Hamilton and Leclerc bitter rivals
Again Norris. And it was expected after the dominance in Hungary, where McLaren made it clear to everyone that it had returned as an absolute protagonist, with the dream of relaunching Lando tempted by the almost impossible feat of winning the world championship again.
McLaren has now accustomed us to keeping all the promises it makes, thanks to a well-led and planned team effort, in which there are no proclamations or promises but concrete facts. “Give us a moment, we know where to act to make the car competitive”, said the head of the British team, Andrea Stella, after the first missteps of 2026. It took a few months and here Norris reappeared stronger than ever, exploiting the qualities of a car improved everywhere, especially in engine understanding.
A turning point came with a masterful Norris, no longer awkward in overtaking and doubtful in strategies, who dominates and beats Mercedes again, relaunching the challenge without declaring it. Lando superb and Piastri, same car, half a minute behind because he does not like these cars that have less grip than past seasons.
Norris now has an 83-point gap from Antonelli, an enormous amount. But he believes and will entertain us again. But Antonelli precisely among the dunes of Zandvoort received the appointment as first driver from Mercedes, despite the vague words from the team leaders to dilute the decision. An order from the box, given to Russell – who hoped for a pit stop while there was the Virtual Safety Car to maintain second position – not to disturb Antonelli’s progress and therefore step aside, since Kimi had fresh and soft tires. George obeyed and in any case Antonelli would have overtaken him. Two Mercedes on the podium, then, defeated by the new verve of McLaren but able to score more points than Ferrari for the constructors’ title.
And here we come to the sour note of the Dutch weekend, the Ferrari that had trumpeted intentions of victory, considering the important updates to the car. A film seen a thousand times. The result? Mediocre qualifying with Hamilton and Leclerc in the third row and the race the same, with Lewis fourth and Charles fifth.
Read more Verstappen: “I saw a dry patch and tried to use it to gain speed”
Yet the updated SF26 performed very well, but once again it was details and small errors here and there that excluded it from the fight for victory. Too many distractions for a team that would like to aim for the world championship, including the strategy that certainly penalized Hamilton in the attempt to snatch third place from Russell. Because Lewis held a pace of an absolute leader from mid-race and instead was called in too late for the first tire change. As if that were not enough, he did not have a clear path when after mid-race he caught Leclerc and thought – deluded – he could immediately get behind him.
But at the base there was the usual cursed Saturday, with qualifying in which the step forward of the new floor and everything else did not translate into a time result that made a difference. And it was immediately clear that the race would be uphill. So Hamilton, in the end, lost 9 points in the drivers’ championship and Ferrari sacrificed more points in the constructors’ standings in favor of Mercedes, despite all the conditions to excel being there.
At Monza, in two Sundays, we will see the new engine, the Aduo 2, and in addition Antonelli will start from the back due to the Mercedes Power Unit change: will Ferrari manage to prevail, now that the car is there anyway and only that discipline is missing which was the winning card of the Schumacher era? The issue no longer concerns the technically suffering part for years, but management, the handling of people, the way and speed with which decisions are made. Much has been done in Maranello, the last step is missing…
Read more Antonelli: “Second place was the best we could do”
