Max Verstappen Controls F1’s Dutch Grand Prix

Max Verstappen led his home race from pole position and took his second Dutch Grand Prix victory in as many years, but it was anything but a lights-to-flag win at the Zandvoort Circuit. A mixture of tyre strategies, safety car slowdowns, and misfortune changed the order of the frontrunners throughout the 72 laps, but the reigning world champion again won out.

In the early stages, the twisty track that navigates the Dutch sand dunes seemed to lack grip for the Pirelli tyres. As a result, there wasn’t any standout getaway from the drivers at lights out, meaning the chasing pack left Verstappen unopposed in P1 to extend his lead from pole position. Charles Leclerc maintained P2 from the front row, while Carlos Sainz in P3 survived a tap by Lewis Hamilton, who had shot down the inside of Turn 1 from P4.

It was quiet through the opening portion of the race save for a battle of the Brits. George Russell had to overtake Lando Norris with DRS after his compatriot’s McLaren passed the Mercedes driver at Turn 2 on the opening lap. Sainz became a cork in a bottle in P3, falling behind his teammate Leclerc, but rather than the Ferrari driver playing a team strategy or saving his Soft Pirelli rubber, he was just slow.

Sainz’s day didn’t improve after being the first of the leaders to pit. The chasing Sergio Perez followed the Spaniard in from P5 and would overtake Sainz after another disastrous moment for Ferrari. The Italian team didn’t have the left-rear tyre ready for their driver, causing a 12.7s pit stop for Sainz. Not only that, when Perez overtook him, a mechanic left a wheel gun out, which the Red Bull racer drove over, breaking the power tool, and no doubt generating tough questions from FIA this week.

There were no such problems for the sister Red Bull and Ferrari cars when Verstappen and Perez made their stops to emerge behind the Mercedes duo. However, while all other drivers had swapped their Pirelli tyres, the Silver Arrows had other ideas. They nursed their Medium rubber much further into the Grand Prix to become two serious contenders for the win. Hamilton and Russell nearly made it to half-distance before they took what Mercedes intended to be their sole stops.

With the benefit of fresh tyres, Hamilton scythed into the gap in front of him and closed down on Perez, who sat in P3 after his early tyre change. Encouragingly for Mercedes, who have often been on the back foot in 2022, both cars could close in on the Red Bulls and Ferrari in front of them. First Hamilton, then Russell, whizzed past Perez with some DRS assistance down the main straight and began to inch closer to Verstappen and Leclerc in P1 and P2.

As the race entered its final act, the Mercedes duo’s one-stop strategy vaulted them into a victory opportunity, but Yuki Tsunoda changed the course of the race. The AlphaTauri driver twice stopped on track, with the latter stoppage causing a Virtual Safety Car. Leclerc pitted the first time in the hope it’d be a ‘cheap’ stop before Tsunoda got running again, but Verstappen benefited most when he took his pit stop under the actual VSC. The Mercedes pair followed suit, but the slowdown nullified their one-stop strategy advantage, and Verstappen was back in the driving seat.

There was one further twist, however. Valtteri Bottas’s Alfa Romeo’s engine failed on the pit straight, requiring a full Safety Car for recovery. So again, Verstappen ‘cheaply’ pitted, falling behind the Mercedes drivers but equipped with Soft tyres to fight in the final run to the flag. Sensing the red-walled Pirellis would also suit him better, Russell followed suit, as did Leclerc, leaving Hamilton in P1 but in a highly vulnerable position as the only driver in the top four with Medium tyres. Sainz’s miserable day continued in the pits, too, with an unsafe release into the path of Fernando Alonso earning him a five-second time penalty.

The restart saw Hamilton immediately fall victim down the main straight to the Soft tyre advantage of Verstappen, who took a lead he would keep until the chequered flag. Furthermore, Hamilton’s old tyres would soon see him fall from P2 to off the podium as Russell and Leclerc also eased past the Briton in the closing laps.

A raucous home crowd that partied from Friday’s very first practice session were sent into jubilation by Verstappen’s victory. Their hero now has a 109-point lead as Formula One leaves the Netherlands and onto the final European race in Italy this weekend. It’s now four wins in a row for Verstappen — the most successive victories he’s ever achieved — and it’s unclear what might stop him in F1’s final seven rounds.

Originally published at Tyres Northampton.