With the Summer Break long behind us, F1 got the second half of the season underway, with a chaotic, rain-filled race to welcome race fans back. And, despite the mix matched weather, the house and techno music amplified around the Zandvoort circuit, with another record breaking sell-out crowd.
Going into the race, Red Bull's Max Verstappen was sitting nicely at the top of the Driver's Championship, with a lead of nearly 130 points over his teammate; Sergio Perez, who sat in second. And, as expected, it was also Verstappen on pole for the Dutch Grand Prix, with McLaren's Lando Norris - who gave the Dutch driver a run for his money in qualifying, lining up beside him in second. The Mercedes of George Russell found himself starting third.
With a 70% chance of rain for the race, the formation lap gets underway in the dry. However, darker clouds loom overhead and drivers start to report spots of rain on their visors. The majority of drivers are starting the race on the soft tyre, bar Lewis Hamilton, who is on the mediums. By the time the drivers reach the grid once again, rain is definitely on the horizon but no one takes the gamble in starting on the intermediates. With everyone in their respective grid spots, five lights show and go out again. The race is underway.
Verstappen leads the field away cleanly with Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso being the big winner, as he goes from fifth to third in the first corner, passing Russell and Alexander Albon in the process. But, as the drivers make their way around to end the first lap, it's a deluge as heavy rain curtains the track.
After starting seventh, Perez takes a gamble and becomes the first man to switch to the intermediates. He's followed in by Charles Leclerc, Pierre Gasly, Yuki Tsunoda, Liam Lawson - who is sitting in for an injured Daniel Ricciardo, and Kevin Magnussen. However, for Leclerc, it's a disaster. Ferrari were not ready for their driver and the Monegasque falls to fifteenth place. As for Perez, an early stop has worked wonders, as he catches up to the group who are yet to stop to switch to the more suitable tyre.
At the end of the second lap, leaders; Verstappen and Alonso - who has moved into second, come into the pits. Norris and Russell decide to stay out on track with the soft tyres. However, it's Perez, with the inters, who finds himself in the lead. It's quickly apparent that some of the drivers, who fancied waiting the weather out on slicks, have had a change of heart and also pit for inters. Back on track, Leclerc proves how wet the track has gotten by taking a bumpy trip through the gravel, damaging his floor in the process.
By lap five, the winners and losers of the chaotic first laps are becoming apparent. Perez still leads, with, surprisingly, the Alfa Romeo of Zhou Guanyu in second. Verstappen is also making a comeback, sitting in fourth, behind Pierre Gasly. No, make that third, as the reigning World Champion passes the Alpine into turn three, and then second as he passes Zhou. But, it's Magnussen in the Haas that finds himself in the points, after starting from the pitlane. Mercedes, however, seem to be the big losers from this round, with Russell and Hamilton dropping to twelfth and nineteenth, respectively. Race debutant; Liam Lawson, quickly finds himself in trouble, with a ten second time penalty for impeding.
With the rain shower easing, and despite a threat of more in the air, Hamilton switches back to slicks. DRS is enabled and others follow him in for a set of new soft rubber - as those who took the gamble to stay on the slicks are now storming through the field. Verstappen, who is closing in on Perez for the lead, pits at the end of lap eleven, leaving his teammate as the sole intermediate runner. A lap later, Perez also dips into the pits to bolt on the softs. Upon exiting, he see's Verstappen take the lead, after performing a successful undercut. Perez, taken by surprise, asks his race engineer: "Did Max undercut us?"
Back to the racing and Norris sets the fastest lap of the race so far which is quickly improved on by his teammate; Oscar Piastri. Things suddenly look "iffy" at Alpine, with fourth place man, Gasly, under investigation for speeding in the pitlane, as well as having Carlos Sainz's Ferrari breathing down his neck. However, Gasly keeps hold of fourth going into turn one.
Yellow flags start to wave, with the Williams of Logan Sargeant stuck in the wall at turn eight. The American driver seems to be ok, walking away from the incident unharmed. The safety car is deployed while the scene is cleared. In the meantime, Russell pits for a set of the hard compound and Gasly is hit with a five second time penalty. Albon, sitting happily in eighth, is the only driver yet to pit. He's still on the softs he started the race with. On lap twenty two, the safety car returns to the pits and Verstappen goes early, leading the field onto the start/finish straight.
Despite setting fastest laps in the early stages of the race, Piastri's woes continue, as he is passed by Valtteri Bottas in the Alfa Romeo at the safety car restart. Race leader, Verstappen flies off into the distance, leaving Perez and Alonso trailing behind in his wake. Still on his original tyres, Albon passes Magnussen for seventh, despite the two nearly coming together the lap before - a defensive move in which Magnussen gets a warning for. However, despite an impressive start for the Haas driver, he starts to fall back through the pack, slowly slipping out of point contention. But still, it's Verstappen who proves to be the fastest driver on track, putting in the fastest lap of the race. A 1:15.664, leading Perez, Alonso, Gasly and Sainz by nearly three seconds.
