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Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team will consider themselves unlucky despite walking away from the Dutch Grand Prix with a second and fourth place finish. Lewis Hamilton felt he should have at battled for his first win of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, but a series of unlucky events ended up losing him the podium as Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc and his own team-mate George Russell overtook him on fresh tyres. Russell had a successful afternoon finishing on the podium for the sixth time this season.

Mercedes’ trackside engineering director, Andrew Shovlin was pleased with the progress the team made, and how important a good strategy was to their success.

“Our plan all along was to try and make a one stop strategy work if Red Bull and Ferrari went for the two stop as expected, as that would have given us the best chance of fighting for the win today. Unfortunately, the VSC caused by the Alpha Tauri scuppered that as Max would no longer drop behind us, so we took the opportunity to fit the Medium to both cars.

“We were then looking good to get both on the podium when the final safety car gave us the conundrum of taking track position on the relatively fresh Mediums, or fitting a used Soft from qualifying. Clearly the Medium struggled so that dropped Lewis back to fourth but it was great to see George up there on the podium having driven a very strong race.“

Mercedes will look to push on and get their first win of the season, and they will be hoping that they won’t look back on this opportunity with regret.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team were close to their first win of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 Championship at the Dutch Grand Prix, but a series of unlucky events, including a safety car stopped that from happening.

However, there was plenty of positives for Mercedes as they moved even closer towards the power of the Red Bull. George Russell scored his sixth podium of the season, with a second place finish after he overtook Lewis Hamilton after the safety car restart. Hamilton looked on for the win but a virtual and full safety car went against the seven-time world champion as Verstappen overtook him on the safety car restart, with Russell and Leclerc later following him.

Mercedes team principle, Toto Wolff was pleased with the teams progress despite the disappointment for Hamilton.

“Zandvoort was a good track for us and both drivers performed to the maximum today with a strong car. We had some tough decisions to take with the safety car towards the end.

“With Lewis ahead, you can do two things: you can either pit him, lose track position against Verstappen and leave George out – screwed. You can pit both, but you are settling for second and third and we agreed as a team this morning to fight for the win, so it was worth the risk.“

After claiming his tenth win of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season at the Dutch Grand Prix, Max Verstappen has stated that he ‘had to work even harder’ for victory today than he did at last year’s race around Zandvoort.

Starting from pole on the soft compound tyre, Verstappen was able to maintain his lead in the early stages of today’s race but the threat of Lewis Hamilton on the medium tyre loomed large. Degradation of the soft tyre forced the home-crowd favourite into his first pit-stop of the day, subsequently handing the race lead to Hamilton.

Verstappen would eventually regain the lead after both Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team cars pitted but with Verstappen set for a two-stop race, the Oracle Red Bull Racing driver looked set to have to overtake the seven-time world champion if he was to claim victory today.

Benefiting from a cheap pit-stop on lap forty-eight as a result of the virtual safety-car, Verstappen was able to maintain his lead but just seven laps later the full safety-car was brought out due to Valtteri Bottas stopping on the start/finish straight.

Verstappen pitted for the soft compound of tyre and was able to routinely pass Hamilton come the restart before the two had even made it to turn one. The Dutchmen would cruise on home for the race victory to further extend his significant lead in the Drivers’ Championship.

Johan Kristoffersson remains unbeaten in the new RX1e top class of the 2022 FIA World Rallycross Championship. The four-time world champion used the Ferratum World RX Of Riga-Latvia as the venue to take a historic 30th career victory just 0.285 seconds ahead of a charging Kevin Hansen, who repeated his second place finish from yesterday despite being bottom of the standings at one stage and recovering from a spin in his semi-final, and fellow Kristoffersson Motorsport driver Ole Christian Veiby in third.

Typically understated, Kristoffersson said “It was tricky, it was up and down, but so happy with the guys. They’ve been working so hard and the cars are really flying on track. It was a tough fight with Kevin but…I just had enough laps to make that joker different option compared to Kevin. I’d also like to thank all the spectators here in Riga. It’s a track that I love, and I’m looking forward to coming back next year.”

The final race of the weekend was a very technical affair. Both Hansen World RX Team cars made brilliant starts, demonstrating the teamwork that the brothers Kevin and Timmy Hansen have become known for. Kristoffersson almost took Timmy out in the first corner, but backed off the throttle to avoid a total spin for both of them. In a rare potential tactical error, Timmy dived into his joker on the first lap, freeing up Kristoffersson to charge down race leader Kevin Hansen, rather than being held up behind the elder of the two siblings. However, it seemed like this tactic was going to play off. Kristoffersson didn’t really seem to have an answer for the pace of the Hansen Peugeot 208 RX1e cars. Kevin jokered on the penultimate lap, and that gave Kristoffersson the clear air he needed. He put in a storming charge on the final lap and managed to exit the joker merge a mere whisker ahead of his compatriot, Kevin Hansen.

