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During the weekend from August 25 to 27, 2023, Formula 1 arrives at the Zandvoort circuit for the Dutch Grand Prix. The Grand Prix represents the thirteenth round of the season four weeks after the Belgian Grand Prix, the twelfth race of the championship. It is the seventh round of the season scheduled in Europe, as well as the fifth in a row. The Dutch Grand Prix is the only round of the season scheduled for August, the first event after the mandatory summer break for teams and drivers, as well as the second race of the second half of the season. Unlike the last seasons, the Grand Prix is placed as the first appointment after the break, and for the first time since the 1985 edition, the event is held in the month of August. Arrived in Zandvoort, the Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur, is aiming for a clean weekend to get a good result:
"We have recharged our batteries and are ready to go again. We can do so off the back of a strong showing in Belgium that ended with a well-deserved podium for Charles, which was down to excellent preparation and a race that was well executed in terms of strategy, pace, tyre management and pit stops. Even though we will as usual be focusing on our own efforts, we are well aware that, on a short lap like Zandvoort, the gaps between the teams behind Red Bull will be even closer than at Spa. Qualifying is particularly important at this track and the top ten on the grid will probably be fought out to the thousandth of a second. It will be a very busy weekend and we are aiming for a clean time on track to allow Charles and Carlos to get the maximum out of the SF-23".
Carlos Sainz Jr. is motivated to get the maximum potential out of his car:
"I spent time with the family, at the seaside and playing golf, but I’m happy to be back on track, because we have three really busy months ahead of us and I can’t wait to start. If you are driver, the motivation is always there. It’s clear this season that one team, in fact one driver, is dominant. But for those of us in the cockpit, winning is not the only thing at every race. If you can’t fight for that, then you can do it for a podium, or if not a podium then a top-5 finish. Besides that, as a driver you want to see what you can do to affect progress that can be made on the car you are driving. In short, I really don’t lack motivation, because we are the first to love what we do. The track is short and twisty which has pluses and minuses. A lot depends on qualifying. If you can do well on Saturday, then on a track where overtaking is very difficult, you might be able to maintain your good starting position all the way to the chequered flag. But if you start further back, you definitely face a tough Sunday, because there really are very few straight sections here. As usual, but here even more so than in Belgium, it will be vital not to make any mistakes in order to get the most out of our car. We are ready to fight tooth and nail".
Charles Leclerc is motivated to get back on track and is determined to continue the work started in Belgium in terms of managing the key moments of the weekend:
"I enjoyed quality time with family and friends during the break and that helped to reset the mind and prepare for the remaining ten races in this second part of the season. The first half of the year saw all teams, with the exception of Red Bull, going through several highs and lows, especially us. That’s why I think consistency in terms of performance will be our main target for the rest of the championship. I believe that whoever can be first in getting a consistent car will be able to maximise its potential more easily and run at the front on a regular basis. For our part, we have to continue with the work that begun in Belgium in terms of how we execute both qualifying and the race, because that is the only way to get the upper hand over opponents that are very closely matched, from third to tenth place on the grid. I like it, even if it is very narrow and twisty, which is why I like it more in qualifying than in the race. I think Saturday will play a big part in deciding the outcome of the race given how difficult it is to overtake and weather conditions could also be something we will have to deal with. Personally, I can’t wait to put my helmet on and get out on track".
At Red Bull Racing, Max Verstappen, after enjoying the summer break, is excited to start the second part of the season and to do it on his home race:
"The summer break was really good, I had a decent amount of time relaxing with friends. I'm excited to get going with the second half of the season now and what better way to start than in the Netherlands. It's an amazing track and of course, the fans are incredible there, so I'm definitely excited to get back on track. It looks like the weather could be temperamental there but I don't mind either way, wet or dry, we'll do our best to make sure we score maximum points".
Sergio Perez, after having recharged his energy during the summer break, feels ready to go back to repeating results like the one obtained in the last weekend at Spa:
"I’ve had a great summer break, between being back in Mexico with my family and training hard. I feel fully fresh and ready to go. I’ve been in the Factory with my engineers this week, it’s always good to catch up after the break and we’ve done some very good preparation for the weekend and we’re fully ready for it. I want to pick up where I left off in Spa and be consistently on the podium and challenging for the remainder of the season. Zandvoort will be a tricky race, the field is getting tighter, but we just keep pushing and pushing as a Team and will try to give our very best and deliver a good result no matter what the weather does in Zandvoort".
