Dutch Grand Prix – Verstappen wins at home in front of a Mercedes!

The start of the race

Starting from pole position, Max Verstappen gave his fans the start they wanted by keeping the lead of the race. Directly covering the inside of the first corner, the Dutchman prevented any chance of overtaking by Charles Leclerc. After 5 laps, the Red Bull driver already had a lead of over a second on the Ferrari.

After his premature retirement in Belgium in the first round following a collision with Alonso, Lewis Hamilton had another scare in the Netherlands. Attempting an overtaking move on Sainz on the inside of turn 1, the Spaniard closed the door on the Mercedes’ trajectory, resulting in a slight contact between the two drivers. Despite a little sideways movement, the Briton didn’t lose any positions after this incident.

A little further down the hierarchy, the midfield was enlivened by the battle between Fernando Alonso and the two AlphaTauri cars. After several laps with Pierre Gasly within DRS range, the Alpine driver managed to pass the Frenchman on the straight of the pitlane on the 10th lap of the race. Two laps later, Alonso dove on the inside of the first corner to overtake the other AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda. These two overtakes promoted him to 11th position.

New mistake from Ferrari

While Carlos Sainz occupied the third position, an error in the pit stops cost him his place on the podium. Stopping on the 15th lap to remove his old medium tires, the Spanish driver’s mechanics were not ready to receive him. Forgetting to bring back the left rear tire to the garage, the former McLaren driver had to wait for 12 immobilized seconds. This extremely slow pit stop caused him to come out far behind his rivals.

With Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc stopping at the 19th and 18th lap of the race respectively, it left the two Mercedes alone at the front. Indeed, the silver arrows were the only cars in the Top 6 to have decided to start the race on mediums instead of soft tires. This allowed them to go further in their first stint. Stopping at the 30th lap of the race, Lewis Hamilton came out of the pits in front of Carlos Sainz. Having stopped for hard tires, the objective for car number 44 was clear: to go the distance in the Grand Prix.

The world champion then had a very intense battle with Sergio Perez’s Red Bull between the 36th and 37th lap. Despite a good defense from the Mexican, the pace of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes enabled him to overtake the Red Bull on the straightaway thanks to the DRS, gaining the 3rd position.

Tsunoda’s nightmare

Having stopped at the 45th lap, Yuki Tsunoda stopped on the track just outside the pit lane. It was a strange pit stop that the Japanese driver blamed on improperly tightened tires. After multiple minutes of being immobilized, Tsunoda’s engineer finally revealed to him that the tires had no issues. Stopping for a second consecutive time, the AlphaTauri driver was immobilized for almost 40 seconds, as his mechanics reattached his straps. Bad luck struck him once again as he left the pit lane. The driver, number 22, complained over the radio about a problem with the differential.

This abandon triggered the virtual safety car. Max Verstappen and the two Mercedes took advantage of this opportunity to dive into the pits and make an almost free pit stop. While it reduced Mercedes’ chances of victory, it guaranteed them a spot on the podium.

The revival of the race

While Lewis Hamilton, with his medium tires, was faster than Max Verstappen, who had hard tires, a safety car caused by Valtteri’s retirement will erase Mercedes’ strategic advantage.

Verstappen regained the lead of the race right after the restart. Lewis Hamilton made the surprising choice to accelerate very early in the last corner, which provided the Dutchman with a superb slipstream. One lap later, the Red Bull driver already had almost a two-second lead. Overtaken by Verstappen, Hamilton was later passed by his garage neighbor, George Russell. The seven-time world champion did not hesitate to show his frustration over the radio after this overtaking.

Thanks to this new victory this season, Max Verstappen now has a 109-point lead over his championship rival, Charles Leclerc. While the Monegasque managed to salvage a third position, it was a very difficult race for Carlos Sainz. He ended up in 8th place after receiving a 5-second penalty for being released from the pit lane in a reckless manner.