Circuit Zandvoort (Netherlands), Aug 27 Reigning champion Max Verstappen came up with another dominant performance, converting pole position into victory at the Dutch Grand Prix for the third year in a row here on Sunday.
Red Bull's Dutch driver, came through the action-packed, rain-hit home race to take the chequered flag ahead of Fernando Alonso of of Aston Martin and Pierre Gasly of Alpine and draw level with former champion Sebastian Vettel on nine successive F1 wins.
Before this race, Verstappen had won the last 13 races and 21 of the last 22 races.
Sergio Perez finished fourth while Ferrar's Carlos Sainz ended fifth with Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, Lando Norris of McLaren, Alexander Albon of Williams, Oscar Piastri of McLaren and Estaban Ocon finishing from sixth to tenth and claiming points in the Dutch Grand Prix.
It started with spits of rain before the start of the race that dramatically turned into a shower on the first lap. That prompted the teams to come up with split strategies for tyres as Verstappen headed a pack of drivers who initially stayed out on slicks while teammate Sergio Perez led a group into the pits to take on intermediates.
In a frenetic opening phase, those who made an early switch to intermediates rose to the fore, while those who stayed out longer on slicks lost positions before the rain eased off and the track gradually dried up.
With the Red Bulls running alternate strategies, it was Perez who led the way as the race settled down, while Verstappen had fallen back to fourth – behind Zhou Guanyu and Gasly – and had work to do to reclaim P1.
After managing to do so with a much superior pace, Verstappen looked set for a clear run to the chequered flag and the win on a bone-dry track, only for further rain to work its way onto the radar and hit the track with force in the closing stages.
That led to another flurry of pit lane activity, and a red flag after Zhou crashed out, bringing a seven-lap dash to the flag when the action resumed and serving up one last test for reigning double world champion Verstappen to overcome.
Verstappen overcame it as he kept his cool at the slippery restart and managed to maintain the gap with Alonso and Perez, confirming his hard-fought triumph and equalling Vettel’s victory record that has stood since the 2013 season.
--IANS
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