Race Notes - Verstappen wins rain interrupted Dutch GP

By Mark Karp

Polesitter Max Verstappen in his Red Bull-Honda won the Dutch Grand Prix, taking his third successive Dutch win and ninth consecutive win.

Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin-Mercedes took second place and fastest lap, 3.744 seconds behind.

Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull, finished on track in third, but after taking a 5-second penalty for speeding in the pits finished fourth, 10.068 seconds behind the winner.

Pierre Gasly in the Alpine-Renault finished third, 7.058 seconds behind Verstappen.

Carlos Sainz (12.541s) in the Ferrari was fifth, followed closely by Lewis Hamilton (13.209s) in the Mercedes GP was sixth, Lando Norris (13.232s) in the McLaren-Mercedes was seventh, Alex Albon (15.155s) in the Williams-Mercedes was eighth, Oscar Piastri (16.580s) in the second McLaren was ninth, and Esteban Ocon (18.346s) in the second Alpine took the final point in tenth place.

Before the start the weather was dry, with potential storm clouds coming into the area.

Verstappen starts on pole with Norris alongside of the front row, Russell and Albon on row 2, Alonso and Sainz on row 3, Perez and Piastri on row 4, and Leclerc and Sargeant rounding out the top 10.

Magnussen taking on new parts overnight will start from the pitlane.

Liam Lawson making his F1 debut, replacing an injured Daniel Ricciardo.

Tyre strategy looking for both a one and two stop strategy on the cards, the first 12 runners starting on soft tyres, Hamilton and Hulkenberg starting on medium tyres. Reports of drops of rain five minutes away.

At the appointed time the field came around to the grid, with some umbrellas going up, the lights went out and the race began with Verstappen away in the lead, followed by Norris, Alonso, Russell, Albon, Sainz and Perez.

The rain starts to pour on lap 2.

Perezz pits along with others.

On lap 2 Alonso passs Norris for second.

On lap 2 Verstappen, Alonso and Sainz pit.

Norris takes the lead, but Russell passes him, but then Perez on intermediates takes the lead.

Zhou takes second, followed by Gasly, Verstappen, Leclerc, Alonso, Sainz, Tsunoda and Magnussen.

Russell pits for intermediates.

At lap 6, Verstappen passes Gasly for third place.

Alonso passes Leclerc for fifth.

Lawson is giving a 5-second penalty.

On lap 7 Verstappen passes Zhou for third and is 7 seconds behind Perez.

Albon, Piastri, Bottas, Hulkenberg and Sargeant are the only runners still on soft tyres, and are nearly a lap down.

Gasly is closing on Zhou in third.

There are reports of more rain coming in a few minutes.

On lap 10 Magnussen pits a second time and goes from intermediates to softs. Hamilton does the same.

The next lap Zhou, Alonso, Sainz, Tsunoda, Ocon, Norris and Lawson pit for dry tyres.

On lap 11 Alonso passes Zhou fo fifth.

On lap 12 Verstappen, Gasly and Leclerc pit for dry tyres.

The next lap Perez pits from the lead. Verstappen takes over the lead ahead of Perez and Alonso.

Norris sets fast lap at 1m16.654m, and again the next lap at 1m16.200s.

On lap 16, Piastri pits. Sargeant crashes and the safety car is out.

Under the safety car Verstappen leads Perez, followed by Alonso, Gasly, Sainz, Zhou, Magnussen, Albon, Ocon and Tsunoda in tenth.

Reports of rain clouds are 30 minutes off, the top 14 on soft tyres except for Zhou on medium tyres.

On lap 22 the safety car comes in and the race resumes with Verstappen leading.

Bottas passes Piastri for 12th place.

Albon passes Magnussen for seventh.

On lap 24 Ocon passes Magnussen for eighth.

Verstappen sets fast lap at 1m15.783s.

Piastri retakes 14th place from Bottas.

On lap 26 Hamilton passes Leclerc for 12th. Piastri passes Leclerc as well.

Verstappen sets fast lap at 1m15.659s.

Alonso follows Perez closely.

On lap 28 Norris passes Magnussen for tenth.

Verstappen sets another fast lap at 1m15.499s.

Hamilton passes Magnussen for 11th place.

Verstappen sets fast lap at 1m15.374s.

Tsunoda passes Zhou for eighth.

At lap 30 Verstappen leads Perez by 3.6 seconds, followed by Alonso (6.0s), Gasly (7.4s), Sainz (9.4s), Albon (13.1s), Ocon (15.5s), Tsunoda (18.9s), Zhou (20.1s) and Norris (21.3s) in tenth.

