Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen wowed his home crowd on Sunday by taking the win at the 2021 Formula One Dutch Grand Prix—the first Dutch round since 1985.
Verstappen, who started the race at Circuit Zandvoort on pole, delivered a flawless drive to finish 20 seconds ahead of Mercedes-Benz AMG's Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes driver made a late pit stop to salvage a point for the fastest lap, yet he still managed to finish second. Third place went to fellow Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas almost a minute behind the winner.
Verstappen made a perfect getaway to take the lead at the start. Hamilton attempted to respond but into turn one the Mercedes driver was forced to defend from Bottas, and that allowed Verstappen to take off and build a gap.
2021 Formula One Dutch Grand Prix
Mercedes didn't give up there, however. At the halfway point, Verstappen was told by his team to go full out to avoid an undercut by Hamilton who stopped for tires on lap 39. Thanks to a sufficient gap, Verstappen was able to pit on the following lap and emerge still in the lead.
Behind them, AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly was comfortably holding fourth ahead of Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, though he was well out of contention for a podium finish. He managed to hold on to fourth by the end of the race, with Leclerc rounding out the top five.
Thanks to his latest win, Verstappen is now back in the lead in the 2021 Drivers' Championship ahead of Hamilton. Verstappen sits on 224.5 points versus the 221.5 of Hamilton. Bottas is a distant third with 123 points. In the Constructors' Championship, Mercedes leads with 344.5 points versus the 332.5 of Red Bull and 181.5 of Ferrari. The next race on the calendar is the Italian Grand Prix on this weekend.
2021 Formula One Dutch Grand Prix
Below are the full results from the 2021 Formula One Dutch Grand Prix:
1) Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
2) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-Benz AMG +20.932 seconds
3) Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes-Benz AMG +56.460 seconds
4) Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri +1 lap
5) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari +1 lap
6) Fernando Alonso, Alpine +1 lap
7) Carlos Sainz, Ferrari +1 lap
8) Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing +1 lap
9) Esteban Ocon, Alpine +1 lap
10) Lando Norris, McLaren +1 lap
11) Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren +1 lap
12) Lance Stroll, Aston Martin +2 laps
13) Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin +2 laps
14) Antonio Giovinazzi, Alfa Romeo +2 laps
15) Robert Kubica, Alfa Romeo +2 laps
16) Nicholas Latifi, Williams +2 laps
17) George Russell, Williams DNF
18) Mick Schumacher, Haas +3 laps
NC) Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri DNF
NC) Nikita Mazepin, Haas DNF