It was a day of much learning and development for each of the teams, as the new all-electric cars of the RX1e class had to contend with wet conditions for the first time. Unsurprisingly, Kristoffersson seemed to adapt quickly, winning his heat race over five seconds ahead of his teammate, Veiby. Timmy Hansen led his brother home in their first heat of the day, but was a full seven seconds slower than Kristoffersson had been in the same conditions.

Heat two got underway in dramatic fashion. Kevin Hansen started on the inside of the track, which is exactly where Veiby would have liked to have been. Veiby muscled his Volkswagen Polo RX1e alongside Hansen, closing the door on him to such an extent that the front-left corner of the car clouted the wall, meaning the young Swede’s race was over before it had even begun. Timmy Hansen found some pace for his second heat race, winning the race and securing second spot in the heat tables before heading into the final rounds.

Max Verstappen, has won the Dutch Grand Prix for the second time in a row, meaning he has won both races since Zandvoort Circuit‘s return to the FIA Formula 1 World Championship calendar last year. Verstappen, who started the race from pole position, was under pressure from the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team car of Lewis Hamilton throughout the entire race but was able to overtake for the lead in the dying laps as a result of a better strategy.

Verstappen’s Oracle Red Bull Racing team-mate, Sergio Pérez, finished the race in fifth, after squabbling with a penalised Carlos Sainz Jr. in the dying laps of the race. The Mexican didn’t have the pace on Sunday afternoon to fight with the front-runners but was a vital part of Verstappen’s strategy when he was needed to hold up the Mercedes drivers.

The rest of the podium

George Russell finished the race in second place – his best result of the season – after making a strategy call behind the safety car in the dying stages of the race. The Briton was racing on the Medium tyre but asked to switch to the Soft in order to attack Hamilton and Verstappen at the end for the win.

Russell was able to pass his team-mate on track but had to settle for second as the Red Bull had too much pace and pulled away.

Meanwhile, Hamilton was unhappy with his team at the end of the Dutch Grand Prix, after not being switched to the Soft tyre during the final safety car period in order to defend from Verstappen. The number forty-four driver was forced to defend with used (but not very old) Medium tyres, compared to Verstappen’s brand new set of Soft tyres.

Sheldon Creed was going to do all he could to make the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs, even if it meant running full speed and riding the wall. Unfortunately for him, as sparks poured out of his car, Noah Gragson had more than enough momentum on the inside line through the final two corners to beat him to the finish.

Creed, whose rookie season has been plagued by bad luck and misfortunes, looked to be the late favourite in Saturday’s event at Darlington Raceway as he led much of the final stage. Brandon Jones’ spin set up a fourteen-lap run to the finish in which he faced challenges from Gragson and Cup Series driver Kyle Larson. Larson caught Creed’s bumper in the waning moments before attempting his move as they began the final lap, which led to contact that pushed Creed into the wall.

As Larson and Creed ran side-by-side along the backstretch, Gragson capitalised by passing both of them on the inside. Creed felt his right-front tyre suffer a flat and, not sensing any other option if he wanted to win, did not brake entering turns three and four and consequently hit the wall. The move sacrificed Creed’s car to scrape more speed together in what many dubbed a “video game move”, but Gragson on the shorter inside groove with a consistent high speed rendered his action for naught.

Despite the defeat, Creed did not hold ill feeling towards Larson and shook his hand on pit road. Although he fell short of the win, the runner-up finish is the best of his Xfinity career to date and elevated him to thirteenth in points, sixteen below the playoff cut line with two races remaining. The forty-seven laps led were also his most in an Xfinity race.

“I was hoping they were going to get to racing behind me and kind of let me go there and when Kyle got next to me, my only opportunity was to go and side-draft as hard as I could,” Creed told NBC Sports. “We got in the wall there and I felt the right-front go down there going down the backstretch, so the only option was to pin it against the fence like playing Xbox or something. It worked for a while and then I just got stuck in it. Man, I wish that would have worked.”

Even on opposite ends of the Pacific Ocean, motorsport is a uniting factor for all to enjoy. Unfortunately, it is also a dangerous sport that can be deadly.

This weekend saw two separate fatal crashes during the Ultra4 USA 4400 class event at Crandon International Raceway in the United States as well as the Australian Off Road Championship‘s Rainbow Desert Enduro. Zandy Willems died in the Ultra4 accident, while two others were killed in the AORC race.

