Dutch GP Results: Max Verstappen Takes Victory After Frenzied Race In Zandvoort
Max Verstappen has driven to victory in the Dutch Grand Prix.
Following the two-time champion were Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez who crossed the line in second and third place, respectively. However, the Mexican driver lost his spot on the podium due to a five-second time penalty, putting Pierre Gasly on the third spot on the podium.
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The Dutch Grand Prix got off to a chaotic start as rain fell almost immediately, meaning teams had to change their pit strategies instantly. This led to the grid line-up changing constantly for the first four laps. Fans saw an absolutely shocking stop for Charles Leclerc as he came into the pits for intermediate tyres but the Ferrari team were not ready, severely holding the Monegasque driver up.
By lap 8, Sergio Perez was leading the race with a 7 second gap to Max Verstappen followed by Zhou Guanyu in the Alfa Romeo.
Penalty: Liam Lawson was handed a 10 second penalty on his F1 debut for impeding Kevin Magnussen in the pit lane.
Max Verstappen took the lead of the race by undercutting Perez on pitstops by Lap 13. However, with more rain expected more pit stop strategies are likely to come in to play.
On Lap 17 Logan Sargeant unfortunately lost control at Turn 7 and collided with the race wall. Thankfully the American driver was able to walk away from the crash and was okay. A safety car was put on the session.
Penalty: Pierre Gasly received a 5 second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
The safety car came in on Lap 21 so the racing could resume. With some time without rain or any mishaps, we saw some fantastic overtakes from Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri.
After sustaining further damage Ferrari decided to retire Leclerc from the race on Lap 41. The team later confirmed that the Monegasque driver had sustained significant floor damage.
With more rain predicted for the last ten laps of the race the drivers and teams began starting to think about further strategies. We had some more incredible overtakes from Pierre Gasly and Lewis Hamilton.
Sergio Perez had another shocking pit stop similar to that of Charles Leclerc at the start of the race, costing the Mexican driver a 10 second pit stop.
With ten laps to go of the race Max Verstappen continued to lead the race followed by Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez, and Alex Albon. The latter then had to head into the pits putting him into eighth position.
Lap 63 saw Sergio Perez run off the track at Turn 1 in the heavy rain, losing second position. He managed to avoid crashing into the wall and remained in podium contention in third position. Shortly after, Zhou Guanyu crashed into the race wall at Turn 1 ending his race and putting a red flag on the session. Other drivers to run wide on the wet track were Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton.
Strangely, Red Bull called Sergio Perez into the pits under the safety car conditions for full wet tyres, however, a red flag was quickly put on the session putting Perez at a disadvantage. This did give the team time to repair the damaged RB19 under the red flag, though.
Penalty: Yuki Tsunoda received a 5 second penalty for causing a collision with George Russell.
After a wait for the track to be cleared, the race wall repaired, and for the rain to clear, racing resumed behind the safety car. The safety car came in with five laps to go to finish the Grand Prix.
Penalty: Sergio Perez was handed a 5 second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
With just four laps to go, Russell told the team "I'm out" and returned to the pits. After some confusion over what happened to the British driver it was confirmed he suffered from a puncture ending his race in the latter stages.
Dutch Grand Prix Results
- Max Verstappen
- Fernando Alonso
- Pierre Gasly
- Sergio Perez
- Carlos Sainz
- Lewis Hamilton
- Lando Norris
- Alex Albon
- Oscar Piastri
- Esteban Ocon
- Lance Stroll
- Nico Hulkenberg
- Liam Lawson
- Kevin Magnussen
- Valtteri Bottas
- Yuki Tsunoda
- George Russell - DNF
- Zhou Guanyu - DNF
- Charles Leclerc - DNF
- Logan Sargeant - DNF