In terms of popularity, Verstappen is now akin to Michael Schumacher in Germany at the height of his fame. The German dominated, winning title after title, and now Supermax is following suit. Although he was born in Belgium, he considers himself Dutch and operates under the flag of the Netherlands.
The Dutch Grand Prix returns to the calendar in 2021 after a 36-year hiatus. It took two races, both on pole and pole position, and one man got the win: Max Verstappen. There is only one king in the orange country.
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family pole
That’s what happened this time too. For the third consecutive year, Verstappen dropped out of the first starting position in the race. The day before, despite the bad weather, he was the fastest in qualifying. Other drivers had to play the lottery with the state of the track and the choice of tyres. For example, Hamilton was not lucky: he was 13th in the standings. But Max is in a different league. And, despite the mistake in the first corner, in the final he was faster than the second classified by 0.537 seconds.
Among the commentators they even joked that pole position in the Netherlands is a family matter. The fact is that in 2021-2023 Max won the pole, in 1983 and 1985 Nelson Piquet, the father of Max Verstappen’s girlfriend, Kelly.
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rain of damocles
19 out of 20 drivers chose the softer tire compound at the start. The exception was Hamilton, who started at Medium. The choice of tires is determined by the weather forecast. Everyone expected the rain, which was promised five or twenty minutes after the start.
Verstappen began to break away from his pursuers immediately after the start. But the track started to get wet. There was a dilemma with the choice of tires: intermediate or slick. If the rain lasts, those who change their shoes will gain an advantage, if it is short-lived, they will fail. The first ones were right. And Pérez, who drove on the opening lap, soon became the race leader, passing those who stayed on the slicks as well as those on their feet.
Verstappen was in the pits later, soon running into second and scrambling to chase his teammate. Although they were with the same cars and with the same tires, the two-time champion disputed second after second.
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patience leclerc
Less than 12 of 72 laps, as the rain passed, the track dried up. Now the intermediate tires started to perform worse. The pilots changed shoes again. Now Verstappen was the first to go to the pits. Later, a circle returned as the leader.
And as if in mockery of the strategists and meteorologists, the rain began to load again. True, not for long. It was not necessary to go to the boxes. But meteorologists warned that in 35 minutes it could rain. The rain came, but there were 10 laps to go to the finish line. That’s right, we’ll talk about that later.
On lap 15 a safety car appeared on the track. Logan Sargent of the Williams flew into the fenders. The day before, both drivers of this team, considered an outsider at the beginning of the season, went to the final of the classification, but in the race it was not possible to score points with two cars.
The restart won Verstappen back and soon created a comfortable lead over Pérez. The Mexican soon did the same with Alonso. Outside the top ten, the McLaren and Mercedes drivers tried to take advantage.
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In addition to them, Leclerc tried to recover positions. The Ferraris are back to normal. When the Monegasque pitted on the first lap, the mechanics simply did not have time to remove the intermediate tyres. I had to wait, losing seconds. At the second pit stop, the front wing was also replaced, which was damaged on the first lap, further delaying the stop. As a result, in circle 43 is retirement. The Monegasque nightmare continues, the only thing left to do is envy his patience.
among the greats
For 10 laps it started to rain again. First, the drivers used intermediate tires and then rain. But it didn’t take long for them to drive. On lap 65, Zhou crashed the car and had to put up red flags in order to evacuate. At that point, the Red Bull mechanics failed for the first time in Pérez’s pit stop, not having time to get the right tires out. Then the Mexican himself flew into the security zone, letting Alonso pass. And when I chose wet tires, I got a red flag. And on the road he over-speeded in the pit lane and received a 5-second penalty, missing out on the podium as well.
Unsurprisingly, Verstappen took the matter to victory, repeating Vettel’s record of 9 wins in a row. Fernando Alonso finished second with Aston Martin and Pierre Gasly with Alpin finished third.
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Points were also won by Sergio Pérez (Red Bull), Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Lando Norris (McLaren), Alex Albon (Williams), Oscar Piastri (McLaren) and Esteban Ocon (“Alpin”).
There is no intrigue in the Championship and the fans are more concerned with the question: what other records will Verstappen break. For example, by the number of poles per season. Vettel took 15 pole positions in 2011 with Red Bull. Verstappen now has 7. There are nine races left until the end of the season, so a record is quite possible.
In 2004, Michael Schumacher set the 10 fastest laps in a race in one season. Max has six fastest laps this season.
Well, the main achievement. If Max wins a third championship title, he will become the 11th driver in Formula 1 history to do so. And in the “temple of speed”, as they call the fastest circuit in Formula 1, in the Italian Monza, Verstappen can not only win the tenth race in a row and beat Vettel’s record, but also take another step towards third. championship title. Yes, the achievements of Schumacher and Hamilton are still some way off, but there is no doubt that Verstappen is already among the greats.
