@Max33Verstappen equals #Vettel victory streak record in wild #DutchGP. #F1
Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing - Honda-RBPT, RB19, celebrating on the podium after scoring his 46th-career victory at his home race. Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2023, Circuit Zandvoort, Zandvoort, North Holland, The Netherlands. Image credit to Peter Fox/Getty Images. Verstappen Dutch GP Victory, 2023 Dutch GP, F1 Dutch GP Results, Formula 1 Dutch GP Results. 2023 Italian GP Preview, F1 Italian GP Preview., Ferrari Italian GP Livery.
Verstappen Dutch GP Victory – Reigning world champion Max Verstappen clinched his 46th-career victory at his home race in a wet-and-wild Dutch GP, after shrugging off two downpours and a red flag.
The championship leader remained calm during a six-lap dash to the finish following a red flag for heavy rain and managed a restart over Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso successfully extend his streak of wins to 11 in a dominant 2023 campaign.
A torrential rain band on the 61st tour produced a stoppage as stewards waited for some of the rain to clear, which offered Verstappen a challenge to the lead, which the Dutchman held since lap 12.
Although Alonso got close to the Red Bull driver at the restart and was on the tail of Verstappen at Tarzan corner, the reigning world champion kept his nerves calm to build a 3.744 gap by the end of the Grand Prix to extend his title lead to 138 points over Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez and equal four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel’s record of nine-consecutive victories.
When the 72-lap Dutch GP began, spots of rain started to hit the drivers’ visors, with pole-sitter Verstappen making a comfortable getaway into Tarzan corner, behind them Alonso and Mercedes’ George Russell made their way past Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon.
The rain shower hit at the end of the opening tour, whilst Verstappen held a 1:173 seconds clear of second-placed Alonso who found his way past McLaren’s Lando Norris who was down in third, with Russell fourth and Albon rounding out the top five.
Opportunistic drivers Perez, Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen and AlphaTauri duo Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson all pitted for intermediates.
A tour later Verstappen opted to pit on the following tour, but his falling speeds on the softer compound ensured that Perez could emerge in-front of his Red Bull team-mate.
On lap three, Perez flew through the field and past soft-running Russell and Norris to get into the lead.
Despite stopping a lap later, Verstappen’s laps on the green-branded intermediates were rapid and he found his confidence, pushing through the order. He quickly made his way up into second place after clearing initial tour stoppers Zhou and Gasly and began chasing team-mate Perez.
On the fourth lap, Norris came in for intermediates along with Hamilton and both emerged at the rear.
At the beginning of the sixth tour, Perez held a 11.761 second gap over Alfa Romeo’s Zhou with Verstappen third after passing Gasly whilst Leclerc rounded out the top five. Verstappen Dutch GP Victory
Alonso jumped into fifth place overtaking Leclerc meanwhile Verstappen made short work of Zhou to move into second place.
Williams Racing’s Logan Sargeant who was still running on the slicks was overlapped.
On lap nine, Sainz overtook the front-wing damaged Ferrari team-mate Leclerc into turn one for sixth place.
On the tenth tour, Perez’s lead to Red Bull team-mate Verstappen was down to 4.722 seconds with Zhou third and Gasly right on his tail, meanwhile Alonso completed the top five.
The circuit was rapidly drying, and indications from the drivers who did not suggest that the crossover point from intermediates to slicks had emerged to prompt the green side-walled runners to stop again.
On lap 11, Hamilton came in for a set of C3 red side-walled softer compounds along with Zhou, Gasly and Sainz.
Verstappen was granted the opportunity to pit ahead of Perez on that tour to put on a fresh set of softs, and the widening tyre delta between the pairing ensured the Dutchman to perform the undercut over team-mate Perez when the Mexican stopped a lap later.
After reclaiming the lead, Verstappen and Perez settled into a rhythm before on lap 16, Sargeant suffered a massive shunt front on into the wall at turn eight after spinning and losing control after touching the kerb, which brought out the safety car.
Sargeant indicated that something “failed on the front right.”
Meanwhile, Russell came in for a fresh set of hards, emerging in 18th place – Gasly was hit with a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit-lane.
Perez asked his team if more rain was expected and the team responded, “there are cells on the radar, first one, 35 minutes.”
