breakthrough last time out with her first win in the second race in Barcelona, ​​which goes down in the record books as the first victory for the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team.

As Formula 1 returns to action this week, don’t miss any of the action from the F1 Academy. The first race is scheduled for Saturday, the second for Sunday. F1 Academy qualifying takes place on Saturday.