"I was just playing around" | How Formula One reacted to the Dutch GP

Well, the first Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort since 1985 was, a little underwhelming to say the least. If you saw our prediction video for the rest of 2021, you would know that we predicted the Zandvoort crowd would create an insane atmosphere, but the race itself would be a snooze fest. In reality, that prediction was spot on.

Other than Sergio Perez, who started in the pit lane in the fastest car on the grid, overtakes were few and far between, and even the strategic battle wasn’t as interesting as it could’ve been; Max Verstappen rarely felt troubled by Lewis Hamilton, and it was a convincing display from the home favourite.

With orange flares and an electric home crowd, Zandvoort certainly welcomed Formula One back to the track with a bang, but with the width of current cars, and the difficulty they face when following, added to the narrowness of the track, and the limited overtaking opportunities, ensured that wheel-to-wheel action was fleeting.

The drivers had been singing Zandvoort’s praises over the weekend with Hamilton arguably the circuit’s biggest fan. He tweeted “Wow what a circuit and what a crowd!” on Friday, and “ZAANDVOORT. What a circuit, what a race. It wasn’t our home crowd but it still fueled us all the same. Congratulations Max on the hometown win, you put up a great fight.” straight after the race.

However, while he loved the track, Hamilton wasn’t best pleased with his Mercedes team. Speaking to SkySports after Sunday’s race, he said: “I think that wasn't our best strategy… We stopped too early. I then came out behind traffic, I don't know how they didn't see that.”

Team principal Toto Wolff was in agreement with Hamilton that the team “didn't time it right.” He said, "We had a sniff of an undercut. We didn't time it right, at the end you're always more clever. We didn't expect them to go on the hard tyre, we thought we might be pushing them early with the soft but it is what it is. I think the hard tyre was a gamble. You see on the Ferrari, it was going well. but it was unknown territory."

Nico Rosberg also believes that his former Mercedes teammate wasn’t helped out by his team, especially his race engineer Peter Bonnington. The German, who is an analyst for Sky, revealed his thoughts on the issues Mercedes faced. “They've had a couple of moments, not their usual high level of strategy. Something is going on. This evening, there'll be some serious discussions… The basis of the discussion will be the traffic Hamilton got put into. What I also found bad today was the comments from Bono to Lewis. So unclear, should he push now or not. What is he doing? As a driver, this frustrates me like hell. I'm like come on, give us clear guidance. That was below par from Bono today."

Perhaps the biggest moment of drama during the race was when Valtteri Bottas ignored team orders to set the fastest lap of the race. It was beaten by Hamilton on the last of the 72 laps, but it was a blatant disregard from Bottas, and I, for one, loved it. The Finn is on his way out of Mercedes, and having played second fiddle to Hamilton over the past four years, the famous “Valtteri, it’s James” message must be so frustrating. Rosberg also had his say on this matter as well, adding: “That one point is worth nothing for Valtteri, so you just create such a big issue. Even though he slowed down in the third sector, he still took it away and that was bad enough. We were going nuts in the TV room. Valtteri, no you can't do that.”

Bottas did of course slow down in the final few corners, something Wolff was thankful for. The team principal said this after the race. "He [Bottas] has to understand. He was a bit brutal in the first two sectors, but he lost about a second and a half in the last sector. I think that's where we got away. The championship is so important and every point counts. Sometimes you have to make these unpleasant calls. I don't think we had any other choice.”

The Finn explained his actions by simply stating “I was playing around.” He told SkySports: "I was pushing, but I knew that Lewis needed that one more point more than me because he is fighting for the World Championship. I was just playing around.”

However, with just a handful of races left at Mercedes, Bottas was quite likely trying to make a statement, no matter how much it worried the team.

Verstappen, to the delight of the orange army, was victorious, however, and he called it the “perfect weekend”; it’s now up to Mercedes to catch up, starting at Monza.