Race Report: Eventful Sunday at Zandvoort

George Russell finished the Dutch Grand Prix P4 with Kimi Antonelli crossing the line P6 but being relegated to P16 due to a 15-second time penalty.

With a light risk of rain, both drivers started the race on the Medium compound tyre.

Both drivers lost positions on the opening lap, with George dropping to P6 and Kimi to P12 respectively.

The Safety Car was deployed on lap 23 following an accident for Lewis Hamilton. That enabled both drivers to pit and take the Hard compound tyre, with both gaining positions as others stopped.

After a brief Virtual Safety Car appearance, George suffered a damaged floor as the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc made contact at Turn 13. The subsequent loss of aero performance would compromise the rest of his race.

After noting the damage, the team opted to switch George and Kimi's position before attempting the undercut on the Ferrari of Leclerc with the Italian.

As Ferrari covered on the following lap with both drivers now on the Soft tyre, contact was made at Turn 3 forcing Leclerc into retirement and Kimi being handed a 10-second time penalty.

This was compounded further as Kimi received a further five-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane.

A late race Safety Car after Norris retired negated any chance Kimi had at staying in the points; George meanwhile drove solidly to bring home his wounded W16 in P4.

The team now heads to next weekend’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza having closed the gap to second in the Constructors’ Championship to 12 points.

Kimi Antonelli

The outcome of today’s race was such a shame. Our pace was really strong, and I was feeling great in the car. Despite starting P11, I’d gained several positions and was looking ahead to see if we could get ourselves into the fight for the podium. We certainly would have achieved a good result if it were not for the incident with Leclerc.

As we closed on Charles, we saw an opportunity to try the undercut. We gained time by doing so and we emerged almost together on track. I tried to keep it tight into Turn 3 as he came out but unfortunately, even though the oversteer from my side was not that massive, I could not avoid contact as he was coming down the banking. Sorry to Charles and Ferrari as it never feels good to take someone out and end their race like this.

I am now looking forward to Monza, my second home race. Single lap work is my priority as obviously starting at the front for each Grand Prix would be more beneficial for us. The positive we can take from Zandvoort is that our pace was strong so we will continue to work hard and I am sure the results will come soon.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

Today was a messy, incident filled race where we ultimately weren't quick enough to fight for the top three, but as a team we got the important decisions correct. Both drivers lost places on the opening lap which made life more difficult. We benefited from the early Safety Car though. George was able to move ahead of Charles (Leclerc), and Kimi made several places across the stops and took the restart in P8.

George had been struggling with a lack of front grip, and he lost a place with the contact after the Virtual Safety Car restart with Charles. More annoyingly, he picked up a large amount of damage and that hurt him for the remainder of the race. We therefore asked George to let Kimi through, and he was able to close on the Ferrari. We decided to convert to a two stop and attempt the undercut; Ferrari covered and after they came together at Turn 3 Kimi picked up damage and a penalty. That basically put him out of the points, but it was good that George was able to bring his damaged car home in P4. We'll work hard to achieve a cleaner more competitive weekend at Monza in a few days' time.