Max Verstappen took victory at Zandvoort to equal the record for most consecutive F1 race wins, currently held by Sebastian Vettel from his time at Red Bull. Fernando Alonso took his Aston Martin to second place, with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in third.
While the focus at the start of the race was expected to be on home hero Max Verstappen, one person tried their best to upstage the two-time World Champion. That person….Andre Reiu. Working with a DJ, and then conducting the first time we would hear the Dutch National Anthem today.
The grid lined-up on slick tyres, with only Hamilton opting for the medium tyres over the soft compound. Rain was expected in the opening laps however, with the forecast saying that it would be expected three minutes after the start of the formation lap.
At the race start, Verstappen kept the lead, but the focus was on Fernando Alonso who was able to dive up the inside of both George Russell and Alex Albon and pass them both in the same corner.
When the race arrived, Norris and Russell opted to stay out, with Zhou Guanyu moving up to second, behind Verstappen as the field dived into the pitlane.
Ferrari had another pit stop nightmare as they did not have tyres ready for Charles Leclerc, dropping him down the order.
Liam Lawson, who was making his F1 debut this weekend, was handed a ten-second time penalty for impeding in the pits, as normal service was soon resumed with both Red Bulls leading the way.
It didn’t take long for Verstappen to re-take the lead of the race and by lap 14, we had a Verstappen, Perez and Alonso podium.
The safety car would then come out after Logan Sargeant crashed into the wall, with Pierre Gasly handed a five-second penalty for speeding in the pits before the safety car was eventually brought in. Sargeant’s dashboard showed that he had a brake-by-wire failure.
After a disappointing pit stop early on, Leclerc’s day got even worse as he was told to pit and retire the car with floor damage.
With just under 20 laps to go, it was still a Verstappen, Perez 1-2, with Alonso making his way back to the podium positions ahead of Sainz and Gasly.
With just over ten laps to go, the rain would start to pour once again and it wouldn’t be long until the virtual safety car was out, which ultimately ended up becoming a red flag.
Zhou crashed into the barrier as Hamilton went wide at the same corner, with Verstappen, Alonso and Perez being the front three at the restart. Perez had spun with the tricky conditions and did well to keep the car out of the barrier.
After a lengthy stoppage, the race would get underway behind the safety car and eventually a rolling start. An incident between Lando Norris and George Russell was noted, with the Mercedes driver dropping to the back of the grid as a result of the contact.
But after a few laps of racing, it would be Verstappen who would take the checkered flag for the ninth time in a row, much to the delight of the home support.
Alonso and Perez made up the podium positions as the checkered flag was flown, but Perez had a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pitlane and would drop to fourth. Gasly would be the driver that took the final podium position with Perez and Sainz making up the top five.
Hamilton was sixth, Norris seventh, Albon eighth, Piastri ninth and Ocon tenth rounding out the points scorers.