Dramatic Dutch VC! Max Verstappen dominates the home race, Mercedes and Ferrari on the podium

A dramatic spectacle in Zandvoort! Formula 1 had the Dutch Grand Prix on the agenda on Sunday 4 September, the home race of reigning champion Verstappen. The fifteenth race of the season was affected by safety crashes, but the Dutch driver drove to another victory! Another mistake was made by Ferrari, with Hamilton losing the podium at the end.

Max Verstappen started the Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix, as the Dutch Grand Prix is officially known, from pole position. He drove his home race at the Zandvoort circuit, beating the time of second-placed Charles Leclerc by just 21 thousandths of a second in Saturday’s qualifying.

Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton started from the second row for the 15th race of the season, and you can see the full results of Saturday’s qualifying in the attached Twitter post below.

Verstappen held on to first place

After all five lights went out, Verstappen held on to his top spot and didn’t let Leclerc’s Ferrari pass him. There was some contact in the battle for third between Sainz and Hamilton, but no dangerous situation resulted.

One position was earned at the start by Lando Norris in the McLaren, who got ahead of George Russell, but lost that position again in the following laps.

The fans witnessed a dramatic moment on the second circuit when Kevin Magnussen hit the barrier. Fortunately for him, he was able to continue the race.

Verstappen, Leclerc, Sainz, Hamilton, Perez, Russell, Norris, Stroll, Ocon, Schumacher – this is how the top ten standings looked after 7 laps of the Dutch Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso had a great pace as the race progressed, overtaking twelfth-placed Pierre Galsy in the AlphaTauri on lap 10. He then overtook his teammate Jüki Cunda and Alonso was already eleventh. Then, on lap thirteen, the drivers began to pit for tyre changes.

First pit stops, another incomprehensible mistake by Ferrari

One of the first drivers to go to their mechanics was Sainz and Sergio Pérez. It was then that the Italian stable made another mistake, failing to properly prepare for Sainz’s pit-stop. Ferrari’s mechanics didn’t have a fresh set of tyres ready for Sainz and so his pit stop took a very long time.

This dropped Sainz down to sixth place, and Pérez also ran over a Ferrari gun, giving the Italian team another scratch this season. However, Haas also committed a pit-stop error, which resulted in Mick Schumacher losing valuable positions and dropping out of the top ten.

Leclerc, Verstappen, Norris, Stroll, Ocon and Alonso also stopped in the following laps. However, Norris and both Alpine drivers were wearing a hard set of tyres, which worked very well at Zandvoort compared to the other drivers.

In fact, the Mercedes drivers also changed to this tyre specification. Russell and Hamilton lasted 29 and 30 laps respectively on the medium set of tyres. Thanks to this move and a very interesting strategy, their cars then started to perform well, and on the following circuits they were a full second faster than their nearest rivals.

Of course, as a result of the pit stop, the leader Verstappen dropped down a few positions, but during the following laps he regained these positions and took the lead.

Halfway through the race, virtual safety car

This is what the standings looked like after 33 laps. On lap 37, Hamilton then got ahead of third-placed Perez, but it was Sebastian Vettel, a lap down, who spoke into the fray. Despite being awarded blue flags, the German driver initially did not let the two drivers fighting for the standings pass him.

Mexican Pérez subsequently lost another position as well when he was overtaken by Hamilton’s teammate Russell. Due to the Red Bull driver’s poor pace, his team called him into the pits on lap 41 to switch to the hardest set of tyres.

Pérez subsequently dropped to seventh place behind Briton Norris. On lap 45, a moment occurred that three laps later caused the virtual safety car to be activated. Cunoda first stopped his AlphaTauri due to a feeling that the Japanese racer had not completed one of his laps 100% after his pit-stop.

However, his team subsequently informed him that all his wheels were properly tightened and he should continue with the race. In the meantime, however, Cunoda unbuckled his seatbelt and then pulled into the pits, where mechanics re-fastened his belt. After leaving the pits, however, he nevertheless shut down his car due to an apparent problem with the differential.

The virtual safety car was then used by the drivers to stop in the pits. Verstappen switched to the hard set of tyres, Hamilton and Russell to the medium and Norrris and Alonso to the softest red.

Both Ferrari drivers, namely Leclerc and Sainz, were also wearing the white hardest specification tyre at the time.

Verstappen, Hamilton, Russell, Leclerc, Pérez, Ocon, Sainz, Norris, Alonso, Stroll – this is how the top ten points standings looked after the 54th round of the Dutch Grand Prix.

More drama and chaos, the safety car exit

One lap later, however, Valtteri Bottas shut down his Alfa Romeo at the end of the home straight due to a power unit failure. The race management then called the safety car onto the track and more drama was taken care of.

The safety car’s exit was used by a number of drivers to make further pit stops, with virtually all drivers switching to the softest red set of tyres apart from Pérez and Hamilton, who had only recently completed their pit stops and changed to the medium compound.

The restart and a great finish

At the end of lap 60, the safety car pulled back into the pits, allowing the drivers to race again. The top ten order with 12 laps to go was as follows: Hamilton, Verstappen, Russell, Leclerc, Pérez, Sainz, Alonso, Norris, Ocon and Stroll.

After the restart, and thanks to a faster tyre specification, Verstappen moved ahead of Hamilton into first place, which he would not relinquish for the remainder of the Dutch Grand Prix. There was still a teammate duel on lap 64 when Russell passed Hamilton to capture his second place. The seven-time world champion then lost the podium as well when Leclerc in the Ferrari overtook him.

Apart from these battles, the order remained unchanged until the end of the race. Notably, Sainz received a five-second penalty from race directors for a dangerous pit stop. This means that he drops to eighth on the results list.

Verstappen therefore dominated the Dutch Grand Prix, just like last year, and a defence of his championship title is well and truly within his grasp.

You can see the final standings of the Dutch Grand Prix in the attached Twitter post above. In addition to setting the fastest lap of the race, Verstappen was also named the best driver of the day.

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