On Friday, August 25, 2023, at Zandvoort the weather is humid, the sun is out but rain is expected for all the weekend. At 12:00 a.m. the first session of free practice gets underway and the drivers get out on track on medium and hard tyres. Magnussen and Tsunoda are the first on track but it is the home hero Max Verstappen who sets the fastest lap in 1'15"393. Aston Martin are back in great shape and have the most comprehensive upgrade package here, with a new floor for starters. Alonso is driving wild bumping across the gravel in turn 12 and setting the second fastest lap while it is a difficult session for Stroll whose car seems to have an engine problem the mechanics are trying to fix. Halfway through the session and every driver switch on the soft tyre and it is the American rookie the fastest for now, but it does not last long because the Mexican driver tops the timesheet in 1'12"814. With nineteen minutes to go Hulkenberg, fresh of his contract extension with the American team, lost the control of his car at Turn 13 and ends up stuck in the gravel: that cause a red flag and the session is suspended. Just over ten minutes on the clock and the session is restarted and all the drivers are back on track; there’s a lot of traffic now and some drivers are complaining about it. When the chequered flag sets the end of the session Max Verstappen is the fastest, followed by Alonso and Hamilton, who complains about a nervous car.
Then, there are Sergio Perez, Alexander Albon, Lando Norris, Logan Sergeant, Oscar Piastri, Yuki Tsunoda and Esteban Ocon who closes the top ten. Then George Russell, Pierre Gasly, Daniel Ricciardo, Kevin Magnussen, Valtteri Bottas, Charles Leclerc, Zhou Guanyu, Nico Hulkenberg and Robert Schwarzman. It isn’t a great practice for Ferrari, only P16 and P19 but apparently they focused on gathering data for the race and didn’t try the soft tyres. On Zhou Guanyu's car, the fourth unit was installed for the internal combustion engine, turbocharger, MGU-H and MGU-K. The Chinese Alfa Romeo driver is not penalized on the starting grid as the newly installed components fall within the maximum number set by the technical regulations. The second session of free practice starts at 4:00 p.m. local time, the sun is still out and the weather is even more humid than before. Haas and Aston Martin have been busy, the first trying to fix the front wing of Nico Hulkenberg, the latter solving the engine problem of Stroll’s car. Alfa Romeo’s pair are the first two on track on mediums and hard tyres and Carlos Sainz is back on track after missing the FP1. Since the start of this session with all the cars on track, traffic is a problem and many drivers are complaining about this issues. Sixteen minutes in and Sergio Perez sets the fastest lap, 0.069s ahead of Hamilton with Russell in third position.
A few moments later the session is stopped: Ricciardo and Piastri collided at Turn 3, Piastri lost the control of his car hitting the barrier and later on Ricciardo, trying to avoid the other Australian driver, hit the barrier too. Front and rear wing damage for McLaren to assess and they were a team who had brought some new parts here. The drivers get out of the car safe but Ricciardo his complaining pain in his wrist: on board replays show that he did leave his right hand on the steering wheel when he made impact with the barriers. He is immediately taken to the medical center and later it is declared that he has a fracture on his wrist with an official statement:
"After today’s incident during Free Practice 2 in Zandvoort, in which Daniel Ricciardo hit the barrier at Turn 3, he was brought to the local hospital and further examinations were carried out. An X-ray confirmed he sustained a break to a metacarpal on his left hand, and this injury will not allow him to continue his duties, so he will be replaced by the team’s reserve driver Liam Lawson for the remainder of this weekend. The team wishes him all the best for the quickest possible recovery. Further updates will be released in due course".
The stewards are also investigating the impeding caused by Hulkenberg towards Verstappen. The session restarts and all the drivers are back on track with soft tyres except for the Ferrari pair. Norris is now on top, with a 1'11"330, three tenths clear of Hamilton who is a further tenth clear of Gasly. With less than 20 minutes to go the drivers start with some long runs and race simulation to gather data for Sunday’s race. The times are so close that the top sixteen drivers are within the space of just over seven tenths. The Ferraris still appeared to be struggling, with the eleventh and sixteenth times. Carlos Sainz Jr. was the author of several driving errors. At the end of the practice the order is: Lando Norris, Max Verstappen, Alexander Albon, Lewis Hamilton, Yuki Tsunoda, Pierre Gasly, Sergio Perez, Lance Stroll, Valtteri Bottas and Fernando Alonso closing the top ten. Then, Charles Leclerc, Logan Sargeant, Esteban Ocon, George Russell, Zhou Guanyu, Carlos Sainz, Kevin Magnussen, Nico Hulkenberg, Oscar Piastri, Daniel Ricciardo. During both sessions, Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso used a transmission assembly outside the allocation provided for in the technical regulations. Both drivers wll be not penalized on the starting grid as this operation falls within the maximum number allowed by the technical regulations. At the end of the day Lewis Hamilton declares:
"That was a great day for me. I woke up this morning so excited to get back in the car, and from the first lap it felt like we had a good starting point to work from. The first practice session was generally good; we made some changes for FP2, and I'm not sure if we progressed or not from them, so we will deep dive tonight to investigate. Overall, the car is feeling more competitive here, so we want to hold onto that and see if we can extract more for tomorrow".
