Max Verstappen drove a cool and collected race to win the first Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort since 1985, his home race, in front of a sea of orange fans. Lewis Hamilton settled for P2, with his teammate in P3.
Verstappen started this morning's race on pole position, with Hamilton starting P2 after a stellar qualifying on Saturday, lapping just three-one hundredths behind the Dutchman. George Russell started P11 despite crashing in Q2. He was able to keep the car going to complete the session. Lando Norris, on the other hand, failed to reach Q3 for the first time this season.
Unlike Spa last weekend, Sunday morning had clear skies over Zandvoort as the grid lined up. Verstappen got away well at the start, leaving the grid to fight amongst itself. There were some close calls in the midfield, between the Alpines, Russell, and the Ferraris, but every car made it through. Haas drivers Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin had a tussle at the back of the field as well. Verstappen built a 1.7-second gap to Hamilton by the end of lap 1.
Perez Carves Through the Field
Sergio Perez started in the pit lane after some overnight changes to his car. By lap 21 he had carved his way up to P15, one position ahead of where he qualified. Verstappen pitted on lap 22, yielding the lead to Valtteri Bottas, but rejoining the track ahead of Hamilton who had pitted the lap before. Verstappen caught up to Bottas but was held up by the Finn allowing Hamilton to close the gap behind. Verstappen passed Bottas on the main straight with a superb exit out of turn 14 and took back the lead, and duly pulled away from the Mercedes.
Lap 37 saw Sebastian Vettel spin in turn 7. He lost a few places but kept the car going without any damage. Verstappen completed his second pit stop on Lap 40, with only a set of hard compound tires, and Hamilton three seconds behind on the mediums. By lap 42 Perez had made his way up to P8. Yuki Tsunoda drove a fairly anonymous race and retired on lap 51. Meanwhile, Norris came up to P9 from P13 and was challenging Esteban Ocon for P8. Pierre Gasly and Charles Leclerc sat comfortably and quietly where they started the race all the way up in P4 and P5, respectively.
Battles developed through the field with 10 laps to go. Fernando Alonso hounded Carlos Sainz for P6, while Perez mounted a challenge on Norris for P9. Perez and Norris made contact as Perez made a move into turn 1, but ultimately came out on top and took the position.
Verstappen held onto the lead and took the checkered flag this morning, proving the pace advantage of the Red Bull over Mercedes. Hamilton took P2, as Bottas completed the podium.