Norris passes Zhou for ninth.

There are reports of rain drops in ten minutes.

On lap 33 Hamilton passes Zhou for tenth place.

Verstappen sets another fast lap at 1m15.342s and again at 1m15.272s.

Piastri passes Zhou for 11th.

On lap 35 Verstappen sets fast lap at 1m15.221s.

Russell passes Leclerc for 14th.

Zhou pits for soft tyres.

Verstappen sets fast lap at 1m15.071s.

Lawson passes Leclerc.

At lap 40 Verstappen leads Perez by 7.0 seconds, followed by Alonso (11.3s), Gasly (14.0s), Sainz (18.4s), Albon (23.2s), Ocon (27.1s), Tsunoda (31.4s), Norris (32.4s), and Hamilton (33.0s) in tenth place.

Sainz pits for soft tyres and rejoins 11th.

Leclerc pits and retires with damage.

Norris pits for soft tyres and rejoins 14th.

Russell passes Hulkenberg.

Ocon pits and rejoins 13th.

On lap 45 Albon pits for medium tyres and rejoins 11th.

Norris sets fastest lap at 1m14.905s/

Perez and Hamilton pit for soft tyres.

Gasly pits and serves a five-second penalty.

Piastri pits as well.

On lap 47 Perez sets fast lap at 1m14.318s.

On lap 49 Alonso pits for soft tyres with a slow stop and rejoins fifth.

Verstappen pits from the lead for soft tyres and rejoins still in the lead.

On lap 51 Gasly passes Tsunoda for fifth place.

Alonso sets fast lap, then Verstappen retakes fast lap at 1m13.941s.

On lap 52 Alonso passes Sainz for third place.

Russell passes Tsunoda for sixth place, the two making contact.

Albon is the next to pass Tsunoda.

On lap 54 Ocon passes Tsunoda for eighth.

Red Bull informs Verstappen that they expect heavier rain near the end of the race.

Norris and Tsunoda pass Tsunoda.

Alonso sets fast lap at 1m13.862s.

Albon passes Russell for sixth place.

On lap 57 rain drops are starting to fall again.

Gasly is challenging Sainz for fourth.

Hamilton passes Ocon for eighth.

Hamilton passes Russell.

At lap 60 Verstappen leads Perez by 10.1 seconds, followed by Alonso (19.8s), Sainz (28.5s), Gasly (29.4s), Albon (34.5s), Hamilton (38.4s), Russell (40.3s), Ocon (41.1s), Norris (43.1s) in tenth.

The rains starts to fall and drivers start to pit.

After the drivers cycle to intermediate tyres, Verstappen leads Perez, Alonso, Gasly, Sainz, Hamilton, Norris, Russell, Albon and Piastri in tenth, Ocon, Tsunoda, Zhou, Stroll and Hulkenberg.

On lap 63 Perez goes off the track at turn 1 and Alonso gets by for second.

Verstappen pits for full wet tyres. Zhou crashes. Perez pits as well.

On lap 64 with heavy rain fallin the red flag is out, so the order might be reset to the previous lap.

The drivers come into the pits. The current order is Verstappen, Alonso, Gasly, Sainz, Hamilton, Perez, Norris, Russell, Albon, and Piastri in tenth, Ocon, Tsunoda, Stroll, Hulkenberg, Bottas in 15th, Lawson, and Magnussen in 17th.

The order for the restart goes back to lap 63 of Verstappen, Alonso, Perez, Gasly, Sainz, Hamilton, Norris, Russell, Albon, Piastri in tenth, Ocon, Tsunoda, Stroll, Hulkenberg, Bottas, Lawson and Magnussen.

After a half hour stop the rain had stopped and the ten minutes warning was given for a restart on intermediate tyres.

The drivers put their helmets on and got back in their cars to prepare for the final five laps after a rolling start.

At 14 minutes after the hour the field followed the safety car out for two laps on the wet track.

The safety car then came in at the end of lap 67, the field followed Verstappen to the line and the race resumed.

Verstap-pen leading Alonso and Perez.

Russell passes Norris for seventh. Then goes off and pits with wing damage.

Perez is given a five-second penalty for having sped in the pits.

On lap 69 Verstappen leads Alonso by 1.6 seconds.

Hamilton is challenging Sainz for fifth.

On lap 72 Hamilton is pressing Sainz hard for position.

Verstasppen takes the win on the track over Alonso, Perez and Gasly, but with Perez’s penalty he finishes fourth.