George Russell, who couldn’t keep up with his teammate’s pace and closed both session outside the top ten, states:
"It felt good to be back in the car after several weeks out of the cockpit. Overall, it's feeling good out there: the race pace was looking strong, and there is plenty of potential in there for qualifying as well, even if it didn't quite show in the headline times for me today. Definitely this was one of our better Fridays and I'm optimistic for the rest of the weekend".
Charles Leclerc isn’t satisfied with the performance of his Ferrari and sees a hard weekend ahead:
"It was a difficult day for us overall. The field seems to be very tight here and there is still quite a lot of pace to be gained, especially on the qualifying runs. We will work hard on that overnight. The weather forecast for tomorrow predicts rain, so that’s something we will have to adapt to".
Carlos Sainz Jr. is of the same advice:
"Overall it was quite a tricky Friday for the team and missing FP1 is obviously never ideal. I got up to speed quickly in FP2 but it’s true that this weekend we seem to be struggling for pace and balance overall. This circuit at the moment is not suiting us very well but we’ll work to make a good step forward for tomorrow".
Max Verstappen is satisfied with this first day at his home track:
"Today was a good day, we tried a few different things on the car. There’s a couple of things we want to fine tune like the balance, but on the whole it was handling well, even on the long runs. The car has a lot of potential so hopefully we can have a good day tomorrow. I’m feeling confident that we can be ahead in qualifying. I’m looking forward to getting back in the car tomorrow, it’s fantastic to see all the orange in the grandstands and around the track, I certainly feel the support".
Sergio Perez is optimistic:
"It was a positive Friday, the grid is looking really tight out there once again. We got plenty of information and got to try all the different compounds on the high fuel which will help the Team. I think it is looking competitive so I’m looking forward to the weekend. We just have to keep the momentum into qualifying tomorrow and get the perfect lap together, qualify where we should and then show our race pace. Our Sunday will depend on how qualifying goes, we have a strong car and if we are where we should be we will be in a good place for the race".
On Saturday, July 29, 2023, a wet track awaits the drivers as heavy rain hit the circuit right before the start of the final practice session. Max Verstappen is the first to go out with wet tyres, setting a time of 1'27"514, then risking making a contact with the wall. Teammate Sergio Perez follows pushing on the wet track but finishing across the gravel at Turn 12. Both McLarens hit the track with the intermediate tyres, bold choice since the conditions of the track at the moment. And in fact, Kevin Magnussen, who also comes out with the same tyres, spins into the barrier at Turn 3, bringing out an early red flag just 11 minutes into the session. After a seven-minute delay, the session resumes. Charles Leclerc goes out with full wets setting the best time, which is overtaken soon after by Norris, still with the intermediates. But it doesn't take long for Verstappen to score the best time again with a 1'25"197, 1.555s faster than Norris. Another red flag interrupts the session, this time consequence of Zhou going off track on the final turn, getting stuck in the gravel. With only 25 minutes left, Sainz, who hasn't scored a time yet, hits the track but aborts his opening lap as he goes straight into the escape road. On the second attempt, he temporarily places fifth. The track slowly dries up and the McLarens begin to set the pace.
Norris signs a 1'25"086, 0.111s faster than Verstappen, followed by Piastri going 0.193s faster than the teammate. Ultimately Norris regains the fastest lap just before another red flag is developed as Liam Lawson spins into the barrier at Turn 14. He still manages to keep the car on track and returns to the pit lane. With eight minutes left, Max Verstappen regains the top spot, setting a time of 1'22"758 and then improving by going down to 1'21"630, 1.148s ahead of George Russell. Perez closes third, follows Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. Alex Albon goes sixth, then Piastri’s McLaren and Bottas’ Alfa Romeo. Leclerc sets the ninth fastest time, having recovered from multiple off-track excursions at Turn 1. Closes the top 10 Lando Norris, then Pierre Gasly’s Alpine, Sainz, Tsunoda, Sargeant, Hulkenberg, Ocon, Stroll, Guanyu and Magnussen. Saturday’s action in Zandvoort continues in the afternoon with qualifying. The weather is still unstable, even if the sun begins to appear through the clouds. The track is still wet making the choice of tires fall on the intermediates. Before qualifying, the race direction communicated the availability of an additional set of intermediate tires, in light of the weather forecast. An impressive McLaren still proves its potential today with Norris taking the lead of the early stages of Q1 with 1'23"260, followed by teammate Piastri just under half a second. The track slowly dries, causing the times to drop considerably.
