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In The Driver’s Seat

Formula One returns from summer break but not much has changed with Red Bull still dominant

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Red Bull's Max Verstappen won his nine straight F1 race on Sunday at the Dutch Grand Prix. He leads teammate Sergio Perez in the driver's championship by 138 points.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen won his nine straight F1 race on Sunday at the Dutch Grand Prix. He leads teammate Sergio Perez in the driver's championship by 138 points.

PHOTO: EPA-EFE

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Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose, as they say in France. The more things change, the more they stay the same. And so it proved with Formula One as it returned, hopefully refreshed, from its summer break.

Several teams brought new bits to try at Zandvoort, and proceeded with renewed hope. And for much of practice and qualifying, when the changeable weather did its best to combine with the relatively short but challenging 4.2km track to compress laps times and close up the field, it was possible to convince oneself, at least for a while, that Red Bull might just be vulnerable.

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