Max Verstappen secured the win at the Dutch Grand Prix and now leads the 2021 Driver’s Championship once again.
The Dutchman held the lead as the chequered flag was waved after an impeccable – yet uneventful – race, and was joined on the podium by the Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton (P2) and Valtteri Bottas (P3).
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly came home in fourth followed by the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc in fifth, Alpine’s Alonso in sixth, and the second prancing horse, Carlos Sainz in seventh.
Closing out the top ten today was the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, and McLaren’s Lando Norris in P8, P9, and P10 respectively.
Here’s how the race played out:
Max Verstappen managed to keep a clean lead into Turn One and was able to stretch the gap to Hamilton in P2 to 1.7s after just one lap this afternoon at Zandvoort.
Lewis Hamilton remained in second on the soft tyres, 2.7s off the lead on Lap 6 followed by team mate Valtteri Bottas in third – meanwhile, the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were in 5th and 6th at this point with Gasly holding onto P4.
At the other end of the field, the Haas of Mick Schumacher had already been lapped by Verstappen on Lap 9 after the German driver took an early trip to the pits for a new set of hard tyres.
On the same lap, Sergio Perez opted to pit after a major lockup left him with bald spots and fears of a puncture – he opted for a fresh set of medium Pirellis and returned to the race in P19 with a lot of work ahead of him to rise through the field.
Lap 12 saw Sebastian Vettel enter the pits opting for the hard tyres, and he returned to the track behind Sergio Perez in 19th. The order of the top six remained the same at this point with no overtakes seen so far.
The first move of the day was carried out by Williams’ Nicholas Latifi, who made an impressive overtake on the Haas of Nikita Mazepin for 16th.
Heading into Lap 16, Verstappen was now 3.5s ahead of his closest championship rival, Hamilton, and remained on the soft tyres with no sign of entering the pits just yet.
Perez was beginning to make moves on track to make up places as he got around Mazepin and was up into 17th place – he posted the fastest Lap of the race so far on this Lap, putting the pedal to the metal in his fight for the points.
Valtteri Bottas then received a grim message saying his chances of fighting against the top two was over – he was now 7.3s behind his team mate in second as Verstappen continued to disappear out front.
Minutes later, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was still storming up the field after making moves on Robert Kubica for 16th – meanwhile, Hamilton entered the pits from second for a set of medium tyres and returned to the race in third, well ahead of the AlphaTauri in fourth.
One lap later, Verstappen headed for the pits from the lead for medium tyres and was in second when he emerged from the pit lane, 10s behind Bottas and 2.2s ahead of Hamilton in third.
The Dutchman retook the lead on Lap 31 after being held up by a struggling Bottas – who was on older soft tyres.
The Finnish driver then allowed his quicker team mate Lewis Hamilton around, so he could continue the fight for first – there was now just 1.6s between them.
The second Red Bull was now up into the points and was hunting down the McLaren of Lando Norris in 9th.
Lap 35 saw George Russell, who was running 13th, being handed a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane – a costly mistake for the British driver.
At the halfway point, Verstappen was 1.4s ahead with Hamilton closing the gap. Valtteri Bottas was 22s off his team mate as Gasly jumped back into fourth after Charles Leclerc pitted for Hard tyres.
Leclerc and team mate Sainz were now in P5 and P6 respectively, followed by McLaren’s Lando Norris in 7th and Sergio Perez in the Red Bull 8th – everyone from P9 to P20 had all been lapped at this point.
Hamilton made a stop from second on Lap 40 for another set of medium tyres and returned to the track in the same position – 24.2s behind Verstappen.
Swiftly after, the Red Bull headed in on Lap 41 for hard tyres – making his fight to the finish against Hamilton on the mediums a little bit more difficult. He held onto the lead just 3.1s ahead of Mercedes as Bottas remained in third, followed by Gasly in fourth and Leclerc in fifth.
With 22 laps remaining, Sergio Perez pitted for the second time, opting for soft tyres in a bid to gain some ground ahead of the chequered flag.
Hamilton set the fastest lap, but was still 3.3s behind the race leader, with Bottas in third and a further 12s behind.
Nikita Mazpein and Yuki Tsunoda had both retired from today’s race at this point, after both suffering terminal issues with their cars.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez returned to the points with 17 laps to go after an overtake on the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo, next up in front was Lando Norris.
Heading into the last 13 laps of the day, Verstappen remained in the lead by 2.5s while Bottas was in the final podium position, 18.5s behind his team mate.
Then, with just three laps to go, Hamilton continued to trail the Red Bull by 2.9s and Bottas was in third, 51s further afield.
Verstappen held his lead as the chequered flag was waved after an impeccable race, and was joined on the podium by the Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton (P2) and Valtteri Bottas (P3).
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly came home in fourth followed by the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc in fifth, Alpine’s Alonso in sixth, and the second prancing horse, Carlos Sainz in seventh.
Closing out the top ten today was the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, and McLaren’s Lando Norris in P8, P9, and P10 respectively.
Racing resumes next weekend for the Italian Grand Prix on September 12 at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.
