Max Verstappen Dominates Dutch GP Ahead of Second-Place Lewis Hamilton

Fans of Max Verstappen had been expecting this moment all season and together with his win at the Dutch Grand Prix, he delivered with aplomb. The Dutch lion roared ahead of a home crowd at Zandvoort that had come for a celebration and Verstappen proved a munificent host. Retaking the lead within the title fight by beating Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton into second was his reward during this tightly fought season that continues to ebb and flow.

Max Verstappen won for Red Bull with a commanding drive from pole, becoming the primary Dutch driver to win the Dutch GP, first held in 1952 and 36 years after the last meeting. Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas was third. Verstappen leads Hamilton by three points within the drivers’ standings but Mercedes have extended their lead within the constructors’ championship to 12 points.

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Hamilton acknowledged he simply didn’t have the pace to match Red Bull nor did Mercedes execute at their best. “They were definitely faster today, there weren’t tons I could do to answer the lap times they were fixing,” he said.

“We needed everything to be perfect to even have the slightest chance of getting past him through strategy for instance. Pit stops, strategy and traffic needed to get on point but none of these three was ideal.”

Zandvoort has been a sea of orange all weekend and on race day an almost permanent haze of orange smoke from the flares depart within the grandstands hung over the circuit. The noise from the 70,000 fans drowned out even the pounding techno that echoed around the track and Verstappen reveled within the atmosphere and therefore the challenge.

“The whole race it had been quite close between myself and Lewis, he was really putting the pressure on, fixing some great laps,” he said. “The fans have high expectations because they need you to win but it’s never that easy. a fantastic feeling to win, a tremendous day.”

Before the race, the atmosphere was febrile, afterwards ecstatic. Much has been made by some Dutch fans booing Hamilton lately but their contribution to creating this GP desire a true event, that it had been a sporting contest of passion and meaning was immense. They ought to be applauded and indeed with their man on the highest step that they had cheers too for Hamilton’s valiant effort to spoil their fun.

Over 1,000,000 people had applied for tickets, hundreds more lined the fences within the dunes outside for a glimpse of the cars within the distance and for those lucky enough to form it they reveled within the joyous moment when, for them, F1 came home. Verstappen too was visibly moved as he stood atop stage draped within the Dutch flag, the emotions obvious on his face, bowing his head because the anthem was performed.

For Hamilton, with nine races remaining, the ominous sort of Red bull was clearly a priority. He has not won a race on pure pace since the Spanish Grand Prix, nine meetings ago.

“We have given it absolutely everything,” he said. “Since the primary race these guys have had such a robust car all year we’ve been trying as hard as we will. We had a few races where we looked almost on par but there have only been a few of these and that they took an enormous leap. We’d like to select up some speed if we would like to win races in future.”

Verstappen had wanted to form an emphatic statement after the clash with Hamilton at British Grand Prix. The 23-year-old’s win at the last round in Spa was a victory in name only but he made his point with crushing finality at Zandvoort, albeit during a race that was something of a procession.

He had held his lead from pole and thereafter flew. Immediately opening over a two-second gap to Hamilton. Without the pace to challenge, the planet champion did what he could to remain together with his opponent and Mercedes twice tried the undercut by pitting him before Red Bull. Yet it had been vainly.

Their first stop was slow and on the second Hamilton’s deficit to Verstappen was already wide when he came calling at traffic.

Red Bull successively handled Verstappen’s stops to a T, covering off Hamilton’s immediately a lap later whenever the team executing with precision to deny Hamilton a sniff of an opportunity. Track position was all and Max Verstappen held it with an iron grip.

After the ultimate stops with Hamilton on softer tires, he tried all he could to pressure the Dutchman but Max Verstappen is proving to be impervious to such tactics, carrying his title challenge with considerable grace and delighting the Orange Army as he does so.

In the final moments, there was drama and portent for Mercedes within the clearest indication yet that the team are going to be taking over Williams’ George Russell to exchange Bottas next season. The Finn has been meticulous in following orders within the past but when he pitted late and was instructed to not choose the fastest lap he went quickest until he was reminded again to not risk denying Hamilton. He backed off and Hamilton duly took the additional point.

“I was just playing around,” Bottas said with a flippancy he has not displayed before. The Finn too was making some extent, with an announcement on Russell’s appointment expected next week.

AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was in fourth and Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in fifth and seventh for Ferrari, Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon were sixth and ninth for Alpine, Sergio Pérez in eighth for Red Bull and Lando Norris in 10th for McLaren.