Ultra4 was to cap off Championship Off-Road‘s Saturday championship deciders on Saturday as the final races of the day, dubbed the “Rage at the Rocks”. The SxS and EMC (Every Man Challenge) races proceeded without much issue, but the 4400 saw major crashes that necessitated medical attention. The race was red flagged before being cancelled entirely. The sanctioning body did not release details immediately out of respect for those involved.

“The Ultra4 USA along with MidAmerica Outdoors teams are with our race families in prayers at this time,” read a statement from Ultra4. “We appreciate all of our fans and racers limiting social media comments and speculation regarding tonight’s race in Crandon as we work through the situation. Supporting and protecting our racers and their families is a top priority. We will bring more information to you as we are able.”

On Sunday, Rufus Racing announced Willems, who served as owner/driver, had succumbed to his injuries. Despite the tragedy, the team requested for Ultra4 to proceed with Sunday’s races in his honour.

FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas points leader Yazeer Al-Rajhi‘s Baja Poland came to an abrupt and terrifying end during the later portions of the opening stage on Saturday when his Toyota Hilux T1 caught fire. The blaze was so substantial that upon being extinguished, virtually the entire bodywork had been burned off, leaving just the frame and chassis.

Al-Rajhi and co-driver Michael Orr were able to escape the flames, though Orr fractured his ankle while jumping out and was taken to a local military hospital for treatment.

“Praise be to God, God forbid, and what he did not do because of a technical malfunction, my car was burnt today on a tour of Poland from the World Cup for Desert Rallies,” Al-Rajhi posted on social media.

The incident occurred shortly after the 200-kilometre mark in the stage, resulting in a stoppage for all competitors. It proved to be such a disruption to the race that the third and final stage was shortened from 210.84 to 138.62 km.

Competing for Overdrive Racing, Al-Rajhi had finished the qualifying stage third overall behind Krzysztof Hołowcyzc and fellow Hilux driver Benediktas Vanagas. Hołowcyzc would win the rally after leading the final day on Sunday.

Aston Martin were frustrated at their Dutch Grand Prix qualifying session yesterday for the fifteenth round if the FIA Formula 1 World Championship as they only managed to get one car into Q3, while clearly having the pace to get both cars into the top ten.

Lance Stroll qualified well in tenth, but an issue on his car stopped him from running in Q3, while the vastly experienced Sebastian Vettel had no luck as he bombed out in the first qualifying session of the day.

Team Principle, Mike Krack felt sympathy for the four-time World Champion considering he had the pace to be in a similar position to his teammate.

“Sebastian was on a quick lap in Q1 when he arrived at Turn 13 to find the racing line coated with dust kicked up by the car that had run wide just ahead of him. As a result, he too ran wide and lost the lap. That is racing, but it is frustrating all the same.”

Lance Stroll starts the race inside the top ten for the second consecutive race, but Krack will be hoping the Canadian can hold on for points.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll managed to secure his starting position in the top ten for the FIA Formula 1 World Championship Dutch Grand Prix as he looks to add to his three points so far this season. The Canadian driver had a good start to the weekend, finishing as high as sixth in Free Practice 2. The season hasn’t gone to plan for Stroll, with a constant poor qualifying letting him down during the race. However, with a rare Q3 entry, he will be hoping the teams fortunes can change.

Stroll admits the team could have got more from the session and that he was disappointed with the issues they had in the last session.

“It is a shame that we had the hydraulic issue in Q3 because we had the pace for a top-eight result today – and that would have been great given our recent difficulties in qualifying.”

The Canadian is looking forward to the race and is hoping to add to his disappointing season points tally.

The car was really fun to drive today – the team have done a fantastic job with the set-up and balance – so it is great to see everyone being rewarded for their efforts. This starting position should give us a good chance to score some decent points in the Grand Prix tomorrow.”

Scuderia AlphaTauri are looking to end their race weekend on a high as they aim for both drivers to finish in the points as Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly qualify either side of the top ten.

After a difficult start to the day in practice three with both drivers finishing lower down the grid, the team were going to need a very good performance in qualifying to improve on their current position which they were able to achieve as Tsunoda qualified in ninth place and Pierre Galsy in eleventh place ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix.

AlphaTauri’s Chief Engineer for Vehicle Performance Claudio Balestri spoke after qualifying on a tough weekend for the team so far. Balestri admitted that their overall aim was to improve tyre management and the overall performance of the car heading into Saturday. This didn’t go to plan as the team wanted which lead to more set up changes before qualifying. After a more positive result, Balestri is hoping that the team can fight it out for points on Sunday.