Towards the back end of the field, Leclerc is struggling to find any kind of pace in his Ferrari, with Hamilton and Piastri both taking places from him. He now sits in fourteenth and isn't catching those ahead. Other drivers are also having a painful afternoon, with Tsunoda receiving a black and white flag, and Russell making no impact what so ever on the hard tyre in seventeenth. And, unfortunately for some, the threat of rain seems to be staying away for the time being, meaning plenty of tyre management is going on up and down the field. Leclerc's afternoon quickly goes from bad to worse, with Alpha Tauri's rookie; Lawson, also getting past the Ferrari into turn ten. Leclerc, having none of it, takes the place back into turn one. A few laps pass by and the Ferrari driver retires from the race.
The next round of pitstops are set off by Zhou, coming in to fit a new set of softs. He is followed in by Sainz, Norris, Ocon and, finally, Alexander Albon. The new rubber is working wonders for some drivers with fastest race times being traded all over the place. Our front runners also start to pit with Perez leading them in. But, for Alonso, it's a slow stop, which allows Sainz to undercut him. As for Verstappen, his stop is smooth and he comfortably retains the lead of the race ahead of Perez.
Tsunoda, who hasn't yet pitted again, finds himself racing the front runners. He is quickly passed by Alonso and Gasly, with the Alpha Tauri driver locking up his tyres in the process and then damaging his front wing as Russell makes a move on him. After his pass on Tsunoda, Alonso catches and passes Sainz, his fellow countryman, with ease, reclaiming his third position.
Talk of rain is in the air once again, with Red Bull telling their drivers that it could be heavy. Aston Martin reiterate the same message to Alonso. Footage of the weather radars confirm what the drivers are being told.
Despite the incoming weather, the race is still ongoing. Sainz is starting to come under pressure from the Alpine of Gasly who is chasing him down for fourth. He attempts to get past the Ferrari into turn one, with no luck. Hamilton, who was at one stage sitting in nineteenth, is now up to eighth, after passing Esteban Ocon. He's now gaining on his teammate; Russell, who has a "hold your breath" moment touching the grass at turn seven. Back at the front of the field, Gasly tries again to get past Sainz. This time he is through.
Rain starts to fall and Perez is, again, the first to switch to inters. However, Red Bull aren't ready for their driver. Quite reminiscent of Ferrari and Leclerc at the beginning of the race. The rain gets heavier and there is absolute mayhem in the pits as drivers scramble to throw on the intermediate tyre. Ocon, however, is the only one to fit the extreme wets. Could he be on to something? He doesn't think so.
Yellow flags start waving at turn one and it's Perez who has gone off into the barrier. He manages to get going again, with what looks like minimal damage. However, he's lost second position to Alonso. After this, Verstappen pits for extremes, while more yellow flags wave at turn one. This time it's for Zhou, who has had a hefty crash into the barrier. A virtual safety car is deployed and Perez pits. But for him and Red Bull, the timing is completely wrong, as the red flag is shown, trapping Perez at the end of the pitlane. At this point, he sits in sixth. Replays show that numerous drivers, including Hamilton, went off at turn one before Zhou found the barrier.
After some time, a restart time has been confirmed. It will also be a rolling start and everyone will need to be on inters. Luckily for Perez, the stewards confirm that he will restart the race from third, rather than sixth. The safety car leads the cars out of the pitlane ready for the final few laps. After two laps, it returns and racing is once again, underway.
Verstappen gets away but Alonso and Perez are sticking with him. Talking of Perez, he's just been handed a five second time penalty for speeding in the pitlane. It'll be a miracle if he can hold onto third now. George Russell starts to tumble down the order, telling his team over radio that's he's out. He trundles his way back to the pits, where it looks like he's picked up a puncture after contact with Norris. Ferrari attempt to guide Sainz through the remainder of the race, but the Spaniard isn't having any of it, telling them - "less radio."
With three laps to go, Verstappen still leads, but Alonso and Perez are trying to cling on. However, by the final lap, the Dutch driver has increased his lead to around three seconds. Perez sits only 2.5 seconds ahead of Gasly in fourth. He needs over five to keep his podium position.
But, it's Verstappen who takes the chequered flag, once again, making it three out of three in Zandvoort. He's also matched the record of nine consecutive wins, claiming another place in the F1 history books. Alonso comes home second, with Gasly promoted to third. Unfortunately for Perez, it's a fourth place finish for him. Sainz takes fifth ahead of Hamilton and Norris. Albon finishes eighth for Williams, with Piastri and Ocon rounding out the points.
What a race to come back to after the Summer Break. Zandvoort did not disappoint. Next up is Monza. Can it match the chaos? See you there!
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