Verstappen delights home fans with a thumping win

Dutchman retakes championship lead with a comfortable victory at Zandvoort.

Max Verstappen did exactly what the Dutch fans wanted him to do and finished where he started from – on pole, romping to victory, almost 23 seconds ahead of second-place Lewis Hamilton, to win the first Dutch Grand Prix in 36 years.

Valtteri Bottas rounded off the podium places, while AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly ran a brilliant race to hold on to the fourth place, fending off both the Ferraris, Alpine’s Fernando Alonso and the charging Red Bull of Sergio Pérez.

Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and McLaren’s low-starting Lando Norris rounded off the points finishes as Ferrari’s double-points finish saw them take an 11.5-point lead over McLaren in the championship standings.

Verstappen got a tremendous start off the line and cut across to deny the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton any chance of taking an early advantage. Behind the top three, there was a lot of action as both the Alpines attacked Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi, pushing the Italian wide and dropping him to the fringes of the points.

Within four laps, Verstappen was building a gap to Hamilton, already being two seconds ahead as the seven-time world champion struggled to keep up with the Dutchman.

The top three maintained their places, but neither Mercedes was able to get within a second of the leading Red Bull. Lewis Hamilton was the first of the trio to come into the pits, on Lap 20, making it certain that the Brackley team were opting for a two-stop strategy for their talisman.

Two laps later, the leader dived into the pits and Verstappen’s Red Bull crew were almost a second quicker than Hamilton’s, which saw Verstappen rejoin in second place, comfortably ahead of Hamilton.

While Verstappen was hunting down Bottas for the lead, his teammate Sergio Pérez, who started from the pit-lane, was already up to 14th place with impressive pace by the 25th lap, already having pitted once.

It took Verstappen eight laps since his pit stop to retake the lead from Bottas, and as his Red Bull screamed passed the Finn, the Dutch fans in the stands let out a wild roar, showcasing their support behind their home hero.

As soon as Verstappen took the lead, Mercedes reeled in Bottas, with Verstappen starting to grow his lead on Hamilton to almost two seconds. Further down the grid, Williams’ George Russell, who wasn’t quite Mr. Saturday after his qualifying crash, was having a tough race and was handed a five-second penalty as he came into the pits from speeding in the pit lane.

Meanwhile, the second Red Bull of Pérez continued to charge through the field, and by Lap 36, he was just outside the points at P11.

Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, who had a tough qualifying as well, saw his race get from bad to worse as he spun on Turn 3 and forced the lapping Bottas behind him to use all his rally driving experience to avoid collecting the German and ending both their races.

Lap 40 saw Lewis Hamilton pit for a second time, but he came out right the middle of a train of cars, something he would have wanted to avoid in his bid to catch Verstappen. Red Bull wasted no time and pitted Verstappen the very next lap and he emerged in first place, more than three seconds ahead of the Brit.

Hamilton, though, had no answer for Verstappen’s pace, and even though he had brought down the gap between himself and Verstappen to around 1.3 seconds, the Dutchman made sure to keep him out of DRS range.

As Verstappen continued his charge to victory, so did his teammate, swooping past Daniel Ricciardo to enter the points positions on Lap 55.

Pérez didn’t stop there and kept his charge ongoing with the other McLaren in his sights next as further up the grid Fernando Alonso was showcasing his brilliance once again with a strong performance, hunting down the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz for the sixth position.

As the final few laps came through, Verstappen had a comfortable gap to Hamilton and Mercedes already had conceded defeat, pitting Bottas for a second time on Lap 69 in an attempt to have the Finn take the fastest lap. As the Finn set about for the fastest lap, Verstappen cruised to a home victory in front of his passionate fans, leaving Hamilton a distant 23 seconds behind. To the Brit’s consolation, he did manage to steal a point off, taking the fastest lap from his teammate.

With Verstappen’s victory, the championship battle has heated up once again as the Dutchman leaves his home country with a three-point lead over Hamilton. Bottas’ podium finish sees him jump to third place, building a gap to Lando Norris in fourth while, Sergio Pérez’s incredible pit-lane to P8 drive sees the Mexican close in on the McLaren driver in the Drivers’ Championship.

A double-podium finish helps Mercedes maintain a 12-point lead in the Constructors’ Championship, and a strong show by Alpine, with both the drivers finishing in the points, sees the French team lead the lower midfield battle in P5.

Now, next weekend, we head to the Temple of Speed and the venue of Pierre Gasly’s incredible maiden F1 victory as the triple header closes out at Monza. Can Ferrari give the Tifosi something to cheer for, or will the Red Bull-Mercedes dominance continue?