I said to my mate on our chat that I would really like to see Hadjar finish on the podium (we both support mclaren) and the next thing we see is Lando pulling over. No, not that way. Unfortunate for Lando but a great race by both Piastri and Hadjar. That Max save in the first lap wasn't too shabby either.

Kind of a weird race, as usual at Zandvoort it was hard to overtake and we had trains forming, but between all the chaos and incidents it ended up a very eventful race regardless. It was great entertainment if nothing else!

It's a shame in a way that strategy became completely dictated by safety cars as we had an interesting split with some opposing strategies, some more successful than others. Max somehow made the Softs start work with that daring move on Norris, while Colapinto didn't really get anything out of his gamble. Uncharacteristically poor start from Alonso, losing a couple of positions and sort of setting the tone for his race. He was lucky to get 8th in the end despite another Aston strategy disasterclass gambled on the M-H-H two stopper and got shafted by safety car timings twice.

There really was too much going on to talk about everything, but even though most of the results were determined by safety cars and chaos there was at least a bit of good driving on display too. Piastri had an incredibly mature and measured drive, pretty much flawless and in control and also perfectly executed both safety car restarts. Very impressive and definitely the sort of calm drive from the front you'd expect of a champion. Leclerc also had a great race up until the DNF and his move on Russel was the move of the race. I actually thought Antonelli was doing really well and showing good pace, but his recovery drive was ruined by losing his head with that overoptimistic move on Leclerc. He's still young, and it shows. And of course Hajdar was the highlight, showing both cool headed defensive driving and immaculate pure pace. I've said from the start of the season that despite Bortoleto winning last year's F2 Hadjar stood out to me much more.

Otherwise luck and handling safety cars was the bigger reason for success here. Haas love to start on Hards and hope for the best, and while it doesn't always work out races like this make you get the appeal. Great points for Bearman from a Pitlane start. Albon also had a bit of good fortune for once and I'm happy for him as he's usually on the opposite side of luck. Stroll takes the luck award of the race though with his "accidentally undercutting the field by driving over debris forcing an early pitstop" maneuver followed by literally entering the pitlane for his second stop just as Kimi was driving into Charles. Absolutely hilarious race from him.

Driver of the day I feel like Piastri and Max both have a claim, but realistically it can only be Hadjar. Amazing race from him and hopefully a sign of things to come.