More Dutch delight for Verstappen as history beckons
Monday, 28 August 2023
Max Verstappen made it a hat-trick of wins at his home Grand Prix from pole at Zandvoort on Sunday for a ninth straight victory, while Alpine's Pierre Gasly got a late gift and a podium courtesy of a penalty for Sergio Perez.
Max Verstappen sent his home fans home happy – wet and late, but happy nonetheless – by winning his home Dutch Grand Prix for the third year running, equalling former Red Bull Racing world champion Sebastian Vettel in the F1® record books with his ninth successive victory.
From pole, the runaway championship leader gained control of the race when he undercut teammate Sergio Perez after his second pit stop on lap 11. Despite conditions going from wet to dry – and then becoming so wet that the race was stopped for 45 minutes after Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo) crashed heavily at the first corner on lap 63 – Verstappen had the field covered to take his 11th win in 13 Grands Prix this season.
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With the race becoming one of being on the right tyre at the right time, Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso showed the value of his vast experience by taking his seventh podium of the year with second place. While Perez crossed the line behind the Spaniard, the Mexican was hit with a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane, which promoted Alpine's Pierre Gasly into third place for his first podium in over two seasons.
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Verstappen – who has now won 15 of the past 18 Grands Prix dating back to last year – can surpass Vettel's 2013 record for consecutive victories with a 10th win on the bounce at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
Aussie watch
Oscar Piastri started eighth and finished ninth at Zandvoort, but the McLaren rookie's first Dutch Grand Prix was nowhere near as straightforward as the result suggests after an early-race gamble to stay out on slick tyres in the rain was undone by a lap 15 safety car for an accident for Logan Sargeant (Williams).
Piastri braved the worst of the early weather and bad visibility to be in a strong position to move up the order, but his lap 15 pit stop and the subsequent safety car period left him down in 16th place. Some assertive overtaking – particularly in the first sector of the lap – caught the eye as he made it back inside the top 10 by lap 42, and he set the fifth-fastest lap of the race en route to his fourth points-scoring race weekend in succession.
Piastri flew the Australian flag solo at Zandvoort after Daniel Ricciardo missed a Grand Prix with injury for the first time in his 234-race career.
The Scuderia AlphaTauri driver broke his left hand after he crashed into the barriers trying to avoid Piastri's crashed McLaren at Turn 3 in Friday's second practice session, and flew to Barcelona to have surgery on Sunday. Ricciardo will also miss, at a minimum, next weekend's Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
Unsung hero
Third place was a reward and a surprise for Pierre Gasly, who qualified 12th and hadn’t finished better than seventh in a race all season before inheriting his fourth F1® podium.
With senior staff departing Alpine with regularity in recent times, the team hasn't had much to be happy about since Esteban Ocon's podium at Monaco, with McLaren putting daylight between itself and the French team in the constructors' standings.
Gasly's podium – his first since the 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix for Scuderia AlphaTauri – came after he was one of a handful of drivers to ditch their slick tyres for intermediates after one lap when the heavens opened, and he spent all but two of the 72 laps inside the top six to go one better than his fourth-place finish at Zandvoort two years ago.
The result saw him leapfrog Piastri to take 10th place in the drivers' championship, with Monza – site of his sole F1 win in 2020 – coming up next.
Number to know
30: Verstappen's victory was Red Bull's 30th since the beginning of 2022; for context, in eight seasons from the start of the V6 turbo hybrid era (2014) to 2021, the team won 28 Grands Prix in total.
Today they didn't make it easy for us with the weather, we had to make all the time the right calls. But incredibly proud … I already had goosebumps when they were playing the national anthem before the start.
Dutch Grand Prix: top 10
1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) 2hrs 24mins 04.411secs
2. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +3.744secs
3. Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +7.058secs
4. Sergio Perez (Red Bull Racing) +10.068secs
5. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) +12.541secs
6. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +13.209secs
7. Lando Norris (McLaren) +13.232secs
8. Alex Albon (Williams) +15.155secs
9. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +16.580secs
10. Esteban Ocon (Alpine) +18.346secs
Standings (top 5)
Drivers' championship
1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) 339 points
2. Sergio Perez (Red Bull Racing) 201 points
3. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) 168 points
4. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 156 points
5. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) 102 points
Constructors' championship
1. Red Bull Racing (540 points)
2. Mercedes (255 points)
3. Aston Martin (215 points)
4. Ferrari (201 points)
5. McLaren (111 points)
Next race
Round 14: Monza, Italy (September 1-3)