Five minutes from the end Verstappen is P1, ahead of Piastri, Norris, Russell and Alonso. At the end of the Q1, an extraordinary Albon manages to get with his Williams on top, setting a 1'20"939, ahead of Verstappen, Piastri, Norris and Sainz. Zhou, Ocon, Magnussen, Bottas and Lawson are knocked out. Q2 begins and the choice of tyres falls back on the intermediates, while the sky seems to portend the arrival of possible rain. Verstappen again marks the best time, 1'20"282, followed by Norris with a gap of 0.347s. Albon scores another great lap (1'19"399) taking the first position, but following a pit for fresh intermediates Verstappen regains the top with a 1'18"856. Piastri sets the second fastest lap, with Albon then dropping to third position. Follows Alonso, Leclerc, Russell, Norris, Perez, Sainz and Sargeant, who for the first time in his F1 career enters in Q3. Knocked out is Lewis Hamilton, who drops behind Stroll and Gasly. The 14th and 15th goes to Tsunoda, Hulkenberg respectively. The final stage of the Dutch Gran Prix qualifying begins. While most of the grid opts for intermediates, Sainz, Russell, Albon and Sargeant start on Soft. The track, however, does not seem ready for slick-tyres yet, in fact Sargeant loses control of his car crashing into the barriers at Turn 2. A red flag stops the session in order to fix them. When it is resumed, there are 8 minutes left to make a time. Norris tops with a 1'12"049s, followed by teammate Piastri and Verstappen. However, qualifying is interrupted again because Leclerc hits the wall at Turn 9. After the delay, there are still 4 minutes left until the end of the session. Verstappen takes pole position with a 1'10"567. Norris earns the second position, followed by Russell, Albon, Alonso, Sainz, Perez, Piastri. Leclerc and Sargeant close the top 10 grid positions for Sunday’s race. Max Verstappen, who has managed a perfect qualifying, is happy to have achieved pole in front of the home crowd:
"Qualifying in these conditions on new tarmac can be quite tricky but that last lap was very enjoyable. It’s all about putting in good laps and staying out of trouble. We’ve had wet conditions at the last few races but it’s the first time here in Zandvoort, the wind and drying track played a big factor in Q3 and turn one on my final lap was a bit tricky, but the Team made all the right calls today. The pressure's always there to perform in front of your home crowd but when you can pull it off it feels incredible. To be on pole here feels great and we have a very strong car for tomorrow, let's see what we can do".
Sergio Perez, on the other side, has had a more difficult session:
"It was a challenging qualifying today, with the changeable conditions and amount of red flag time. I definitely wanted to be a lot higher up, especially for the race because it is not an easy track to overtake around. It was very tricky out there, especially towards the end and the strategy we took in Q3 was probably not ideal in hindsight. At the time we thought it was the best to do a double push but I think doing a single timed lap would have been better for the tyre. We just have to look forward now, we have a great race car, we had very strong race pace on Friday and in the simulations so hopefully we are able to make some good progress tomorrow. I want to keep the momentum from before the summer break going, we should be able to really come through the field and deliver the podium".
Christian Horner, Red Bull’s Team Principal and CEO, comments both drivers’ sessions:
"Today was a continually moving target with the constantly changing conditions and there were moments where we thought it could get away from us. The biggest wobble we had with Max was when he went straight on in Q1 on his first lap. The next he got blocked and we had an eye on the weather hoping we weren’t going to miss out, we just needed to get one lap on the board and thankfully the next lap he managed to, he just struggled to get the temperature into the tyres initially. In taxing conditions like this, there was a lot of debate around when to run, which tyres etc, and with the added pressure of a home race for Max, it’s hard not to feel the expectation of the crowd, the noise and the hype, but the way Max manages that is truly remarkable. Once again the whole Team did a fantastic job in reading the conditions, preparing the car and getting it right for the lap when it mattered, and that last lap was classic Max, truly lightning".
So he adds:
"Checo aborted his first lap to push on the second as he could feel the track evolving but didn’t quite have the confidence that Max had today in those difficult conditions and we saw a lot of drivers making mistakes. We’ve got a really mixed up grid in the top ten but we know Checo can race well from seventh and it’ll be an interesting race tomorrow".
