The Dutch sure know how to throw a party.
Max Verstappen withstood everything Mercedes threw at him to win the Dutch Grand Prix – his home race – at the first attempt, much to the delight of a sea of orange.
The Red Bull looked the slightly better car over the course of the weekend – at least in the hands of Verstappen – and it was the 23-year-old who narrowly secured pole position on Saturday.
Lewis Hamilton impressively closed to within 0.038 seconds of his title rival, after a tricky weekend where he missed almost all of Practice 2 with an engine issue, but the margin should have been larger with Verstappen’s DRS failing to open after he had also missed fifth gear earlier in the lap.
On Sunday, as soon as the flying Dutchman had successfully navigated the run to the first corner, it was to be a tale of strategy.
Sergio Pérez in the other Red Bull had been caught out in Q1 and would be starting from the back, which left Mercedes able to utilise two-versus-one tactics.
They attempted to take advantage, bringing Hamilton in for an attempted undercut, whilst teammate Valtteri Bottas ran long on a one-stop. The Finn made his Mercedes as wide as possible when Verstappen caught him, but was unable to stop him sailing past after one lap, despite the Zandvoort circuit proving predictably difficult to pass on.
Once again, Mercedes attempted the undercut with Hamilton, pulling the trigger unexpectedly early on lap 39. It was poorly executed, though, with the reigning champion emerging into traffic and Verstappen was easily able to cover him.
From there, it was plain sailing for the home favourite and car number 44 eventually gave up the chase to pit and secure the fastest lap.
A six-point swing in the title battle leaves Verstappen three points ahead in the standings heading to the season’s second sprint-qualifying weekend at Monza. On paper, it is a track that should favour the Silver Arrows. But how often have things followed the script this season?
A Tough Weekend for McLaren
Behind the most common podium trio of all time, Pierre Gasly once again excelled in the AlphaTauri, backing up his excellent fourth in qualifying with a lonely but flawless race.
Behind him, the Ferraris finished fifth and seventh – split by Fernando Alonso, who judged his tyre life to perfection to pass Carlos Sainz on the last lap – which sees them open out an 11.5-point gap to McLaren in the Constructors’ Championship.
The crowd may have been wall-to-wall orange, but things did not go the way of the papaya team in the Netherlands.
Unusually, Lando Norris struggled for pace throughout the weekend, and was then caught out by the pair of Williams crashes in Q2, leaving him 13th on the grid. Teammate Daniel Ricciardo did make it through to Q3 but could only manage 10th and, after nearly not starting the race at all, struggled for pace during it.
Norris extended his first stint well and caught the Honey Badger towards the end of the race. Team orders allowed him past but, after a tough battle with the recovering Pérez, Norris would only finish one place in front of a mildly disgruntled Ricciardo to claim the final point.
Monza will give them an excellent chance to bounce back immediately, however. They are renowned for their straight-line prowess this season and could even find themselves mixing it with the big boys next weekend at the Temple of Speed.
The Dutch Grand Prix in 60 Seconds
Answering the Burning Questions
Will Red Bull or Mercedes come out on top at a track that is somewhere between the Red Bull Ring and the Hungaroring? It was pretty tight, but Red Bull appeared to have a slight edge.
How will the drivers cope with a very unique circuit? They all seemed to love it. Along the lines of Mugello last year – a thrilling rollercoaster but not designed for modern F1 cars to overtake.
Will there be any overtaking? See above. Although Pérez produced some inventive moves to make his way back through the field.
