In a chaotic and rain effected race Max Verstappen takes another victory on his imperious march to the 2023 Drivers Championship.
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The race was dictated by two periods of rain. The first was at the start, when the rain arrived heavy and quickly, catching out several of the teams. Both Mercedes and McLaren delayed their decision to change to inters, dropping them down to the back of the grid. Other teams including the Alpines and the HAAS of Magnussen planned their stops perfectly.
The rain did not last long, with the next headache being when they return to the dry tyres, again some teams worked it out, while others got the timing just slightly wrong.
The race settled into a bit of a rhythm, with Sergio Perez, who was the first to stick on the inters, in first place, His Redbull teammate and current Championship leader was quite far back having pitting a lap later than was optimal.
It didn’t take long for Max to pass several drivers and complete the Redbull 1-2. The next big question for the teams was how long will they keep the cars on the inters, as there was a hint that more rain was coming.
The expected rain did not come and the teams that were on the inters had to head to the pits to return to dry tyres.
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Max Verstappen was given the opportunity to pit before the race leader and teammate, Perez, which was an interesting decision as it allowed Verstappen to complete the undercut on Sergio and take the lead of the race. This decision was a confusing one for Perez, who was heard asking how this happen, it was also confirmed that it was a team decision and not requested by Max.
Ferrari Woes Continues
Charles LecLerc and Ferrari had a race weekend to forget, with the Monegasque crashing out during Q3 and then retiring from the race due to damage sustained on the first lap of the race. In what seemed to be light contact with Piastri, that caused a small amount of damage to the wing of the Ferrari had also damaged the floor, killing any pace and opportunity to get any thing from the race. Ferrari eventually decided to put Charles out of his misery and retire the car.
Logan Sargent dream becomes a nightmare
In a pretty poor first season in Formula 1, Sargent was coming into the weekend in the hope that he can be closer to his teammate, Alex Albon, admittedly Alex Albon has been one of the drivers of the season and qualified 4th for the Grand Prix. Logan looked to have turned the corner and took the Williams into Q3 for the first time, this was greeted by cheers from the Williams mechanics.
The dream did not last long, as Sargent would crash on his first flying lap in Q3 wiping out the Williams. The race did not do much to redeem the American driver, who caused a Safety Car after crashing the Williams at turn 8, wiping out the Williams and ending his race on lap 16.
The Calm Before the Storm
After the Safety Car, the race returned to a more of a rythym, with Max driving away into the distance, with the field enjoying some interesting battles. Oscar Piastri continued to show why he is the Rookie of the Season with a great pass on Bottas, the McLaren driver completed several passes throughout the race as he continued to try and rescue points for McLaren.
Kevin Magnussen was slapped with a Black and White flag for dangerous driving after weaving on the main straight as he was being passed by Alex Albon.
Rain Returns and the Red Flag
The race was interuptted by the rain once again and suspened on lap 65 after the expected rain was heavier than initially thought, within a couple of laps the track was completely soaked sending numerous cars off the track including Sergio Perez and Yuki Tsunoda, both these drivers survived their trips into the gravel, however there was no such luck for the Alfa Romeo of Zhou, who aquaplaned into the barrier at the end of the main straight. The race was suspended with a Red flag soon after.
Last Lap(s) Dash
After a 40 minute delay the racing returned to the Zandvoort track, up front Verstappen and Alonso kept their 1st and 2nd places respectively. Sergio Perez looked comfortable in third until he was greeted with a 5 second penalty for speeding in the pitlane which dropped the Mexican driver to …
George Russell was looking sharp, having a great battle for a few corners with the McLaren of Norris, however it would end in tears as the British driver would make contact with Lando, pucturing his tyre and sending the car out of the race.
Max Verstappen would hold on once again to take another win and extend his lead in the Drivers Championship. Fernando Alonso would come home in second place with the podium completed by Pierre Gasly after Sergio Perez drops to fourth due to his penalty.
Liam Lawson, who was a late replacement for the injured Danial Ricciardo, would finish 13th and ahead of his teammate Yuki Tsunoda. Not a bad debut !!!!!!