Carlos Sainz Jr. explains he has struggled to put together a good qualifying:
"Our performance this weekend hasn’t been great and we knew it was going to be a challenging qualifying. We managed to get through to Q3 and put together some decent laps for P6 but it’s obviously not where we want to be. Tomorrow it won’t be easy either, but be sure we will do our maximum to defend the position and bring home the best result possible".
Charles Leclerc agrees with his teammate:
"It has been a difficult weekend so far and we have struggled with our car balance since the first session. We will look into it and try to improve the car to make it more predictable. It will be a tough race for us tomorrow, trying to fight our way up to the front. Let’s see what’s possible".
Frédéric Vasseur, Ferrari Team Principal, remarks how tricky the condition were, knowing tomorrow will be a not so easy race:
"It was a very busy qualifying, as is always the case when it starts on a wet track but with no rain falling, because the track evolves continuously and so it’s vital to be out on track all the time. Carlos and Charles made it through to the final phase, performing very well in Q1 and Q2. Then in Q3, although the track was completely dry, conditions were still very tricky: Carlos managed to post a pretty good time, while Charles made a mistake, ending up in the barrier having gone off the dry line, which can unfortunately happen in these circumstances. Tomorrow’s race will not be easy for us, given how difficult it is to overtake and how close everyone is, but in our long runs we saw signs that lead us to believe we can make up places".
George Russell is pretty satisfied and determined for tomorrow:
"That was a great session and I'm happy to be in P3. Qualifying was a strength earlier in the season, but it's been going a bit wrong for me recently, so it was good to get the break, come with some fresh ideas and put ourselves in a good place to fight for the podium tomorrow. The final lap was pretty okay - we know that we struggle to get temperature into the tyres when it's wet or the crossover to slicks, but that also turns into a strength on Sunday. I'm Max will enjoy his usual Sunday drive tomorrow, but from P3 hopefully we can have a good fight with Lando, Alex and the rest".
On the other side, Lewis Hamilton has had a disappointing qualifying as he didn’t manage to get into Q3, lacking of confidence with his car:
"It wasn't my day today. Since FP1, I've lost some confidence in the car and that made qualifying tricky. It was tough to get the tyres into the working window, I struggled with the balance and overall grip, and George also did a few different settings that seemed to work better. But we know that the car operates in a narrow window, and these things can happen when you are in that situation".
So he adds:
"On the final run, I did two consecutive laps and the tyres overheated on the second one, so I couldn't improve the time. Tomorrow is a new challenge; hopefully the car will be a bit better on full tanks, and we can make some forward progress. This isn't an easy circuit for doing that - but that will be the goal".
Toto Wolff, Mercedes’ Team Principal & CEO, expresses his mixed feelings on today’s results:
"It was a challenging session, as we know our car is not the strongest when it comes to warming up the tyres in the wet and on the drying track. That means we need to put all the details together and that was hard today. George got the maximum from it to take a second row, so I hope he will be racing for the podium tomorrow. For Lewis, it seemed like he was impeded on every timed lap - including his quickest one - but he also didn't have full confidence in the car today. We will analyse why - but we know as well that we can race stronger than the cars around him, so I hope to see him move forward tomorrow. So, a day of mixed fortunes; but we can take positives from P3 and build from there".
After a rain-affected final practice and qualifying, everyone is ready for race day. The track is dry, even if the sky is quite full of dark clouds. Few changes are made to the starting order before the start: Tsunoda from 14th is now 17th and this promotes Hulkenberg, Zhou and Ocon. The Japanese driver has received a penalty for impeding Hamilton in qualifying; Magnussen will start from the pit lane due to power unit and gearbox changes. This means that the debutant Lawson has gained a spot. Just before the lights go out, everyone gets to know that 18 of the 20 drivers will run on soft compound tyres. The two remaining are Hamilton and Hulkenberg, who opted for the mediums. At 3:00 p.m. local time the race begins and pole-sitter Verstappen immediately grows his advantage into Turn 1, ahead of Norris, Albon, Russell and Alonso, who makes a double move on the two British racers at Turn 3. There are spits of rain which suddenly turn into hard raining, so Perez, Leclerc, Gasly, Zhou, Tsunoda, Lawson and Magnussen pit to swap their slicks for intermediates; bad for the Monegasque as the Ferrari team seemed tehy were not prepared to change tyres on his car.
"If you can live with it, stay out".
