Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen overcame heavy rain to take home victory on Sunday in the 2023 Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix at Circuit Zandvoort, his home event.
It was Verstappen's ninth-straight victory in F1, meaning he's now equaled the record set by Sebastian Vettel when he drove for Red Bull.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso finished second, 3.7 seconds behind, and third place went to Alpine's Pierre Gasly who finished seven seconds behind the winner.
Verstappen started the race on pole and was joined at the front of the grid by McLaren's Lando Norris. Verstappen got the better start and then heavy rain started to fall during the first lap, catching some drivers by surprise, including Verstappen who kept racing on his starting soft tires.
Teammate Sergio Perez, who started at seventh on the grid, decided to pit for intermediate tires which dropped him further down the order, but the move proved shrewed as the rain became heavier. Many other drivers also decided to put for intermediates, including Verstappen, which freed up Perez to take the lead by the third lap.
Lewis Hamilton at the 2023 Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix
Perez didn't stay in the lead for long though as Verstappen, who dropped to fifth after his second stop and was 14 seconds behind, was lapping up to two seconds quicker than his teammate and making his way up the order. Verstappen then returned to soft tires after a lap 11 pit stop and would return to the lead spot on lap 13 after Perez made his own stop for soft tires.
The race then started to settle down, but chaos emerged again on lap 16 when Williams’ Logan Sargeant crashed at Turn 8, requiring the safety car to emerge. The race resumed on lap 21 with Verstappen in the lead and Perez one place behind.
With 10 laps remaining, Verstappen had built up a gap of 19 seconds with Perez who then lost second place to Alonso after a mistake at Turn 1. And with the rain intensifying at this point, more drivers were making mistakes, including Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu who went into the barriers at Turn 1, requiring the virtual safety car to be called.
Verstappen then swapped to full wet tires, followed by Perez a lap later. The race was then stopped due to the rain, finally resuming 45 minutes later with a rolling restart. Verstappen was in the lead, followed by Alonso and Perez in second and third spots respectively. Perez was then given a five-second penalty for an earlier pit lane speed limit offence. Despite his best efforts to build up a gap of more than five seconds with Gasly behind, he could only manage three seconds by the end of the race. He thus had to settle for fourth place at the finish, with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz claiming fifth place.
AlphaTauri's Daniel Ricciardo had to sit out the race due to a broken wrist sustained in a crash during Friday's practice session. He was replaced by reserve driver Liam Lawson who finished a respectable 13th in his F1 debut. Ricciardo later had surgery on his wrist, and his status for the remainder of the season is in question.
Following the weekend's action, Verstappen's points tally in the 2023 Drivers' Championship has grown to 339 points. Perez is second with 201 points and Alonso is third with 168 points. In the Constructors' Championship, Red Bull leads with 540 points, versus the 255 of Mercedes-Benz AMG in second and 215 of Aston Martin in third. The next race on the calendar is the Italian Grand Prix scheduled for this weekend.
Max Verstappen at the 2023 Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix - Photo credit: Getty Images
Below are the full results from the 2023 Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix:
1) Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
2) Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin +3.744 seconds
3) Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri +7.058 seconds
4) Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing +10.068 seconds
5) Carlos Sainz, Ferrari +12.541 seconds
6) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-Benz AMG +13.209 seconds
7) Lando Norris, McLaren +13.232 seconds
8) Alexander Albon, Williams +15.155 seconds
9) Oscar Piastri, McLaren +16.580 seconds
10) Esteban Ocon, Alpine +18.346 seconds
11) Lance Stroll, Aston Martin +20.087 seconds
12) Nico Hulkenberg, Haas +20.840 seconds
13) Liam Lawson, AlphaTauri +26.147 seconds
14) Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo +27.388 seconds
15) Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri +29.893 seconds
16) Kevin Magnussen, Haas +31.410 seconds
17) George Russell, Mercedes-Benz AMG +55.754 seconds
NC) Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo – DNF
NC) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari – DNF
NC) Logan Sargeant, Williams – DNF
