Dutch GP - Race: Strategic win for Max Verstappen – Not so much for Mercedes
Max Verstappen snatched another win in front of his home crowd, followed by George Russell in P2 and Charles Leclerc in P3.
Race Start: Clean start for everyone, as Max Verstappen stayed ahead of Charles Leclerc. Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton had slight contact going through T1, but neither collected any damage.
Lap 15: Ferrari summoned Carlos Sainz in the pits, performing an incredibly slow stop, 12.7 sec stationary. At the same moment, Sergio Perez was unable to avoid a wheel gun left on the ground by a Ferrari mechanic, with race control investigating the matter after the race.
Lap 18: Charles Leclerc was called into the pits as well, to complete his own first pit stop, with Max Verstappen doing so, a lap later. Running order at that time: 1 HAM, 2 RUS, 3 VER, 4 LEC, 5 PER.
Lap 28: Max Verstappen flew past Russell to regain P2.
Lap 30-31: Lewis Hamilton pitted to switch to a fresh set of hard tyres, with Russell doing so a lap later.
Lap 37: Hamilton got past Sergio Perez, getting tangled up with Sebastian Vettel, as the German was emerging from the pits.
Lap 45: Yuki Tsunoda reported that his tyres weren't properly fitted, stopping on the side of the track, before getting going again, returning to the pits.
Lap 48: Tsunoda came back to the track, after a lengthy pit stop, but immediately reported issues again, parking his car at the side of the track, triggering a VSC.
Lap 49: Verstappen switched to hard tyres, while Mercedes performed a clever double stack with Hamilton and Russell switching to a fresh set of mediums.
Lap 55: Another SC, as Valtteri Bottas "lost the engine", pulling to the side of the track righ before T1.
Lap 56-57: Leclerc, Verstappen and Russell all pit for softs, as Hamilton lead the pack in the same set of mediums.
Lap 61 (Restart): Verstappen easily flew past Hamilton for the lead, with Russell passing as well, 3 laps later.
Lap 69: Carlos Sainz received a 5-sec penalty, for being unsafely released in the pitlane ahead of Fernando Alonso, dropping to P8.
Lap 72: Max Verstappen snatched his 10th win of the season, making the Oranje go wild.
Post race: Max Verstappen got the fans' vote for DOTD, as well as the extra fastest lap point, extending his lead in the Drivers' standings over Charles Leclerc, who equals Sergio Perez with 201 points.
Max Verstappen cruised to another -not so easy- win in front of his home crowd, followed by George Russell in P2 and Charles Leclerc in P3.
A very frustrated Lewis Hamilton in P4, who didn't get favoured by the SC, as his tyre choice was not correct, followed by Sergio Perez in P5.
Fernando Alonso in P6, who did benefit from Sainz's penalty, as well as Lando Norris in P7. Carlos Sainz end up in P8, followed by Esteban Ocon in P9 and Lance Stroll in P10.
Full Race Classification:
