Defending world champion Max Verstappen achieves his ninth consecutive victories this season, matching Sebastian Vettel’s record. The Red Bull driver was unaffected by the two rain showers and a red flag in an action-packed Dutch Grand Prix.
The championship leader kept calm during a six-lap shootout at the end of the race following a red flag for heavy rain, and managed a restart over Fernando Alonso perfectly to extend his streak of Formula 1 victories in a dominant 2023 season.
Heavy rainfall on lap 61 produced a stoppage as the race stewards waited for some of the rain to clear, which offered Verstappen a challenge to the lead that he’d held since lap 12.
Although Alonso got close at the restart and was on Verstappen’s tail at the first corner, the reigning champion held his nerve to build a 3.7-second lead by the end of the race to extend his championship lead.
Rain began to fall with the drivers’ visors at the start of the race, and the ensuing downpour left the circuit visibly wet towards the end of the lap and prompted a series of opportunistic drivers to pit immediately.
Sergio Perez was among them and collected the intermediate compound of tyre, which ensured he had the right tyre for the worsening conditions.
Verstappen elected to pit on the following lap, but his falling speeds on the soft tyre ensured that Perez could emerge ahead of his teammate. Checo picked his way past the yet-to-stop George Russell and Lando Norris, who were left behind on a damp circuit as efforts to brave the rain did not pay off.
Despite stopping a lap later, Verstappen’s laps on the intermediate tyre proved rapid and he was imbued with the confidence to carve his way through the order. He swiftly made his way up to second after clearing first-lap stoppers Zhou Guanyu and Pierre Gasly, and began to chase after Perez.
The circuit then began to dry, and indications from the drivers who did not stop suggested that the crossover point had emerged to prompt the intermediate runners to pit again.
Verstappen was granted the chance to pit ahead of Perez at the end of lap 11 to fit a fresh set of soft tyres, and the widening tyre delta between the two ensured Max was able to perform an undercut when Perez stopped a lap later.
After reclaiming the lead, Verstappen and Perez settled into a pattern before a lap 16 interruption for a safety car as Logan Sargeant put his Williams into the wall on the exit of Turn 8. The lap 22 restart was well managed by Verstappen, however, as Perez could not stay sealed to his team-mate’s gearbox and instead had to fend off Alonso into Turn 1.
The two made a further dry-weather pitstop each for new softs, but Perez calling in four laps earlier made little difference to Verstappen’s lead.
Verstappen was told of heavy rain impending as the weather radars showed a cell of heavy showers drawing nearer. It hit the Dutch coastal resort of Zandvoort on lap 60, and Perez was first in as Verstappen felt that it was dry enough to continue for one more lap. Even as conditions quickly intensified, Verstappen was able to return to the pits on lap 61 and collect the intermediates without losing too much time.
Then, Perez hurt his own chances considerably when he slipped off at Turn 1 on lap 63, giving second position to Alonso as he narrowly avoided the gravel.
Zhou Guanyu’s crash under the continuing rain at the first corner was enough for the FIA to upgrade an initial virtual safety car to a red flag, which saved Perez as his call for wet tyres was halted as the pitlane exit was closed but, as the order reverted to the previous lap, Checo’s long period of time sat stationary at the traffic lights did not hurt him.
After a 43-minute delay, the race resumed for the final eight laps remaining; two behind the safety car, before a six-lap shootout to decide the end of the race. Alonso attempted to pull close to Verstappen and tried varying lines to prise open an advantage, but had no answer to the speed of the Red Bull driver.
From there, Verstappen kept building his advantage and ultimately matched Sebastian Vettel’s streak of nine Formula 1 wins that the four-time champion achieved at the end of 2013.
Pierre Gasly joined Verstappen and Alonso on the podium, as Perez picked up a five-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane while getting himself into the correct order for the restart.
So congratulations to Max Verstappen in winning the Dutch Grand Prix in front of his passionate orange army. Despite the wet weather, the world champion remained calm and control to score another victory. The next race is Ferrari’s home event at Monza and it will be fascinating if Max can continue his winning form.
Dutch Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 2:24:04.411
2 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +3.744s
3 Pierre Gasly Alpine +7.058s
4 Sergio Perez Red Bull +10.068s
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +12.541s
6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +13.209s
7 Lando Norris McLaren +13.232s
8 Alex Albon Williams +15.155s
9 Oscar Piastri McLaren +16.580s
10 Esteban Ocon Alpine +18.346s
11 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +20.087s
12 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +20.840s
13 Liam Lawson AlphaTauri +26.147s
14 Kevin Magnussen Haas +26.410s
15 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +27.388s
16 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +29.893s
17 George Russell Mercedes +55.754s
Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo DNF
Charles Leclerc Ferrari DNF
Logan Sargeant Williams DNF
Dutch Grand Prix review as reported by Formula1.com.
Max Verstappen converted pole position into victory at the Dutch Grand Prix for the third year in a row, navigating an action-packed, rain-hit encounter to take the chequered flag ahead of Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly and draw level with Sebastian Vettel on nine successive F1 wins.
It all began with spits of rain before the start of the race that dramatically turned into a shower on the first lap, prompting split strategies up and down the order as Verstappen headed a pack of drivers who initially stayed out on slicks and team mate Perez led a group into the pits to take on intermediates.
