Football atmosphere in Zandvoort! Verstappen wins home Dutch Grand Prix

The Dutch Grand Prix was the thirteenth race on this year’s Formula 1 World Championship calendar. Max Verstappen drove to victory with massive support behind him! How did the race go?

The race in the Netherlands produced no major drama. Together, Max Verstappen and his team protected their lead in this grand prix and deservedly drove to victory.

The tactics for today’s race were clear. To hold the first position after the start and then build a sufficient lead. This was successful, and Mercedes then had no choice but to try other options. However, both the undercuts and Valtteri Bottas’ delay on the race track didn’t help Mercedes.

Despite no free practice or qualifying, we didn’t see any accidents either, although Sergio Pérez and Lando Norris came very close.

In fact, there was contact between the former and the latter on lap 66. Pérez emerged victorious from this beautiful, but fierce duel. All this took place in turn 1.

On lap 37, Sebastian Vettel spun in the tricky Turn 3. And apart from a subsequent minor off-track run by Mick Schumacher, we didn’t see any more driving errors or outright collisions. Not counting the minor contact immediately after all five lights went out.

Three drivers retired from the race. First, on lap forty-four, Nikita Mazepin retired, probably due to a technical failure on his Haas. Six laps later, the Dutch Grand Prix ended for Júki Cunda (Alpha Tauri). He complained of a loss of performance.

At the very end, George Russell retired his Williams. The driver of the day was Sergio Pérez, who started last. However, thanks to brilliant driving, great speed and good tactics, he managed to get up to ninth place on points. Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap and set a new track record of 1:11.097.

So what does the final standings of the Dutch Grand Prix say?

1. Verstappen, 2. Hamilton, 3. Bottas, 4. Gasly, 5. Leclerc, 6. Alonso, 7. Sainz, 8. Ocon, 9. Pérez, 10. Norris, 11. Ricciardo, 12. Stroll, 13. Vettel, 14. Giovinazzi, 15. Kubica, 16. Latifi, 17/out. Russell, 18. Schumacher, out – Mazepin, Cunoda.

The race went absolutely wrong for McLaren. Norris didn’t have a good starting position and Daniel Ricciardo, by and large, is still out of form. Ferrari, on the other hand, scored 16 points here and leapfrogged McLaren into third in the team table.

In the drivers’ championship, Verstappen took the lead thanks to his home win, with Hamilton just three points behind him. Norris, who scored a single point for tenth place, drops one place to number four.

“I’m very happy to have won here and to be leading the championship again. It was a very good day and an absolutely incredible experience,” said Verstappen of the Dutch Grand Prix.

“What a race, wow. We had a great weekend, we pushed really hard, we tried everything. Max was fast and I congratulate him for the win, ” Hamilton said in a post-race interview.

The Formula 1 season is well underway, however. The Italian Grand Prix is just a week away, where we will once again see a new format for the race weekend!

Source: F1 Live