The Red Bull say to Verstappen, but immediately after they tell him to prepare to pit, while Alonso gets the jump on Norris, with Russell holding fourth from Albon and Sainz. Russell, Norris, Albon, Piastri, Stroll, Bottas, Hulkenberg, Hamilton and Sargeant stay out on slicks for another lap, while Perez takes the lead. On lap 3, only Russell, Albon, Piastri, Stroll, Bottas, Hulkenberg and Sargeant are still on slicks, and Perez has a 12-second advantage over Zhou, Gasly and Verstappen. The home hero passes Gasly and Zhou in quick succession to climb back up to P2 and try to get Perez. Zhou is incredibly third ahead of Gasly, Alonso and Sainz, who tries to do his best as his team mate Leclerc is struggling with a front wing damage after a contact with Piastri. Tsunoda is eighth despite a slow pit stop, while Magnussen, who startes from the pit lane, is now ninth. A round of second stops starts and the drivers who pit are Magnussen, Hamilton and Stroll on lap 11, swapping back to slicks from intermediates; Russell is told that other rain is expected in minutes. Piastri, who is still on his starting set of softs, is doing great times as the track gradually dries up, so everyone changes intermediates for slicks. Sargeant loses control of his Williams at the exit of Turn 8 and hits the barriers, triggering a Virtual Safety Car and then a full Safety car. The top-ten order is now Verstappen, Perez, Alonso, Gasly, Sainz, Zhou, Magnussen, Albon, Ocon and Tsunoda; Gasly passed Sainz down the start/finish straight after his stop, but then he is given a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pits.
Norris is 11th after starting on the front row, followed by Leclerc, Hamilton and Piastri, who stopped for a second set of softs; Russell is 18th and asks:
"How did we mess this up?"
Over the radio. On lap 21 the Safety Car goes out and the race resumes, with Verstappen keeping his lead. Piastri falls behind Bottas to 15th, while Albon passes Magnussen for P7. Ocon passes Magnussen, Tsunoda and Zhou, while Piastri steals again P14 from Bottas into Turn 1, before both the Australian and Hamilton dispatch Leclerc. By Lap 27, Verstappen’s lead over team mate Perez is up to three seconds, with Alonso third ahead of Gasly, Sainz and Albon; Zhou, Tsunoda and Norris are out the points.
"Darker clouds are coming in".
Verstappen says and the same thing is told to in Leclerc. Norris and Hamilton pass Zhou, while Magnussen drops back to 13th, ahead of team mate Hulkenberg. On lap 40, Verstappen leads Perez by almost seven seconds, Alonso is four seconds further back in third, and Gasly in fourth, ahead of Sainz and Albon. Further back, there is some action between Leclerc and debutant Lawson, before Ferrari call the Monegasque into the pits to retire due to floor damage. Norris and Sainz pit on lap 43 and 44 respectively, Albon stops for the first time on lap 45. Perez pits on lap 46, while the leader Verstappen extends his stint for four more laps, and Alonso loses out to Sainz due to a sticky front-left tyre. After the stops, Verstappen is still in the lead, while Sainz holds the final podium spot ahead of Alonso, Gasly, Tsunoda and Russell, who gained a lot of spots after his early switch to hard tyres. Alonso takes back P3 down the start/finish straight, and Russell does the same on Tsunoda a few moments later for the sixth position. Tsunoda drops out of the points, falling behind Ocon and Norris: on the radio he says to have some damage and stewards confirm as they are looking into an incident involving him and Russell. Verstappen is told that more rain will arrive in the final 10 minutes, while Hamilton passes Norris and Ocon for P8 and soon arrives behind his team mate Russell’s tail; the younger Briton moves aside after saving a huge slide through the high-speed sweeps, while Gasly passes Sainz around the outside of Turn 1. On lap 61, the rain suddenly arrives, so the majority of the field immediately go into the pits and swap their slick tyres for intermediates. Ocon is the only driver to take on full wets, Verstappen remains in P1, while Perez goes too deep at Turn 1, suffers a half spin and lightly touches the barrier, allowing Alonso to slip ahead.
