MAX Verstappen shrugged off downpours, safety cars and a red flag to take his third straight win on home soil in an enthralling Dutch Grand Prix to equal Sebastian Vettel’s decade-old record of nine consecutive wins.
Verstappen briefly lost the lead as heavy rain midway through the opening lap saw his team-mate Sergio Pérez pitting for intermediate tyres, but once Verstappen pitted, he rose through the order to retake the lead and led through safety cars, more heavy rain and red flags in the closing stages, to take his 46th career win, ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and a jubilant Pierre Gasly.
Halfway around the first lap the heavens opened and Pérez was the first to react. While Verstappen, Lando Norris and Alonso stuck with dry tyres, the Mexican pitted for intermediate tyres. Pérez dropped down the order but as the rain intensified it became clear he had made the right decision and Verstappen had to pit at the end of lap two. Pérez, meanwhile, had rocketed through the field and at the start of the third lap he took the lead, 14 seconds clear of Verstappen now in fifth. But Verstappen was soon on the move as George Russell pitted and he muscled his way past Gasly, then Guanyu Zhou to take second place, 9.5 seconds behind Pérez. The rain was weakening and with the track drying out Verstappen was back in the pits taking on dry tyres. Pérez made the same switch a lap later, but the undercut worked for Verstappen and he re-took the lead.
After a safety car period Verstappen held the lead well at the restart and steadily built an 11-second gap on his team-mate. On lap 60 more rain that had been moving towards Zandvoort for some time began to fall. Pérez was again the first to react, pitting for intermediate tyres, and on the following lap Verstappen made his stop, resuming in the lead.
The rain was now intensifying and when Zhou lost control and went into the barriers at Turn 1, a virtual safety car was deployed. With a sizeable gap in hand, Verstappen headed into the pit lane for full wet tyres and with torrential rain now falling Pérez followed. During Perez’s stop the race was red-flagged and he was forced to stop at the end of the pit lane as the rest of the field tiptoed through the treacherous conditions to join him. After almost 45 minutes the race got under way again, with a rolling start and intermediate tyres compulsory and Verstappen at the front of the pack ahead of Alonso and Pérez.
When the safety car left the track at the end of lap 66, Verstappen controlled the restart well to keep a hard-charging Alonso at bay. Pérez was handed a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane, a mistake that would cost him dearly. V
erstappen pulled away at the front and after 72 incident-packed laps crossed the line to take his ninth win of 2023. Alonso took P2 with Gasly rising to third as Pérez’s penalty was applied. Pérez was fourth ahead of Carlos Sainz, Lewis Hamilton and Norris. Alexander Albon finished eighth ahead of Oscar Piastri and the final point went to Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.
Next week we see more F1 action with the Italian GP at Monza.
