Versappen catches Vettel's record

Netherlands Winning the Dutch Grand Prix on the evening of August 27, Red Bull racer Max Verstappen equaled the record of 9 consecutive F1 wins set by Sebastian Vettel in the 2013 season.

Fireworks celebrate Verstappen's victory at the Dutch Grand Prix at the Zandvoort racetrack on August 27. Photo: AP

After the race, Verstappen could not hide his pride at catching up with his senior's feat. "F1 racing is always very difficult. In the past, there were many cars stronger than ours now, but they could not win 9 races in a row, especially in races like today, when it is very easy to enter the pit at the wrong time and lose your own results," said the defending champion.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner also admired the latest feat of his team's star. "Vettel's record in 2013 - winning nine races in a row - was crazy. I never dared to think that Red Bull would one day repeat that record with another driver. No one could have imagined it," he said.

Verstappen's troubles began just seconds into the race, with a rainstorm hitting the Zandvoort circuit. He lost the lead and dropped to second behind teammate Sergio Perez as the Mexican pitted early and switched to intermediates. However, Verstappen was able to overtake him on lap 13 and dominate the race until the end.

Heavy rain with just eight laps to go saw the red flags raised and the race halted for 45 minutes. But through it all, Verstappen was in control, as he has been all season – never really giving his rivals a chance to fight back. By winning his home race, Verstappen extended his lead in the standings to 138 points over teammate Perez.

Alonso started fifth, but quickly overtook Albon on the outside of Turn 2, before attacking on the inside lane of Hugenholzbocht to take third from Russell. The next lap, with a similar attack, it was Norris' turn to be beaten, and the veteran Spaniard moved up to second.

The rain started to fall heavily on the first lap, and Perez, who started seventh, quickly pitted for intermediates at the end of lap 1. None of the top drivers made it out. Only Charles Leclerc, the Ferrari driver who started ninth, followed. Perez quickly took the lead.

Verstappen and Alonso continued on dry tyres, losing a lot of time on lap 2. By the time they pitted at the end of the lap, they had dropped to fifth and seventh. The two leading drivers were pitting, dragging the cars behind them into the pits to switch to intermediate tyres, with the rain showing no signs of letting up any time soon.

Alonso wasn't quick enough to beat Verstappen, but finished an excellent second at Zandvoort. Photo: AFP — Alonso wasn't quick enough to beat Verstappen, but finished an excellent second at Zandvoort. Photo: *AFP*

After Verstappen finished changing tires, Perez took the lead and was 14 seconds ahead of his teammate. At this point, the Dutchman’s talent began to show clearly. Verstappen continued to accelerate and shorten the gap with his teammate. By lap 10, the gap between the two Red Bull drivers was less than 5 seconds.

On the next lap, thanks to the rain stopping, Verstappen pitted to switch to dry tires. Perez had to pit a lap after his teammate. When he returned, the Mexican was already three seconds behind Verstappen. Alonso was slow to change tires, dropping to third behind Perez. At this point, the race was considered over, although there were still many risks from the rain at the end of the race.

Heavy rain at the end of the race saw Perez, who was second behind Verstappen, lose his place to Alonso after losing control and spinning out at Turn 1 after switching to intermediates on lap 60. The torrential rain again sent the drivers rushing to the pits and switching to heavy rain tyres. A series of losses in the rain led to the red flag being raised and the race was halted for safety on lap 65.

Perez was penalised five seconds in the final seven laps for speeding when coming in for a tyre change, so he had to work hard to avoid falling behind Carlos Sainz, the Ferrari driver who successfully fended off an attack from Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes. The lack of a DRS wing meant the Mercedes driver had little power to attack the Ferrari.

While Perez benefited from switching to the intermediates early in the race, the Mercedes drivers failed to capitalise on the strategy. The Germans delayed switching to the intermediates, hoping to extend their dry run, only to realise their mistake too late.

Hamilton and his teammate made late tyre changes on laps 3 and 4, and both fell out of the top 10 as a result. After struggling for the rest of the race, Hamilton was able to climb up to sixth and Russell to eighth when the race restarted after the suspension. But Russell fell behind after colliding with Norris at Turn 11.

Key events of the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix.

"The race was over before it really started," complained 25-year-old Briton Russell. "I think the weather data we had was completely wrong. We thought the rain would only last a few minutes but it was clear it would last much longer."

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff admitted his team was not well prepared for the rain at the start of the race. "We stayed out of the race and waited too long, which was a completely wrong choice. And that's a pity because our car had very good speed," he said.

Dutch Grand Prix results

Rank on one's own	Racer	Team	Location departure	Number of tire changes	Fastest individual lap	Achievements	Point
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1	6	1 minute 13.889 seconds	2 hours 24 minutes 4,411 seconds	25
2	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	5	5	1:13,837	+3,744 seconds	19
3	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	12	5	1:14,441	+7,058	15
4	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	7	6	1:14,231	+10,068	12
5	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	6	5	1:14,934	+12,541	10
6	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	13	5	1:13,904	+13,209	8
7	Lando Norris	McLaren	2	6	1:14,390	+13,232	6
8	Alexander Albon	Williams	4	4	1:14,468	+15,155	4
9	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	8	5	1:14,299	+16,580	2
10	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	16	6	1:14,570	+18,346	1
11	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	11	7	1:15,171	+20,087
12	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	14	5	1:14,472	+20,840
13	Liam Lawson	AlphaTauri	19	7	1:14,820	+26,147
14	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	18	5	1:14,698	+27,388
15	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	17	5	1:16,253	+29,893
16	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	20	6	1:15,489	+31,410
17	George Russell	Mercedes	3	7	1:15,124	+55,754
18	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo	15	4	1:15,417	Abandon the race
19	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	9	2	1:17,277	Abandon the race
20	Logan Sargeant	Williams	10		1:17,399	Abandon the race

+) Fastest-lap: 1 minute 13.837 seconds set by Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) on lap 56.

Personal scorecard after 13 stages

Rank on one's own	Racer	Team	Point
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	339
2	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	201
3	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	168
4	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	156
5	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	102
6	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	99
7	George Russell	Mercedes	99
8	Lando Norris	McLaren	75
9	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	47
10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	37
11	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	36
12	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	36
13	Alexander Albon	Williams	15
14	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	9
15	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo	5
16	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo	4
17	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	3
18	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	2
19	Logan Sargeant	Williams
20	Nyck de Vries	AlphaTauri
21	Daniel Ricciardo	AlphaTauri
22	Liam Lawson	AlphaTauri

Team scoreboard after 13 stages

Rank on one's own	Team	Point
1	Red Bull	540
2	Mercedes	255
3	Aston Martin	215
4	Ferrari	201
5	McLaren	111
6	Alpine	73
7	Williams	15
8	Haas	11
9	Alfa Romeo	9
10	AlphaTauri	3