The times that show Red Bull is behind on all fronts so far at Zandvoort

After a flawless Belgian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen and Red Bull were given a tougher time on the opening day at Zandvoort. An F1 data dropout temporarily hid the full story and while the world championship leaders remain an ever-present threat able to strike at the Dutch GP, they are behind on both one-lap and race-pace running so far

Alex Kalinauckas Sep 2, 2022, 7:22 PM

Upd: Sep 3, 2022, 9:02 AM

*THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN UPDATED

Well, that was quite the turnaround in five days for Max Verstappen.

The world champion dominated at Spa to leave with a 93-point lead despite his 14th place grid spot (13th in the queue considering the cars that actually took the start), but ended the Friday running in front of his home fans having exited FP1 after just 10 minutes and then been massively off Ferrari’s leading pace in FP2.

But, this being Formula 1 and all that, it doesn't mean he's out of running for a second consecutive Dutch Grand Prix victory, and in fact the picture for the frontrunners is much cloudier than usual.

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Author Alex Kalinauckas

Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.

A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.