DUTCH GRAND PRIX 2024 | RESULTS

 

DUTCH GP: LEWIS HAMILTON, GEORGE RUSSELL SURPRISED BY FERRARI PODIUM

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc finished ahead of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell of Mercedes. Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

ZANDVOORT, Netherlands -- Mercedes teammates Lewis Hamilton and George Russell said they were surprised by Ferrari's pace and Charles Leclerc's third-place finish at the Dutch Grand Prix.

Leclerc started sixth before leapfrogging Sergio Pérez and Russell as McLaren's Lando Norris beat home favourite Max Verstappen by 22 seconds on Sunday.

Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz was knocked out in Q2 on Saturday, qualifying 11th, but finished the race in fifth, one tenth of a second behind McLaren's Oscar Piastri.

Hamilton qualified 12th but was later demoted to 15th with a grid penalty for impeding Pérez during the session.

Hamilton, who will join Ferrari next year, said after Sunday's race: "I was definitely surprised when I drove through and saw a Ferrari was on P3.

"If I just qualified like I should've qualified, I think I had the pace today to easily be in the top five. I don't know if we were faster than the Ferrari's but there were elements of our pace which were strong. But the car was not great compared to the last race. We had a lot more pace at the last race. Today we were closer to others."

Russell was equally as surprised by Ferrari's pace, with the 26-year-old admitting he was expecting to be comfortably ahead of them after qualifying and vying for a podium.

"I probably would've finished one, maybe max two places higher but we had no pace, I was just dropping like a stone," Russell said. "[It was] especially a surprise versus Ferrari -- we were expecting to be comfortably ahead of them. Charles was quicker, Carlos catching me, clearly, we got something wrong I think with the tyres. After the first couple of laps, I thought we were on course for a probably podium. I knew the overtaking was going to be difficult.

"I was really shocked at how fast McLaren were; Lando just looked so comfortable out there and it was super impressive to see and we've had six really strong races and then suddenly we've finished almost a minute behind the win today. So you don't lose all of that performance overnight. Yesterday we qualified fourth and clearly didn't get something right today."

- Niamh Lewis

BREAKING NEWS: LEWIS HAMILTON DEMOTED THREE PLACES AT THE DUTCH GP

 BREAKING: Lewis Hamilton has been given a three-grid place penalty for impeding Sergio Perez during qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix 🚨

DUTCH GP: FIERY LOGAN SARGEANT CRASH HALTS FINAL PRACTICE

Final practice for the Dutch Formula One Grand Prix was halted on Saturday after Logan Sargeant's Williams crashed heavily and caught fire, with the American jumping out of the wreckage unhurt.

"I'm okay," the driver reported over the radio after dipping a wheel on to the wet grass, losing control at turn three and spinning into the barriers, with the mangled car ending up in the middle of the track at the seaside Zandvoort circuit.

The 23-year-old, who has yet to score a point this year and has already lost his seat for 2025, was taken to the medical centre for precautionary checks.

Marshals put out the flames but the damage looked significant, with qualifying scheduled for 1500 local and the Williams mechanics likely to struggle to get it rebuilt in time.

The red flags came out after 14 minutes, with the irrepressible but soggy Orange Army of Dutch fans in the grandstands still waiting for Red Bull's home hero and championship leader Max Verstappen to do a lap.

The damp session eventually restarted with a minute remaining of the hour scheduled and drivers leaving the pits in a queue for the chance of a timed lap through the spray on intermediate tyres.

Verstappen overtook a McLaren and a Mercedes in the pitlane, crossing the white line in his hurry to exit, and was shown a black-and-white warning flag for failing to follow the race director's instructions.

Alpine's Pierre Gasly claimed the fastest lap in the meaningless session, ahead of Haas's Kevin Magnussen and Sauber's Valtteri Bottas.

Logan Sargeant's car caught fire after a crash that ended the final practice on Saturday.
Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images

Williams said Sargeant's car, which was returned to the garage while repairs were made to the barriers, had had the same upgrade package as team mate Alex Albon.

"Hundreds of hours are spent on making things. The worst time is when you have just introduced some bits and you put it into the wall," Williams principal James Vowles told Sky television.

"Qualifying will be upon us pretty quickly but the car is in a pretty bad state.

"The first step of it is we will go through in detail what's been damaged. It looks pretty serious and that could result in a chassis change."

- Reuters 

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