“After Friday’s session we were not really satisfied by our performance as we knew there was margin to improve our package, so for this reason we decided to change the setups overnight. The aim was to try to improve the management of the tyres and the overall performance, we were especially struggling in the corners. In high-speed corners we were sliding and in Sector 1 we were slower than our competitors.”

“This morning, in FP3 we didn’t fully solve our main limitations and were not happy with our performance, so we made further changes to our setups before Quali and it paid off. At the end of day, we can be pleased with Yuki starting tomorrow in P9 and Pierre in P11. Now we are looking forward to the race, it will be very important to manage the tyres and to ensure we control the degradation, and if we do this well then hopefully we can fight for points.”

Scuderia AlphaTauri came back from a difficult practice three session to having both drivers improve on their positions in qualifying as Yuki Tsunoda secured ninth place and Pierre Gasly earned eleventh place ahead of Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort.

The Japanese driver came into qualifying with the hope of improving on his practice three finish earlier in the day which saw him place sixteenth. Tsunoda was able to make it into the top ten after just beating his team-mate to make it into the final round of qualifying and place ninth on the grid.

Tsunoda spoke after qualifying feeling very happy with his performance as he felt a little surprised to be in the top ten. Tsunoda explained that he was able to get more out of the car in qualifying compared to practice three as he’ll be hoping that he can finish in the points tomorrow.

“I’m really happy about our Quali performance today. If I’m honest, it was a bit of a surprise to make it through to Q3, considering our pace in FP3, but we made some good changes to the car after practice, I was then able to put it all together and extract the maximum performance from the car.”

“The hard work from the team has really paid off this afternoon and making it through to Q3 is really positive, so I’m pleased with how we’ve improved today. Now we’ve got to concentrate on the race, we’ve got a lot of strong data to look through, so we need to work hard tonight to allow us to try and finish in the top 10 tomorrow.”

Haas F1 Team had a mixed qualifying at the Dutch Grand Prix which saw Mick Schumacher secure eighth place on the grid with his team-mate Kevin Magnussen having a more difficult session which will see him line up eighteenth for the race on Sunday.

The Haas’ were the first two cars out on track for the first round of qualifying. Magnussen however, missed the cut and exited qualifying with the Dane placing eighteenth on the timesheet.

Schumacher was able to make it through the third round of qualifying where his first run in the session was on used soft tyres before switching to a new set for his final attack lap which earned him eighth on the grid for Sunday’s race.

Haas’ team principal Guenther Steiner spoke after qualifying in high spirits as his aim was to make it into the top ten for qualifying which one of his drivers achieved. He admitted that Magnussen didn’t feel to comfortable with the car which lead to his early exit as he is hoping that the team can secure points.

“It was a good day today mainly for Mick getting into Q3, that was our goal. Obviously, our goal was to get in with both cars, and I said anything is possible – either going out in Q1 or getting in to Q3 – and we did both. Well done to Mick, Kevin just wasn’t happy on his fast lap and it’s so close together, it’s very difficult if you are not 100 percent at ease with the car.”

Haas F1 Team drivers Mick Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen qualified eighth and eighteenth respectively for the Dutch Grand Prix at round fifteen of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

Schumacher managed to make it into the top ten in qualifying, placing eighth on the grid for Sunday’s seventy-two-lap race.

The German spoke after qualifying in high spirits after a very impressive display out on track admitting that he expected to go out in the second round of qualifying. With that, Schumacher feels confident in the set-up of the car and will be hoping to turn that into points come the end of the race.

“It’s great to be in Q3 and obviously we’re very happy with our performance. It’s unexpected as I think we were expecting to go out in Q2 but to get to Q3 and repeat the lap time we did in Q2 was definitely decent, and we now have a good starting position for tomorrow.”

“We haven’t made massive changes, we’ve just been fine-tuning and luckily we started the weekend with a great set-up so we didn’t have to make big changes which always helps. It especially helps builds confidence and hopefully makes you faster.”

The FIA Formula 3 sprint race at the Dutch Grand Prix began with Juan-Manuel Correa on pole, with his ART teammate Gregoire Saucy starting behind him in second.

When the lights went out and racing got underway, Correa got a good start off the line and held his position. However the same could not be said for his ART teammate, as Zak O’Sullivan took the second position from Saucy.

Things got even worse for the Swiss driver as Caio Collet got an excellent start, making up two places as he powered round the outside to take the second position for himself.

Championship leader Isack Hadjar made up one position off the start, getting up to sixth, while his closest rival Oliver Bearman worked his way up to tenth, from fourteenth on the first lap. 

After a disastrous weekend in Spa last week, Victor Martins got an excellent start in the Zandvoort sprint race, making up four positions from eleventh to seventh on lap one.