Lewis knows he’s been Tango’d as Max reigns
MAX VERSTAPPEN delighted his home fans with a superb victory at the Dutch Grand Prix which saw him take top spot from Lewis Hamilton in the world-title battle.
Verstappen’s triumph, the 17th of his career, was greeted with emphatic celebrations by the 70,000-strong Zandvoort crowd.
Hamilton finished as runner-up, with Valtteri Bottas third in the other Mercedes. Seven-time world champion Hamilton, who spent the final third of yesterday’ s race complaining about his team’s strategy, now trails Verstappen (pictured) by three points.
The Briton was also forced to chase the fastest lap on the final lap after team-mate Bottas defied an order not to beat Hamilton’s previous best time. Verstappen’s orange army created one of the best Formula One atmospheres of recent times on the sport’s return to the Netherlands after 36 years away. And their star man did not disappoint with a commanding win from pole. The Dutchman roared and by the end of the opening lap he was already 1.7 seconds clear.
Hamilton blinked first, stopping for new rubber on lap 20, but his Mercedes crew were slow changing the Briton’s front-right tyre, costing him a second.
Mercedes rolled the dice by putting Bottas on a one-stopper in the hope he would slow Verstappen down and allow Hamilton to perform the undercut at his next change of tyres. But Verstappen wiped out Bottas’ ten-second advantage in just seven laps.
Hamilton followed Verstappen through before Mercedes pulled him in for a second stop on lap 39. But, after Verstappen pitted the next time round, he emerged comfortably ahead of his title rival.
‘We called our bluff too soon,’ complained the Mercedes driver. Moments later he was on the radio again. ‘I had so much life left in that tyre,’ Hamilton said. ‘I don’t know why we rushed it.’
Hamilton started to draw Verstappen in again but the 36-yearold was warned by race engineer Peter Bonnington to make his rubber last. ‘I am pushing to close this gap, man,’ Hamilton snapped. ‘Come on.’ But Hamilton failed to make any impression.