Dutch GP: Lando Norris-Oscar Piastri Title Battle, the form of Lewis Hamilton among the discussion points that season F1 takes up | F1 News

While the Formula 1 2025 season resumes after the summer vacation in sport, here are the main discussion points to monitor at the Dutch Grand Prix of this weekend.

Battle Ramping Up title

For each of the remaining 10 laps of the season, all eyes will be on Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris while the McLaren duo was fighting for a young girl pilot title.

Australia Piastri leads Norris nine points, but it was the Briton who had the advantage before the break when he won three of the last four races.

The intensity has gradually accelerated while the pair has moved away from the rest of the grid, with Max Verstappen now at 97 points from Piastri in third place.

There was a flash point in Canada in June, when a bad judgment of Norris led to the collision of the pair, but any bad feeling developing from the incident was prevented by the fact that it was the Briton who suffered end -of -race damage, rather than Piastri.

The closest that we rehearsed was the last time in Hungary when Piastri almost went to Norris while he was trying to make a late pass for the head, with a severe warning descending the radio a few moments after the incident.

It is just to say that the gloves have been disabled for some time on the right track, but – thanks to a superb direction of the bosses of McLaren Andrea Stella and Zak Brown – The well -high pair has maintained completely cordial relationships outside the cockpit.

A tight competition until the end of the season seems almost certain, but it remains to be seen how fierce the battle as the tension is reinforced in the coming weeks.

Does Verstappen’s uncertainty remain?

Despite the exciting nature of the battle of the title, most of the racing enthusiasts in Zandvoort will mainly come to see a man – national hero, Max Verstappen.

The announcement of last December that the event will be removed from the sport calendar after 2026 is likely to encourage that the Orange army extremely passionate about having fun while they can still on the Côte de la Mer du Nord.

For the first time since the Dutch Grand Prix returned to the calendar in 2021, Verstappen arrived at its home race outside the title race, and with uncertainty, always on its long -term future.

Before the last race before the summer break in Hungary, the 27 -year -old finally ended speculation binding him to a move to Mercedes in 2026 saying that he stayed with Red Bull next year.

However, his team then may have had their worst weekend of the season in Budapest, before photos of Verstappen aboard the Yacht of the boss of Mercedes Toto Wolff during the break appeared on the Internet.

Verstappen has already explained in Hungary that social encounters with Wolff have no impact on its future, but it is difficult to believe that the Austrian does not think of more than a simple friendship when it is around the best driver of the sport.

For this reason, it will be fascinating to hear what everyone has to say when they are inevitably questioned about the link, Wolff’s response is probably more revealing with Verstappen having put their position.

Will Russell get a new contract?

The other thing that Wolff will necessarily be questioned, assuming that no announcement occurred before the weekend, is the contractual situation of its two current pilots, George Russell and Kimi Antonelli.

It was Russell who sent speculations around Verstappen joining Mercedes in Overdrive when the Briton said Sky Sports F1 In June, his own contract extension was retained by the pursuit by the Dutch team.

Mercedes insisted throughout the saga that their employer and management status of Russell means that they have no concerns about the loss of the British, with Antonelli in the same situation after having crossed the team’s junior program.

However, some suggested that the pendulum in contractual negotiations had been brought back in favor of Russell by Verstappen by telling in Hungary that he stayed with Red Bull for 2026.

Whatever the details, with Verstappen hired in Red Bull for next year, Mercedes could save themselves and their drivers to have to answer the same questions several times by concluding the agreements.

It would be surprising that an advertisement did not come sooner than late.

Can Hamilton form a rediscover?

Aside from an out of shape Antonelli, the driver who most needed summer vacation was almost certainly Lewis Hamilton.

The first season of the world champion seven times for Ferrari seemed to have reached the crisis after a disappointing Hungarring qualification effort led him to declare himself “useless” and to suggest that the team should replace him.

There was never any doubt that Hamilton would be back after the break, and the training images recently downloaded to his social media account with the legend “no day off” suggests that the 40 -year -old is fully refocused.

He remains looking for a first podium at Grand Prix for Ferrari, with his longest sequence of career races without finishing in the top three now at 16 years old.

Although Hamilton was not helped by certain fundamental problems with the SF-25, there is a feeling that he must find some confidence before the end of the season to ensure that the belief remains that he can compete for a record title of pilot in 2026 if Ferrari produces a competitor.

The consistency of his qualification problems in the past two years suggests that a three -week break will not reverse Hamilton’s fortune as if by a tour, but there is an common ground.

If Hamilton can cut the fairly large mistakes that have hampered his qualifications in Belgium and Hungary, he should put himself in a position to fight for certain podiums, and perhaps even a victory.

Formula 1 returns after the summer holidays with the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort on August 29-31, live Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with now – no contract, cancel at any time