What followed was a frenetic opening phase as those who made an early switch to intermediates rose to the fore, while those who stayed out longer on slicks lost a hatful of positions, prior to the rain easing off and the track gradually drying up.
With the Red Bulls running those aforementioned alternate strategies, it was Perez who led the way as the race settled down, while Verstappen had fallen back to fourth – behind Zhou Guanyu and Gasly – and had work to do to reclaim P1.
After managing to do so with much superior pace, Verstappen looked set for a clear run to the chequered flag and the win on a bone-dry track, only for further rain to work its way onto the radar and hit the track with force in the closing stages.
That led to another flurry of pit lane activity, and a red flag after Zhou crashed out, bringing a seven-lap dash to the flag when the action resumed and serving up one last test for reigning double world champion Verstappen to overcome.
Overcome it Verstappen did as he kept his cool at the slippery restart and managed the gap back to Alonso and Perez with aplomb, confirming his hard-fought triumph and equalling Vettel’s victory record that has stood since the 2013 season.
Alonso’s second-place finish marked his first podium since Canada more than two months ago, while Perez crossed the line in third but was hit with a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane, promoting a delighted Gasly to the rostrum.
Perez had to settle for fourth after his sanction, followed by the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz and Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, who were involved in a late, wheel-banging scrap, as Lando Norris, Alex Albon, Oscar Piastri and Esteban Ocon completed the points.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.verstappen-overcomes-wet-weather-chaos-to-make-it-a-hat-trick-of-dutch-gp.4VJ0ULOqjodSSN1zC6kWui.html
Aston Martin Formula 1 driver Fernando Alonso says he considered making a late lunge on Max Verstappen at the final Dutch Grand Prix restart, before settling for second.
Alonso finished second in a rain-affected and red-flagged Zandvoort race, 3.7s behind home hero Verstappen in the Red Bull.
When the race restarted with six laps to go after a long delay for a break in the weather, Alonso considered making a lunge on Verstappen into Turn 1, but he joked he thought better of it as he would have risked taking the Dutchman out and “not being able to exit the track”.
“I did think about trying the move on the last restart but then I thought maybe I cannot exit the circuit, so I stayed calm in second,” Alonso joked, referring to the sea of orange Verstappen supporters in the grandstands whose party he would have spoiled.
“The energy in Zandvoort is very unique. When this race came [on the calendar] I thought I would never experience a Zandvoort podium because I was not in a position to think about that. And today is going to be very special to share the podium with Max and Pierre [Gasly, third].”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/alonso-considered-late-lunge-on-verstappen-in-f1-dutch-gp-/10512414/
Sergio Perez reckons Red Bull needing him to save his intermediate tyres is why Formula 1 team-mate Max Verstappen could cut his early 2023 Dutch Grand Prix lead in half.
A rain shower hit Zandvoort on the opening lap of the race and seventh-starting Perez reacted fastest by pitting at the first opportunity to ditch soft Pirellis for intermediates.
As the majority of the grid then stopped one tour later, the Mexican emerged with a 10.4-second advantage over George Russell as Verstappen fell to 14.246s behind come the fourth lap.
Eventual race winner Verstappen then started running up to four seconds faster than Perez to bring the gap down to four seconds before the two-time champion pitted on lap 11 to gain the undercut and subsequently the lead.
Perez reckons this significant pace differential was largely down to a need to save his intermediate tyres on a drying track as Red Bull warned that more rain was on the way.
Asked by Motorsport.com to explain the delta, Perez said: “We were expecting rain, the team was telling me that there was more rain coming.
“The track was on the dry side, so if I were to push, I would just have destroyed completely the inter tyre.”
Perez continued: “[The inters] were super, super quick, so well done for the team on that [early pitstop].
“Unfortunately, we didn’t get right that there was more rain coming on the inter, otherwise we could have pushed more on that first stint. Probably keep the lead for longer…
“It was chaos [at the race start], just changing a lot and, unfortunately, our great call in the beginning turned out to be not so great in the end.
“It’s a shame that we end up losing the podium because I feel like we really deserve it today.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/perez-tyre-saving-call-behind-verstappen-pace-deficit-in-f1-dutch-gp/10512486/
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton says he had the pace to challenge winner Max Verstappen after coming through the field to finish sixth in Formula 1’s rain-affected Dutch Grand Prix.
On Sunday, Hamilton recovered from a disappointing qualifying session by moving from a lowly 13th grid spot to sixth.
But the seven-time world champion’s race could have been a lot better if he and Mercedes hadn’t been on the wrong side of an early pitstop call.
Rain arrived right after the start of the Zandvoort race, with the Mercedes drivers among the cars staying out too long on slicks, which turned out to be the wrong decision as the track conditions became progressively worse.
Hamilton’s recovery from the back of the field to sixth and his pace in both dry and wet conditions made him believe that he could have challenged Verstappen up front.
“In those conditions, if we’d made the right call, I had the pace to be challenging the top two,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.
“I think we would have been challenging Max if I’m really honest.
“Particularly when we got to the dry, pace-wise I think we weren’t terribly far off. I’m not saying that we’d beat them, but I think we would have been [close].”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/hamilton-had-the-pace-to-challenge-verstappen-in-f1-dutch-gp-comeback-drive/10512447/