When the safety car came in and the action resumed on lap 22, Verstappen managed it well from team-mate Perez, with Alonso having a look at the Mexican but kept him at bay.
Behind the leaders, Sainz likewise had a look at Gasly, but the Alpine driver kept the Ferrari behind.
On lap 23, Verstappen’s lead was up to 1.159 seconds over team-mate Perez with Alonso third, Gasly holding fourth and Sainz closely behind in fifth.
On lap 26, race leader Verstappen posted the fastest lap of a 1:15.564 and his gap was up to 2.233 seconds with Alonso holding third, Gasly fourth and Sainz fifth.
Behind them, Hamilton picked up a solid slipstream with DRS assistance behind Leclerc and made a late dive on the inside to overtake the Ferrari into 12th and likewise Piastri demoted the Monegasque driver into 14th.
On lap 28, Norris made his way back into the points, passing Magnussen for tenth place into Tarzan.
A tour later, Hamilton also moved ahead of the Dane on the inside into turn one to grab eleventh place.
On the 30th lap, Verstappen lead over Red Bull team-mate Perez was up to 3.551 seconds with Alonso in third place, Gasly fourth and Sainz rounding out the top five.
In the four-car train, Norris made a solid overtake around the outside of Zhou for ninth-place into turn one.
On the 33rd tour, Hamilton jumped into tenth place passing Zhou down the main-straight with DRS assistance.
At the beginning of the 35th lap, Verstappen’s gap increased to 4.612 seconds over Perez, with Alonso keeping in third, Gasly fourth and Sainz completing the top five.
On lap 37, Russell moved ahead of Leclerc on the inside to snatch 14th place from the Ferrari driver.
The 39th tour saw Bottas also pass Leclerc around the outside to take 14th place, meanwhile Zhou came in for a fresh set of softs and emerged in 17th place behind Lawson.
On lap 40, Verstappen’s lead was up to 6.652 seconds over Red Bull team-mate Perez with Alonso further back in third, Gasly holding fourth and Sainz rounding out the top five.
On lap 42, Sainz pitted from fifth for a fresh set of softs and came out in 11th and behind Piastri.
A tour later, Leclerc was called in to pit to retire the car to become the Grand Prix’s second retirement.
On lap 45, Verstappen increased the gap over Perez to 8.309 seconds with Alonso a further 4.308 seconds back in third, Gasly fourth and Tsunoda completing the top five.
A lap later Perez stopped for a set of softs and emerged in fourth place behind Gasly.
Hamilton likewise pitted from sixth to take on a fresh set of softs and came out in 14th place behind former Mercedes team-mate Bottas.
A tour later, Gasly came in for a set of softs, and served his five-second time penalty and emerged in sixth place with Russell hot on his tail.
On lap 48, Sainz made his way ahead of Tsunoda with DRS assistance and on the inside of the AlphaTauri into Tarzan corner to take fourth place.
Lap 49 saw Alonso come in for a set of softs, relinquishing third place and a front-left tyre issue cost the Spaniard a slow 8.3 second pit-stop and emerged 2.474 behind fellow Spanish-compatriot Sainz in fourth.
On the 50th tour, Verstappen pitted also for a set of softs and remained in the lead with a gap over six seconds to Red Bull team-mate Perez.
With 20 laps remaining, in the fight for third, Alonso was right behind the Ferrari of Sainz and with DRS assistance jumped up the inside to grab the position.
Behind them Russell made his way ahead of Tsunoda to take sixth place off the Japanese driver.
On the 57th lap, Verstappen’s lead was up to 9.556 seconds and in-front of team-mate Perez, with Alonso third and holding the fastest lap bonus point, Sainz in fourth, but with a charging Gasly right on the Ferrari’s rear.
In the fight for fourth, Gasly made an aggressive move around the outside of the Ferrari, but Sainz managed to hold the Frenchman behind.
On the 60th lap, the rain band hit as expected. Gasly made his way around the outside of Sainz into Tarzan corner to take fourth. Perez pitted for a set of inters and along with Gasly, Sainz, Hamilton, Norris, Russell, Piastri and the majority.
Verstappen and Alonso also stopped a tour later with both remaining in the lead and third respectively.
