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Driver Debrief by Aramco: Dutch GP

Lance held onto a points-paying position in the Dutch Grand Prix despite Safety Car timing going against him, while Sebastian climbed five positions from his starting spot.

Dutch GP

What appeared to be a two-stop race became a three-stopper for most drivers when two late interruptions turned the strategy on its head, and this had an adverse effect on both Lance's and Sebastian's race.

Lance

Starting 10th, Lance immediately made the most of his new Soft tyres and rocketed up into eighth in the opening corners, and engaged in an early tussle with Lando Norris.

His first stop came on lap 16, and this put him into a battle with Norris and the Alpine duo of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon.

Lance was on Mediums compared to Hard tyres for his direct rivals, and the gap stayed around the same throughout much of that stint.

The second stop came on lap 38, this time for Hards, and Lance started to claw into the gap to his direct rivals.

Race report by Aramco

A point for Lance on a tricky day at Zandvoort

Safety Car timing resulted in Lance coming away with a single point in the Dutch Grand Prix, while Sebastian was able to make up significant ground after a tricky qualifying.

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Dutch GP

However, on lap 50, a Virtual Safety Car allowed Norris, Alonso and Ocon to all have a cheap pitstop, ensuring that they would re-emerge ahead of Lance once everything played out.

It was not long after the race resumed that a full Safety Car was called and most of the field, including Lance, Norris, Alonso and Ocon, all stopped for Soft tyres.

On the restart, Lance was able to hold position and pressured Ocon, but he was unable to find a way past and had to consolidate 10th at the chequered flag.

Lance Stroll
The timing of the Safety Car gave the Alpines and Norris the advantage: without that we could have been fighting for seventh.
Lance Stroll

"Overall, it has been a positive weekend in terms of performance, but we were a little bit unlucky today with how things played out and how that affected our strategy.

"The timing of the Safety Car gave the Alpines and Norris the advantage: without that we could have been fighting for seventh.

"Our pace was strong all weekend, I felt really confident in the car, and we were more competitive.

"That is really encouraging for the coming races. It has been a great push by the team back at the factory to make our car quicker, so hopefully this is the start of a strong run through to the end of the season."

Sebastian

From 19th on the grid on Soft tyres, Sebastian gained a few positions in the opening laps and settled into a fight with Daniel Ricciardo.

He pitted early for a set of Medium tyres, and undercut Ricciardo despite a slow stop.

He was in another scrap with Ricciardo when he stopped for a second time, this time for Hards.

Unfortunately, Sebastian picked up a five-second time penalty for ignoring blue flags as he emerged from the pits.

When the VSC was called, Sebastian pitted once again, this time for Softs and found himself closing up on the rest of the pack.

Sebastian Vettel
We did not have great race pace – but probably could have earned a better result if we had not started so far back.
Sebastian Vettel

He stayed out when the full SC was called, and gained a position on Zhou Guanyu. On the restart, he battled hard with Mick Schumacher until the line.

The pair exchanged positions on a couple of occasions, with Sebastian edging ahead at the line as the race finished, but his penalty dropped him behind Schumacher into 14th position.

"We did not have great race pace – but probably could have earned a better result if we had not started so far back.

"We stopped early to try and undercut the cars ahead. That strategy would have worked, but that first pitstop was really slow – I lost a lot of time to Zhou, Pierre [Gasly], Alex [Albon], Mick and I was very close to Daniel.

"I enjoyed my battle with Mick – but this race was not a highlight for either of us. Then I got a five-second penalty for ignoring blue flags when I was being passed by Lewis [Hamilton], but it did not really make much difference to my race.

"A tough day where making progress was always going to be difficult – but it is what it is."

Dutch GP

Qualifying report by Aramco

Dutch GP

Practice report by Aramco