Since its return to the F1 calendar in 2020, Zandvoort has given fans some jaw-dropping moments and some amazing races and this year’s race was no different. The race was full of rain, yellow and red flags, tyres and an orange army party.
Max Verstappen matched Sebastian Vettel’s record of nine wins in a row when he won the wet and windy Dutch race. Fernando Alonso came 2nd showing that Aston Martin might be back on track after a struggle before the summer break and Pierre Gasly came 3rd after Sergio Perez had a 5-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane.
Earlier in the weekend, Oscar Piastri crashed into the wall while driving on the unique Zandvoort banking which caused Daniel Ricciardo to crash into the wall as well trying to avoid hitting the McLaren. The Australian suffered a broken wrist which meant he had to have surgery during the race and Liam Lawson took over the AlphaTauri car.
Throughout the weekend spurts of rain fell onto the track and the race was no different, heavy rain began to fall at the start of the race causing every driver to dive into the pitlane within the first few laps for intermediate tyres, the drivers that tried to stay out during the deluge of water soon found themselves struggling and at the back of the pack. Perez was the first to pit and found himself in 1st place with Zhou Guanyu 11 seconds behind in 2nd.
Verstappen and Lando Norris started on the front row but while Red Bull got their strategy perfect, McLaren tried to let Norris and Piastri stay out longer than they could, and their chance of a podium was gone.
The rain had lasted longer than all the teams expected but once it had stopped the track began to try quickly. Lawson received a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for impeding in the pitlane during the kerfuffle of everyone getting intermediate tyres.
Verstappen showed the speed and power of this year’s Red Bull and began to hunt down his teammate to the excitement of the dancing crowd. The team made the decision to have the Dutch driver perform an undertake on Perez which put him out in front.
Logan Sargeant crashed in turn 8 when the rain returned which caused the safety car to come out and Gasly received a 5 second stop and go penalty for speeding in the pitlane which was served at his pitstop. When the safety car ended, Verstappen kept his lead with Perez and Alonso fighting behind him.
The middle part of the race went on and at the ending stages the rain began again, this time heavier. Zhou went into the barriers and that combined with the heavy weather, the FIA decided to red flag the race. The radars showed that there would be a break in the rain for just enough time to continue the last few laps of the race.
After contact with Norris, George Russel dropped down the order with a possible puncture which caused him to become the fourth car to DNF behind Sargeant, Charles Leclerc and Zhou.
The race finished with the Dutch fans dancing, cheering and roaring like they were for the entire race. With the Dutch GP weekend finished the teams are looking ahead to Monza, which like Zantvoort, is always a party.
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