After the summer break, the persistent and capricious rain that visited Zandvoort covered the performance of the drivers in the Dutch GP with a mantle of heroism, in which the leader, Max Verstappen, shone once again. The Dutchman set a new record with his ninth straight victory, while a brave Fernando Alonso returned to the podium after two months -five races- without doing so (since Canada, in June). The Asturian also took the popular recognition of Driver of the day and the extra point for the best lap of the race. It had been six years (Hungary 2017) since he had not managed to be the fastest.
Verstappen, leader from start to finish despite the uncertainty of the rain and the safety cars, achieved a victory with which he equals the record for most consecutive wins in a season held by Sebastian Vettel since 2013. The Dutchman already has 11 victories in 13 grand prix, on the way to his three-time championship.
The race was encouraged already at the start with the water that began to fall. Verstappen started well from pole position to maintain first place against Norris's harassment, but a brutal Fernando Alonso did much better, who jumped from fifth to second place. At the start he passed Russell and Albon on the inside at Turn 3, and then Norris before the end of the first lap. An anthological output of the Asturian.
At that moment, in the 4.2 km of the lap they were already crazy due to the sudden deluge that made it difficult for the cars to stabilize. The smartest was Checo Pérez, who stopped at the end of the first lap to put on the intermediate tyres. Leclerc followed. But the first ones, Verstappen, Alonso or Sainz, continued on the track for one more lap on the track.
Verstappen stopped on the second lap –so would the rest of the grid minus six adventurers who continued on the soft slicks- and it only took him five laps to get back on top, second, 10 seconds behind Pérez, the leader.
The Dutchman was flying in his circuit, in one lap he cut 4 seconds from the Mexican, with equal tires. Zhou was third, Gasly fourth -they were among the first to switch to intermediate- and Alonso fifth, ahead of Sainz and Leclerc (v. 9/72).
But the track dried up and it was necessary to put the slick tires back on. Hamilton was the first to put on the red wheels (v. 10), followed by Alonso and Sainz (v. 11) and later by Verstappen, Pérez, Gasly, Leclerc... (v. 12). How does Red Bull manage to always be ahead? The Dutchman came out first from the parade dance, with Pérez as bodyguard, while Alonso was third, with Gasly fourth and Sainz fifth.
The frantic action was interrupted on lap 16, a breather, by the safety-car which caused Sargeant's Williams to crash into the guardrails. The race was neutralized for five laps.
On lap 21 the race resumed with Verstappen pulling hard and Alonso approaching Pérez, the Mexican closed him well on the straight, while Gasly blocked Sainz from behind. The first five were more than 4 seconds behind Zhou, who, with medium tires, acted as a stopper for the rest -Albon, Magnussen, Ocon, Tsunoda, Norris...-
Once the race was normalized, Verstappen began to accumulate tenths and tenths to store 3 seconds over his teammate Pérez on lap 28, while Alonso weighed the options of attacking the Mexican, whom he had 7 tenths behind. They were the three fastest drivers on the track.
The luck for the Asturian is that he did not have any serious threat from behind, with Sainz (5th) 3 seconds behind, and Hamilton 12th (starting far back), Leclerc 14th (with the damaged Ferrari) and the McLarens without the pace of previous grand prix (Norris 10th and Piastri 13th).
However, while Verstappen was adding better race laps (and accumulated 6 seconds to Pérez across the halfway point of the test, v. 37/72), Alonso dropped 4 seconds behind the Mexican, with better pace. He was not in danger of third place, since Gasly and Sainz did not worry him, too far away.
But the script of normality was blown up in the second pit-stop. Fernando Alonso stopped on lap 49/72, and the hydraulic gun on the left front wheel got stuck. The stop was very slow, very long, 8.2 seconds, so Sainz overtook him on the track; he temporarily removed him from the podium.
But the script of normality was blown up in the second pit-stop. Fernando Alonso stopped on lap 49/72, and the hydraulic gun on the left front wheel got stuck. The stop was very slow, very long, 8.2 seconds, so Sainz overtook him on the track; he temporarily removed him from the podium.
Alonso went out with everything and regained third position from his friend, overtaking Ferrari on lap 52 with his newest tires. The scare lasted only three laps. He moved back to third, albeit more than 13 seconds behind Perez... and more than 20 behind Verstappen.
The only thing that could help the Spaniard to upset the order of the podium was the return of the storm and the race going crazy again.
As rain approached on the radar, Sainz lost fourth position in his fight with the faster-paced Gasly.
Pérez was once again the first to anticipate the stop to fit intermediates (v. 61). Verstappen did it one turn later (v. 62), the same as Alonso, so the previous order was maintained, with the Dutchman leading, the Mexican second and the Asturian third, ahead of Gasly and Sainz. Ocon was the only one wearing extreme rain tires.
The track became impassable, full of water and without visibility. Checo Pérez paid for it with a run off the track (v. 63) that put Alonso in second position, and also Zhou crashing into the wall (v. 64), for which the race management decreed a red flag.
The two Red Bulls immediately took advantage of the break to put on the extreme rain blue tire for the final seven laps (v. 65/72). All the cars returned to the garages and the race would resume behind the safety-car.
The rain stopped in Zandvoort, and after a very long wait, the action returned to the track with a quick start behind the safety car, with Verstappen first, followed by Alonso, Pérez, Gasly, Sainz, and Hamilton, sixth, who quietly, had climbed from the bottom.
The race was restarted with six laps to go (v. 66/72). Alonso hugged Verstappen, looked for him inside, he had it at 8 tenths, but the curtain of water made it difficult for him to maneuver. The order remained intact in the first positions. The Asturian expected the Dutchman's mistake. "I thought of a maneuver, but I was still going off the track," admitted the Spaniard. Pérez -third- received a 5-second penalty for exceeding the speed limit in the pit lane.
Hamilton stalked Sainz for fifth, while Norris pounced on the Mercedes. It was the hottest point of the final leg of the race. Alonso dropped 3.3 seconds behind Red Bull entering the last lap, with no options to attack the Dutchman. The man from Madrid endured Hamilton like a wild boar to hold on to fourth place (due to Pérez's sanction) and the Spaniard returned to the podium, seventh of the year, which had not been climbed from Canada, for five races.
