The under-pressure trio of drivers that impressed us the most in qualifying

The under-pressure trio of drivers that impressed us the most in qualifying

 

 

 
With a number of drivers fighting for their F1 futures, three drivers put in fantastic displays at Zandvoort.Mick Schumacher, Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll all made rare Q3 appearances.Schumacher has yet to be confirmed by Haas for 2023, while Yuki Tsunoda is expected to remain with AlphaTauri but hasn’t been officially confirmed.Stroll’s future with Aston Martin is secure for as long as his father wants to keep him in the team but like Schumacher and Tsunoda, it was a timely reminder of why the Canadian deserves to be on the F1 grid.Mick Schumacher – 8thSchumacher is fighting for his future with Haas so his fourth Q3 appearance of the year was timely at Zandvoort.Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has reiterated that they are assessing their options with the American outfit not required to put a Ferrari junior in their car. With Haas enjoying a more competitive 2022 campaign, their seat is more attractive to a host of drivers, maybe even Daniel Ricciardo.Schumacher struggled at the start of the year but since his maiden points finish at Silverstone, he’s seemingly turned a corner.Perhaps Steiner is putting Schumacher under deliberate pressure to perform, which at the moment, he is.Related Hamilton can’t predict confusing “mood swings” of Mercedes’ 2022 F1 car Verstappen criticises ‘stupid’ fans for throwing flares onto F1 trackA fine qualifying display from the German, particularly with his teammate getting knocked out in Q1.Yuki Tsunoda – 9thTsunoda out-qualified teammate Pierre Gasly for the sixth time this year at Zandvoort, a remarkable turnaround compared to a year ago as he struggled considerably during his rookie season.The Japanese driver has often shown great flashes of pace but with that raw speed comes inconsistency. There’s no doubt that Tsunoda has the talent for F1 and with Gasly potentially moving to Alpine for 2023, he will be the de facto team leader.Tsunoda was unfortunate not to finish in the points at Spa with two lengthy pit stops ruining his race.Lance Stroll – 10th Stroll has been in incredible form so far this weekend.He’s consistently been inside the top 10 during practice and lit up the timesheets on several occasions throughout qualifying. We didn’t get to see what Stroll could do in Q3 after a hydraulic issue kept him in the garage.Who shocked us for the wrong reasons…Daniel Ricciardo – 17thDaniel Ricciardo keeps justifying McLaren’s decision to sack him a year after his contract was due to end with another abysmal display.Ricciardo was knocked out in Q1 after blaming Vettel’s off at the final corner for littering the track with gravel and costing him 0.3s off in lap time.With Norris reaching Q3 and qualifying seventh – best of the rest behind the top three teams – Ricciardo simply has to do better.Kevin Magnussen – 18thMagnussen’s P5 at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix feels like a long time ago.Remarkably, it was Magnussen’s sixth Q1 exit of the year, three more than teammate Schumacher.”4Haas were enjoying a better weekend with their car performing better on high downforce circuits.With Schumacher qualifying eighth, there was certainly more on the table for Magnussen at Zandvoort.  

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