Zhou slides off the track approaching Turn 1 and a Virtual safety car is out: the Red Bull pair pit for full wet tyres, before the VSC turned into a red flag on lap 65. Perez is in the pit lane when the red flag comes out and drops down to sixth on the timing screens, behind Gasly, Sainz and Hamilton, who also has a moment at Turn 1 and goes the gravel. A message from Race Control says that Perez will be third in the restart order, behind Verstappen and Alonso, with Gasly fourth from Sainz, Hamilton, Norris, Russell, Albon and Piastri. A five-second time penalty is given to Tsunoda for causing an incident with Russell and a 10-second sanction to Lawson due to unnecessarily impeding Magnussen in the pit lane. After a 40-minute delay, the remaining 17 drivers go back on intermediate tyres for a rolling start, and two laps behind the Safety Car, after which Verstappen mantains the lead over Alonso and Perez. The stewards hand Perez a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane, while Russell manages to get ahead of Norris and runs P7, before they collide and the Mercedes man reports damage. Despite everything, Verstappen crosses the finish line and takes his ninth straight win and 11th from 13 races so far this season. Alonso finishes second, taking the Driver of the Day award, while Perez’s penalty promotes Gasly to third for his first podium of the season, after finishing third in the Sprint race at Spa-Francorchamps. Sainz Jr. beats Hamilton to fifth after a close battle in the closing laps, while McLaren duo Norris and Piastri and Albon and Ocon round out the points, giving Alpine a double points finish after their recent managerial changes. Max Verstappen took the following ninth victory on home soil:
"I feel extremely proud to win the Dutch Grand Prix again and to win nine in a row is a massive achievement, I never thought it would be possible. It’s always amazing to be here and the National anthem before the Grand Prix really gave me goosebumps. Of course, there were a lot of hectic moments today with the rain coming in, the race was all about trying to stay calm and make the right calls at the right time and we did just that. There was a fantastic atmosphere here all weekend and being at my home Grand Prix with all the fans makes this win feel even more special. I think everyone was completely soaked after that downpour and still they were listening and dancing to music and having a great time".
Sergio Perez pit at the end of the opening lap, then had a healthy lead over his team mate. When the late rain came, he hit the barriers at Turn 1, so went back to the pits and emerged third until a time penalty for speeding in the pit lane costed him the podium:
"It was such an unfortunate afternoon in the end, especially with the later calls, we got the first one right and then when we boxed for the inters things weren’t ready because I had to make such a late call due to the rain suddenly falling. When I was coming into the pitlane to box for inters it was completely flooded, I lost traction in the car and ended up clipping the wall and sliding a little which put me over the speed limit. You know a lot more after the race but overall it’s an okay result given the chaos of the afternoon. The Team always know the wider picture when they are making decisions in the race and I don’t have all the information in the car, that’s why we have strategists and everyone makes the calls in the interest of the Team. We had good pace and definitely deserved a podium today, so it’s a shame we didn’t make it".
Christian Horner is satisfied with the race the team had:
"The rain was on and off throughout the whole race, but Max did an amazing job in the tricky conditions. He had an incredible drive having to come back through the field after his first pit stop, with some drivers staying out on the slick tyre and others pitting for the inters. Once everything settled down, he was able to build a lead and had everything under control. We knew the heavy rain towards the end was coming and when you’re in first place you have everything to lose, but Max had a great restart and secured first place with an excellent drive. Checo made great progress coming from seventh on the grid and made a superb call to switch to the inters towards the start, the Team reacted super-fast and he took lead of the race. During the next cycle of pit stops, as the track started to dry, we had to bring Max in to avoid getting undercut. Sometimes you have to make big calls for the Team and that was one of those moments. It’s a shame we couldn’t have Checo up on the podium following his penalty, as he deserved to be there but with a race with so much drama and jeopardy there’s always things that we can reflect on. In all the Team had a very strong day and for Max to match Seb Vettel’s record of nine consecutive victories it’s incredible. The fact that we’ve achieved it twice now as a Team is something very special to us".
Fernando Alonso pit for inters at the end of the second lap. Then, he ran behind the Red Bull pair and ended second:
"It's a nice feeling to be back on the podium after a very intense race and some intense emotions. I think P2 and fastest lap was the maximum we could have achieved today with the heavy rain and the red flag. It was a very well executed race by our team and it means a lot in front of the passionate fans here in Zandvoort. The AMR23 responded well to everything today and I was in sync with it, it was a good feeling. I'm probably happier now than I was scoring podiums at the beginning of the year because after we struggled for podiums in July, coming back strong feels incredible. I cannot lie, I thought about passing Max and if I was side by side with him I wouldn't have lifted off, but I did not have the full chance. You need some intuition sometimes in the race and there was a bit of rain so I attacked very aggressively. Now I'm looking forward to Monza".
Great result for Gasly, who earned his first podium of the season:
"What a race! It feels really good to be on the podium here in Zandvoort and the entire team deserves this. After the season we have had so far, so many ups and downs, I do feel we deserve this result. It was an insane race, so much action, so many tough calls to make but everything went well, from the decision making to the strategy to the pit-stops, it was all very well executed. We had the unfortunate five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane, but in the end that did not matter as we still had enough pace to put ourselves in contention for a good result. It was a tough final few laps with the conditions, but we managed it very well. Thanks to the entire team for his podium, and let's keep up the hard work looking ahead to next weekend's race in Monza; where I have fond memories".
