Max Verstappen Dominates Dutch GP Despite Rain: Ninth Consecutive Win Achieved

The rain messed up the Dutch GP this Sunday, but Max Verstappen’s superiority remains unshaken. On his return to F1 after the summer break, the two-time champion took his third home victory and ninth successive one of 2023, equaling the record set by Sebastian Vettel in 2013 for most consecutive wins in the year. Fernando Alonso, who started fifth, was second. Pierre Gasly, initially 12th, completed the podium – Alpine’s second of the season.

1 of 4 Max Verstappen celebrates a record nine consecutive wins in F1 after triumph in the Netherlands — Photo: Dan Istitene – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images Max Verstappen celebrates a record nine consecutive wins in F1 after triumph in the Netherlands — Photo: Dan Istitene – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images

Verstappen started from pole position, but he didn’t have an easy life: he took a while to adopt intermediate tires when the rain arrived at the start and saw Pérez anticipate the strategy. The superiority of the two-time champion and the movement of the race played against the Mexican, surpassed on lap 13; Max, however, did not open more than 10s of advantage over him.

The rain left as quickly as it arrived and, within ten laps, the drivers had already stopped twice. And the precipitation returned with a lot of force 11 laps to go, when Pérez ran off the track at turn 1 and lost second place. Third, he was still punished for speeding in the pitlane and overtaken at the flag by Gasly.

2 of 4 Max Verstappen no F1 Dutch GP in 2023 — Photo: ANP via Getty Images Max Verstappen no F1 Dutch GP in 2023 — Photo: ANP via Getty Images

The two-time RBR champion took a while to visit the pit lane to adopt heavy rain tires, again. And despite maintaining the lead, he had to hold off pressure from Alonso, less than 1s behind him in the restart that followed a 43-minute red flag.

After his 11th triumph of the year, Verstappen is now 339 at the top of the drivers’ championship, 131 ahead of Pérez. With the podium, Alonso remains vice-leader and now extends his advantage over Lewis Hamilton from one point to 12. In the World Constructors’ Championship, RBR remains at the top with 540 points. Mercedes remains in second place, however, the advantage for Aston Martin has dropped from 51 to 40 points.

Max Verstappen (RBR) Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) *Pierre Gasly (Alpine) Sergio Pérez (RBR) Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) Lando Norris (McLaren) Alexander Albon (Williams) Oscar Piastri (McLaren) Esteban Ocon ( Alpine) Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) Liam Lawson (AlphaTauri) Kevin Magnussen (Haas) Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) George Russell (Mercedes)
Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo) – ABANDONOU
Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – ABANDONED
Logan Sargeant (Williams) – ABANDONOU.

*Extra point for fastest race lap.

The next round of F1 will be the Italian GP on September 3, valid as the 14th round of the season. There are eight rounds left for the end of the championship. Look calendar.

Alonso went from fifth to third at the start and recovered even after successive pit stops. He had a good duel with compatriot Sainz for the last spot on the podium in the final part of the race and, with Pérez’s mistake under the storm, he won his third second place of the season – totaling seven podiums in the year and returning to the top 3 after four GPs missing.

The frequent changes in positions played within the top 10 names that started at the bottom of the grid. Of them, Gasly and Lewis Hamilton (from 13th to sixth) did better. The Frenchman, stopped early in the first rain, had fierce duels with Carlos Sainz and was punished with 5s for accelerating in the pit lane.

Hamilton stopped late the first time, but brought his second pit stop early when the weather cleared. With that, he recovered and managed to fight his way into the scoring zone. He was ahead of George Russell, who started in third, got hurt with the strategy and at the end of the race, he dropped to last when he crashed with Lando Norris – this one, only seventh in the race, after starting in second.

Verstappen kept the lead without a problem, with the top positions also unchanged in the opening corners. Already at turn 3, however, Alonso passed Albon and Russell and took third place – despite the visibility already extremely compromised by the arrival of the promised rain, still in the opening lap.

3 of 4 Dutch F1 GP start in 2023 — Photo: ANP via Getty Images Dutch F1 GP start in 2023 — Photo: ANP via Getty Images

Light rain changes scenery at the start

Pérez, Leclerc, Gasly, Zhou, Tsunoda and Lawson visited the pits on lap 2 to fit intermediate tyres; the 13 who postponed the pit stop suffered on the track, including leader Verstappen. He only stopped on the third lap, with Alonso and Sainz.

Russell, Hamilton, Norris, Albon, Piastri, Stroll, Bottas and Sargeant were left out and Pérez, already with intermediaries, took the lead. Albon, Piastri, Bottas, Hulkenberg and Sargeant were the only ones to stay on soft tyres.

Ferrari started its race with a mess at Leclerc’s pit stop: he “forgot” to bring the tires out and had to pick them up inside the garage when the car was already stopped. He still damaged the nose of his car in contact with Oscar Piastri at the start and did not have the part repaired.

Hamilton even charged Mercedes for not stopping earlier and losing positions. His compatriot Norris, from McLaren, also dropped to the back of the grid when changing tires only on lap 4.

Where is the rain that was here?

The time improved from lap ten, when Magnussen, Hamilton and Stroll opened the pits. Piastri set the fastest lap on the slick tyres, confirming the change in the race scenario. In the 11th it was the turn of Zhou, Alonso, Sainz, Ocon, Norris, Lawson and Russell. Most riders were on soft tires – except for Zhou, Bottas, Hulkenberg, Lawson and Stroll on mediums, and Russell on hards.

Initially sixth after the first round of pit stops, Verstappen climbed the grid in the next two laps and was already third on lap 6, passing Gasly. In the seventh, his next victim was Zhou. There, the gap to Pérez dropped from 13s to 10s and was reduced by almost 2s per lap until reaching 2s7.

Verstappen visited the pits again on the 12th lap accompanied by Gasly and Leclerc – who finally changed the nose of his car. And Pérez’s pit stop on the next lap, the two-time RBR champion returned to the lead. The Mexican, on the radio, even questioned the team if Max had undercut him; his engineer Hugh Bird confirmed it.

Logan Sargeant crashed at turn 9 and activated the safety car on lap 16. Piastri also took the worst of this one, who had just entered the pits and was parked in 14th. The race resumed on lap 22 of 72 with no changes to the standings.

Still talking about bad luck, Leclerc abandoned the race on lap 43. Stuck at the back of the grid throughout the race, the Monaco driver also suffered damage to the floor of his Ferrari, was overtaken by Russell, from Mercedes, and even by Lawson.

Rain returned in earnest with 11 laps to go

Just when the race looked like it was going to settle down, the rain returned. The first drops took Pérez to the pits on lap 61 of 72, but the RBR had problems removing his tires and the change lasted 10s9. And quickly the drizzle turned to a storm: Gasly, Sainz, Hamilton, Russell, Norris and Piastri stopped. Verstappen, Alonso and Albon only entered the next lap.

4 of 4 Guanyu Zhou crashed in the last laps of the Dutch F1 GP 2023 — Photo: Bryn Lennon – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images Guanyu Zhou crashed in the last laps of the Dutch F1 GP 2023 — Photo: Bryn Lennon – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images

Pérez spun at turn 1, and Bottas and Zhou ran off the track; the Chinese from Alfa Romeo still crashed. With that, the race direction opted for the red flag that interrupted the race for more than 40 minutes. When resuming the race on the 67th lap, the position of the spin prior to the stoppage was considered. With that, Pérez returned to third place, but was penalized 5s for speeding in the pit lane.

2023-08-27 15:27:40
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