Netherlands Winning the Dutch Grand Prix on the evening of August 27, Red Bull racer Max Verstappen equaled the record of 9 consecutive F1 wins set by Sebastian Vettel in the 2013 season.
Fireworks celebrate Verstappen's victory at the Dutch Grand Prix at the Zandvoort racetrack on August 27. Photo: AP
After the race, Verstappen could not hide his pride at matching his senior's feat. "F1 racing is always very difficult. In the past, there were many cars that were stronger than ours now, but they could not win 9 races in a row, especially in races like today, when it is very easy to pit at the wrong time and lose your achievement," said the defending champion.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner also admired the latest feat of his team's star. "Vettel's record in 2013 - winning nine races in a row - was crazy. I never dared to think that Red Bull would one day repeat that record with another driver. No one could have imagined it," he said.
Verstappen's troubles began just seconds into the race, with a rainstorm lashing the Zandvoort circuit. He lost the lead and dropped to second behind teammate Sergio Perez as the Mexican pitted early and switched to intermediates. However, Verstappen was able to get past on lap 13 and dominated the race until the end.
Heavy rain with eight laps to go brought the red flags out and the race was stopped for 45 minutes. But through it all, Verstappen was in control, as he has been all season – never really giving his rivals a chance to fight back. By winning his home race, Verstappen extended his lead in the standings to 138 points over team-mate Perez.
Alonso started fifth, but quickly overtook Albon on the outside of Turn 2, before attacking on the inside of Hugenholzbocht to take third from Russell. The next lap, Norris was beaten in a similar attack, and the veteran Spaniard moved into second.
The rain became heavier on the first lap, and Perez, who started seventh, quickly pitted for intermediates at the end of lap one. None of the top drivers made it out as Perez did. Only Charles Leclerc, the Ferrari driver who started ninth, followed. Perez quickly took the lead.
Verstappen and Alonso continued on dry tyres, losing a lot of time on lap 2. By the time they pitted at the end of the lap, they had dropped to fifth and seventh. The two leading drivers were pitting, dragging the cars behind them into the pits to switch to intermediates, with the rain showing no signs of letting up anytime soon.
Alonso was not quick enough to beat Verstappen, but finished an excellent second in Zandvoort. Photo: AFP
After Verstappen finished changing tires, Perez took the lead and was 14 seconds ahead of his teammate. At this point, the Dutchman's talent began to show. Verstappen kept accelerating and shortening the gap with his teammate. By lap 10, the gap between the two Red Bull drivers was less than 5 seconds.
On the next lap, thanks to the rain stopping, Verstappen pitted to switch to dry tyres. Perez had to pit one lap after his teammate. When he returned, the Mexican was three seconds behind Verstappen. Alonso was slow to change tyres and dropped to third behind Perez. At this point, the race was considered settled, although there were still many risks from the rain towards the end of the race.
Heavy rain towards the end of the race saw Perez, who was second behind Verstappen, lose ground to Alonso after he lost control and spun out at Turn 1 after switching to intermediates on lap 60. The torrential rain again sent the drivers rushing to the pits and switching to heavy rain tyres. A series of red flags were raised in the rain and the race was halted for safety on lap 65.
Perez was penalised five seconds in the final seven laps for speeding when he came in for a tyre change, and had to work hard to avoid falling behind Carlos Sainz, the Ferrari driver who successfully fended off an attack from Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes. The lack of a DRS wing meant the Mercedes driver was unable to attack the Ferrari.
While Perez benefited from switching to the intermediates early in the race, the Mercedes drivers failed to adopt the opposite strategy. The German team delayed switching to the intermediates, hoping to gain more dry weather time, only to realise their mistake too late.
Hamilton and his team-mates made late tyre changes on laps 3 and 4, and both fell out of the top 10 as a result. After struggling for the rest of the race, Hamilton was able to climb up to sixth and Russell to eighth when the race restarted after the stoppage. But Russell fell back after colliding with Norris at Turn 11.
Key events of the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix.
"The race was over before it really started," complained 25-year-old Briton Russell. "I think the weather data we had was completely wrong. We thought the rain would only last a few minutes but it was clear that it would last much longer."
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff admitted that his team was not well prepared for the rain at the start of the race. "We stayed out of the race and waited too long, which was a completely wrong choice. And that's a pity because our car had very good speed," he said.
Dutch Grand Prix Results
Rank on one's own | Racer | Team | Location start | Number of tire changes | Fastest individual lap | Achievements | Point |
1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1 | 6 | 1 minute 13.889 seconds | 2 hours 24 minutes 4.411 seconds | 25 |
2 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 5 | 5 | 1:13,837 | +3,744 seconds | 19 |
3 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 12 | 5 | 1:14,441 | +7,058 | 15 |
4 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 7 | 6 | 1:14,231 | +10,068 | 12 |
5 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 6 | 5 | 1:14,934 | +12,541 | 10 |
6 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 13 | 5 | 1:13,904 | +13,209 | 8 |
7 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 2 | 6 | 1:14,390 | +13,232 | 6 |
8 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 4 | 4 | 1:14,468 | +15,155 | 4 |
9 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 8 | 5 | 1:14,299 | +16,580 | 2 |
10 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 16 | 6 | 1:14,570 | +18,346 | 1 |
11 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 11 | 7 | 1:15,171 | +20,087 | |
12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | 14 | 5 | 1:14,472 | +20,840 | |
13 | Liam Lawson | AlphaTauri | 19 | 7 | 1:14,820 | +26,147 | |
14 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 18 | 5 | 1:14,698 | +27,388 | |
15 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 17 | 5 | 1:16,253 | +29,893 | |
16 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 20 | 6 | 1:15,489 | +31,410 | |
17 | George Russell | Mercedes | 3 | 7 | 1:15,124 | +55,754 | |
18 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo | 15 | 4 | 1:15,417 | Abandon the race | |
19 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 9 | 2 | 1:17,277 | Abandon the race | |
20 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | 10 | 1:17,399 | Abandon the race |
+) Fastest-lap: 1 minute 13.837 seconds set by Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) on lap 56.
Individual scorecard after 13 stages
Rank on one's own | Racer | Team | Point |
1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 339 |
2 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 201 |
3 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 168 |
4 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 156 |
5 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Ferrari | 102 |
6 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 99 |
7 | George Russell | Mercedes | 99 |
8 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 75 |
9 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 47 |
10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 37 |
11 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 36 |
12 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 36 |
13 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 15 |
14 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | 9 |
15 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 5 |
16 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo | 4 |
17 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 3 |
18 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 2 |
19 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | |
20 | Nyck de Vries | AlphaTauri | |
21 | Daniel Ricciardo | AlphaTauri | |
22 | Liam Lawson | AlphaTauri |
Team scorecard after 13 races
Rank on one's own | Team | Point |
1 | Red Bull | 540 |
2 | Mercedes | 255 |
3 | Aston Martin | 215 |
4 | Ferrari | 201 |
5 | McLaren | 111 |
6 | Alpine | 73 |
7 | Williams | 15 |
8 | Haas | 11 |
9 | Alfa Romeo | 9 |
10 | AlphaTauri | 3 |
Minh Phuong
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