Charles Leclerc, on the first lap, made contact with Piastri; this damaged his floor and, when he finished on the gravel, was forced to retire:
"It was a tricky race on my side. When I arrived at the last corner on lap 1, I saw how much rain was coming down and decided to call for a pit stop. I knew it was a late one, but at the same time, I also knew that it would be worth it in the end, because we had more to gain than to lose there. Unfortunately, after Oscar (Piastri) and I touched, I had damage on my floor and the issue got worse over the course of the race, ultimately leading to us retiring. It’s not been the weekend we wished for overall, but I’m already looking forward to our home race in Monza next week".
Carlos Sainz Jr. lost out in a duel with Gasly and that cost him a chance of a podium:
"We had a good race execution overall with no mistakes in these difficult conditions. For the last stint we had to fit a very used set of Intermediates from yesterday and it was all about defending. I gave absolutely everything from the first lap to the last but unfortunately P5 was the maximum we could achieve this weekend. It’s good points and we have gained ground over Mercedes and McLaren, on a difficult weekend for the team. We obviously want more and we will keep pushing. Now I’m looking forward to our home race at Monza next weekend".
Frédéric Vasseur, Ferrari’s Team Principal, adds his thoughts:
"It was definitely a busy weekend, run in very difficult conditions. Carlos drove a great race, managing to match the pace of those ahead up until the rain returned. At that point he had to deal with the handicap of running Intermediates that had done more laps than those of the drivers around him and he did well to keep two strong competitors, Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris, behind him, thus bringing home the best result possible in these circumstances. Charles’ race was compromised on the opening lap, when there was the collision with Oscar Piastri, which caused damage on his SF-23. We felt it would be enough to change the front wing but unfortunately, the floor was also damaged and that got worse with every passing lap, to the point that we decided to retire him. Now we focus on Monza, our home race, where we want to execute the weekend perfectly from every point of view so that the drivers can get everything there is to be had out of our package".
Lewis Hamilton was one of the only two drivers who started on mediums, and when pitted for inters started to recover up through the field:
"I didn't really know how today was going to go - last night, I was wracking my brain about where we went wrong in qualifying and how we ended up P13, and how to climb back up. I wanted to start the race on an offset tyre compound, but then it turned out I was the only one in the field on a different tyre - and then the rain came. As a team, we made the wrong decision and paid the price, coming out last. After that, I just got my head down and I was chasing; it was a great example that when you fall or stumble, just get back up and keep trying. Each time I pitted, I came out behind, and kept chasing and chasing. I was really happy - I passed the McLaren, for example, which isn't easy at this track. And then at the end, I just needed DRS to pass Sainz, because I was quicker but didn't have the speed on the straight to do it. But overall, it's a feeling of what could have been: if we'd made different calls, we had the pace to challenge the top two. We weren't far off in the dry - and it would have been good to be in that fight".
Russell ran well despite some contact with Tsunoda until the late rain. Then he picked up a puncture fighting with Norris and dropped down to last:
"That was a tough one today - I went into the race expecting to fight for a podium and I ended up P17. We were expecting the rain to say for just a few minutes, and it ended up being close to ten. It was ready for inters but I thought I could brave it out for another lap or two if it was only going to be short - but that's not what happened. We'd rather have a fast car and a bad day than the opposite, but it was a missed opportunity today. At the end, I was side by side with Lando into the chicane at the end of the lap, then we had contact. It cost a few points and it was a shame because we had such a fast car today, then our decisions on the weather went against us. But there are still positives to take away from the base pace we showed. We knew this circuit could be strong for us - and looking to Monza, it's a totally different beast. We will clear our heads, go in with some new ideas and the learnings from this weekend, and see what we can do".
Toto Wolff, Mercedes’ Team Principal & CEO, is aware of the fact that they have to understand a lot of things before the next race in Monza:
"That was a difficult day for us. In the opening 15 laps, we got pretty much everything wrong that we could have done - and that cost us any chance of fighting for the podium. For the next 50 laps until the red flag, it was pretty much business as usual: the car was quick on every tyre compound, we made the right calls and the drivers did a great recovery to P6 and P8. In the final laps, George was unlucky to fall to the back after contact, while Lewis tried everything he could on Sainz but there was no way past. In the end, I'd rather we have a quick car and a bad result, than the other way round. It was an entertaining race for Formula One - and the kind of day when we should have been part of the action at the front. But if, but and maybe don't count for anything in this sport. Now, we need to regroup, understand why we as a team got things wrong today, and go again in Monza next weekend".