A tour later, Perez went straight off into turn one after suffering a lock up, spinning and hitting the barrier and lost second place to Alonso.
On lap 64, Zhou crashed front on into the barrier, deploying initially the virtual safety car and then the race was stopped due to the red flag from the torrential downpour.
Following a 43-minute delay, the race resumed behind the safety car with a rolling start procedure.
On the 68th tour, Verstappen held a 0.972 second lead to Alonso with Perez third who was hit with a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit-lane. Meanwhile Gasly and Sainz rounded out the top five in fourth and fifth respectively.
On the 70th tour in the battle for fifth, sixth and seventh. Sainz, Hamilton and Norris were within a second of each other, but the positions remained as they were.
Verstappen crossed the line to claim the Dutch GP victory by 3.744 seconds over Alonso with Gasly completing the podium following Perez’s five-second time penalty.
Sainz ended the race in fifth and in-front of Hamilton who took sixth and Norris who placed seventh.
Williams’ Albon was eighth and ahead of McLaren’s Piastri and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who rounded out the final points positions.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll finished outside the top ten in 11th place and in-front of Haas F1 Team’s Hulkenberg who came 12th in the order and Lawson taking 13th in his debut race.
Magnussen settled for 14th in his VF-23 entry and ahead of Alfa’s Bottas who took 15th and Tsunoda who was 16th.
Mercedes’ Russell joined Leclerc, Zhou and Sargeant as the retirees of the Grand Prix.
2023 Dutch GP – The Top Three
2023 Dutch GP Winner – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing – Honda-RBPT, RB19:
“Today, they didn’t make it easy for us with the weather, to make all the right calls. I already had goose bumps when they were playing the anthem at the start. I’ll think about [the 10th win] next week, I just want to enjoy this one. The atmosphere is very special.”
2nd Place – Fernando Alonso, #14, Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team, AMR23, +3.744:
“It was a very intense race, with the wet conditions we were very, very fast. The car was flying today, very competitive, easy to drive. In these conditions you need a car you can trust, and I did trust it today. This is a very special racetrack. Happy for Max, congratulations to everyone.”
3rd Place – Pierre Gasly, BWT Alpine F1 Team-Renault, A523, +7.058:
“What a race! It hasn’t been the easiest year, so to come back after the summer break, I’m super pleased for all the guys to get that P3. It was a very long race, very challenging but greatly executed from all the guys.”
Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2023 Race Results Classification (72 Laps)
| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | LAPS | TIME/RETIRED | PTS |
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 72 | 2:24:04.411 | 25 |
| 2 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 72 | +3.744s | 19 |
| 3 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | ALPINE RENAULT | 72 | +7.058s | 15 |
| 4 | 11 | Sergio Perez | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 72 | +10.068s | 12 |
| 5 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | FERRARI | 72 | +12.541s | 10 |
| 6 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 72 | +13.209s | 8 |
| 7 | 4 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 72 | +13.232s | 6 |
| 8 | 23 | Alexander Albon | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 72 | +15.155s | 4 |
| 9 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 72 | +16.580s | 2 |
| 10 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | ALPINE RENAULT | 72 | +18.346s | 1 |
| 11 | 18 | Lance Stroll | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 72 | +20.087s | 0 |
| 12 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | HAAS FERRARI | 72 | +20.840s | 0 |
| 13 | 40 | Liam Lawson | ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT | 72 | +26.147s | 0 |
| 14 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | HAAS FERRARI | 72 | +26.410s | 0 |
| 15 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | ALFA ROMEO FERRARI | 72 | +27.388s | 0 |
| 16 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT | 72 | +29.893s | 0 |
| 17 | 63 | George Russell | MERCEDES | 72 | +55.754s | 0 |
| NC | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | ALFA ROMEO FERRARI | 62 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 16 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | 41 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 2 | Logan Sargeant | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 14 | DNF | 0 |
* Provisional results. Note – Alonso scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race.
https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1217/netherlands/race-result.html
Round 15 of the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship heads straight to the legendary Autodromo Nazionale Monza in Monza, Italy next weekend for the Formula 1 Pirelli Gran Premio D’Italia 2023 from Friday September 1-Sunday September 3.
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