Zandvoort, Netherlands: There was disappointment for Sergio Pérez, however, who was hit with a late-race time penalty that robbed him of an eighth podium finish for the season.
Heavy rain hit the 4.259 km Circuit Zandvoort track during the early and late periods of the race and had the potential to spoil the home fan’s party, but it wasn’t enough as the Dutchman’s charged his way to yet another memorable win.
As the lights went out and the race got underway, Max got away well from pole position and held the lead ahead of Norris. Behind them, Fernando Alonso made the best start of the chasing drivers, passing Alex Albon into Turn 2 and then taking a low line through Turn 3 the Aston Martin driver passed Mercedes’ George Russell to snatch third place.
Although, it was only halfway round the track on Lap 1 that the heavens opened and quick decisions were required. Max opted to stay out on his starting soft tyres, which afforded the team time to pit his teammate, Checo, at the end of the opening lap for intermediate tyres.
The Mexican dropped down the order but as the intensity of the rain increased and persisted, it quickly became clear that inters were the way to go. As Max, followed by the bulk of the remaining slick tyre runners, pitted at the end of lap two, Checo rocketed back up the race order, inheriting the lead of the race when he passed Mercedes’ George Russell at the start of third lap, 14 seconds clear of Max who was now in fifth place, behind the Alpine of Pierre Gasly.
Max was soon on the move, and when Russell pitted and dropped back, Max muscled past Gasly on lap 6 into Turn 3 and then made the same move past Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu on the following lap to take second place, 9.5s behind Checo.
The home hero was now lapping up to two seconds quicker than his team-mate but with the track drying rapidly it was only a matter of time before his inters began to fade. At the end of lap 11, Max dived into the pit lane and made the switch to a set of soft tyres, re-joining in second place. Checo then made his stop for the same type of tyres at the end of the next lap, Max swept past to once again lead his home grand prix.
The chaos of the opening phase gave way to more settled running, but it wasn’t for long. On lap 16, Williams’ Logan Sargeant crashed at Turn 8 and the Safety Car was released. The field bunched up behind the leading Red Bull drivers until lap 21 when the caution ended and we went racing again.
Max managed the restart expertly and retained his lead in the race. Checo clung to the back of his team-mate’s RB19 and kept the Aston Martin of Alonso at bay. By lap 30 Max was 3.6s clear of his team-mate and the advantage grew to 11 seconds. On lap 45, Checo came in for his second stop. More soft tyres and he re-joined in P4 behind Gasly.
Alpine’s Gasly made his pit stop on lap 47, where he served a five-second penalty for an earlier speeding offence in the pit lane and Checo moved back to third place, which became second when Alonso pitted one lap later.
When Max made his third pit stop at the end of the following lap, taking on another set of soft tyres, he emerged from the pits with his lead still intact and six seconds clear of his team-mate with Alonso third.
At the start of lap 60, the rain that had been moving towards Zandvoort for some time began to fall. Checo was the first to react, pitting for intermediate tyres. He was followed by a stream of cars and on the following lap Max, with a strong gap to Checo, made his stop for inters and resumed in the lead.
With 10 laps remaining, Max led Checo by more than 19 seconds and Alonso third. However, the treacherous conditions continued to cause difficulties for every driver. On lap 64, Checo lost second place when he went straight on at Turn 1 and Alonso swept past.
The rain continued to intensify and Zhou lost control of his Alfa Romeo and went into the barriers at Turn 1. The Virtual Safety Car was deployed. A sizeable gap in hand, Max came into the pits for full wet tyres. With torrential rain falling, the team chose to follow that by bringing Checo in for the blue-banded tyres.
However, during Checo’s stop the race was red flagged and he was forced to stop at the end of the pit lane as the rest of the field tip-toed through the treacherous conditions to join him.
It was almost a 45-minute wait before Race Control indicated that the race would get underway again with a rolling start. Max resumed at the front of the pack ahead of Alonso and Checo. However, Checo was suddenly hit with a five-second penalty for an earlier pit lane speed limit offence.
Max strolled his was through to victory after 72 incident-packed laps. The Dutchman crossed the line and took his ninth win of 2023, the 46th of his career. Alonso took P2 and though Checo pushed hard to create a five-second gap to Gasly, he crossed the line just three seconds clear of the Frenchman and so slipped to fourth place ahead of Sainz.
Speaking after his victory, Max Verstappen said, “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.”
After a thrilling race at the Circuit Zandvoort, Sergio Pérez said, “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.
Following the race, Christian Horner said, “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.”