Formula 1 returned after a summer vacation and returned to the homeland of the main dominator of this season: the Netherlands. Perhaps traditionally, for the 2023 season, we did not expect intrigue in the fight for victory, but the race promised to be interesting. In the first place, the classification was not without surprises, which only cost him the high fourth position of Alex Albon or the failure of Lewis Hamilton. Secondly, the weather could adapt to what is happening on the track: the forecast promised a high probability of rain.
It was also interesting to see if McLaren could confirm his high speed, Norris was again able to start from the front row and clearly intended to give Max Verstappen a run for his money at least early in the race.
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chaos at first
And the beginning was very combative. The top three held their positions, but immediately afterward heavy rain fell on the track. This caused serious changes: Verstappen remained the leader, but Alonso did a great lap on a wet track and came second. Perez, Gasly, Zhou and a couple of Alpha Tauri riders pitted on the first lap, some of the drivers pitted there on the second. At the same time, Norris and Russell remained on the “software” path. Perez, due to an early pit stop, took the lead in the race, but Verstappen dropped back, losing to Zhou and Gasly.
At the end of the third lap, Norris also gave up, returning to the track next to last. The last position at the time was left by another victim of slick tyres: Hamilton.
Verstappen soon caught up with the first lap group and passed Pierre Gasly to move into third before catching up with Chou in search of Pérez.
Despite being 13 seconds behind his teammate, Verstappen quickly caught up with the Mexican, gaining four seconds in a few laps. The track had already started to dry out and the drivers opted for slick tyres. Verstappen was the first from Red Bull to enter the pits, and the Mexican launched himself there later. The lap difference was enough for Verstappen to take the lead in the race.
Alonso, after a wave of pit stops, made it to third position, Gasly to fourth. True, the Frenchman was investigated for speeding in the pit lane and soon received a five-second penalty.
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dry restart
On lap 16, a safety car appeared on the track – the car was crushed by Logan Sargent for the second time this weekend. At the restart, the leaders maintained their positions. The first five broke away from their pursuers, while behind Zhou a train gathered behind him, standing in the “middle”. Guanyu soon let Albon and Okon move on, and Alex, after the team’s bizarre decision to stay on the soft ground in the rain, was back in contention for points.
The situation on the track has stabilized, everyone literally froze waiting for another burst of rain.
On lap 42 of the distance, Charles Leclerc was exhausted, who at that moment was not surpassed only by the lazy: the damage to the car in the initial contact with Piastri turned out to be too strong, he lost downforce and was the worst on the track in terms of rhythm.
Soon the second wave of pit stops began, Sainz opened it up and then Albon came in, for whom this pit stop was the first in the race. After a wave of stops, the Ferrari driver took third place: Alonso’s pit stop lasted more than eight seconds, thus the two-time Formula 1 champion lost his podium position. However, Alonso was soon able to catch up and get ahead of Sainz, and behind Tsunoda he damaged his wing in the fight against Russell and began to lose ground, falling outside the top 8.
Albon passed George Russell with 15 laps to go and moved into sixth position. Soon Hamilton caught up with Russell and George easily let his partner move on. Ahead, Pierre Gasly took fourth position from Carlos Sainz, who lost pace in the final stretch.
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All dragged!
With 11 laps to go it started to rain. Sergio Pérez was the first to get into the pits, moving to “intermediate”. Everyone else followed him to the pits. Alex Albon was the one who lost the most in his stop: the Thai was one of the last to enter the pits and fell to ninth position. Esteban Ocon, unlike the rest of the peloton, switched to wet tyres.
The rain worsened, Sergio Pérez made a mistake in the first corner, overtaking Fernando Alonso. Puddles appeared on the track, and Guanyu Zhou flew into the wall at the first turn. Verstappen and Pérez pitted due to rain and if Max maintained the lead, Pérez would drop back to sixth. At that point, a red flag was hung over the track; as a result, according to the rules, Cheko returned to third position, slightly moving back in time.
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Super sprint at the finish
Being under red flags lasted 40 minutes. The race management announced a restart for the remaining eight laps, with two laps in which the drivers had to go under the safety car. All drivers were required to start on intermediate tyres.
No change on reboot. Behind on the first lap after the race restart, Russell passed Norris and Lando countered Russell. Pérez received a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane at red flags. Russell was injured in the fight with Norris and returned to pit lane, dropping back to last position.
Max Verstappen led the race to another sure victory, the 46th of his career and the 11th of the season. In addition, Verstappen won the ninth consecutive race, equaling the record of Sebastian Vettel and Alberto Ascari. Fernando Alonso finished second, Sergio Pérez third, but due to a fine he let Pierre Gasly pass, finishing fourth. The top ten was closed by Sainz, Hamilton, Norris, Albon, Piastri and Ocon.
The Dutch Grand Prix, despite being under red flags, gave us a real spectacle compared to other races of the season, not without unexpected results. Ahead of the World Cup a trip to the Temple of Speed awaits, to the Monza track: next week will be the Italian Grand Prix.
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