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Max Verstappen continues to dominate and wins the 9th race in a row in Zandvoort despite the rain chaos.
The pedestal
- 1. Max Verstappen (NED/Red Bull)
- 2. Fernando Alonso (ESP/Aston Martin) +3.744 seconds
- 3. Pierre Gasly (FRA/Alpine) +7.058s
He’s just not to be beaten at the moment, especially not on his home course. Also at the 3rd edition since Formula 1 returned to the Netherlands, the winner is Max Verstappen. As expected, the rain had caused a stir, but he was not impressed by that either.
7 laps before the end, the race had to be interrupted for 40 minutes due to the heavy rain, followed by a rolling start and Verstappen’s lead of almost half a minute over the closest pursuer, Fernando Alonso, was gone. Nevertheless, the 25-year-old drove home his 11th victory in the 13th race of the season with ease. With the 9th triumph in a row, he drew level with Sebastian Vettel, the record holder in this category.
Alonso (Aston Martin) defended second place behind him. A laughing third was Pierre Gasly in the Alpine, who moved up to the podium due to a late five-second penalty against Sergio Perez, who was actually third. It is the 4th career podium for the Frenchman.
Brilliant start phase
The rain made its first major appearance shortly after the start: if it held back beforehand, it really set in on the first lap and forced the drivers to react with regard to their tires. Those who stayed on the dry tires a little too long were penalized.
Alfa driver Guanyu Zhou was a big beneficiary of the turbulence at the start, and was temporarily able to advance to second place. As a result, the Chinese lost place after place, dropped out of the points and later during the rain chaos after a crash, he also dropped out of the race. Valtteri Bottas, his teammate at the Hinwil racing team, was 16th.
Leclerc in double bad luck
Charles Leclerc experienced a day to forget. The rain surprise at the beginning caught his Ferrari pit crew cold, the right tires were not ready and Leclerc had to wait in the pits for a long second. The Monegasque made up for the lost positions over the course of the next few laps, only to have to retire after almost two-thirds of the race due to underbody damage.
This is how it goes
The last stage in Europe is scheduled for next weekend: Italy hosts the Formula 1 circus in the Autodromo Nazionale, the high-speed temple in Monza. Verstappen is then aiming for his 10th title in a row and thus the sole record.