The Phuket News

Dutch delight for Max in home Grand Prix triumph

- Michael Lamonato

The Dutch Grand Prix last Sunday (Sept 5) couldn’t have gone any better for Max Verstappen and his legion of home fans on a weekend Mercedes began the painful process of renewing its driver line-up.

The Dutch Grand Prix may always have been in Verstappen’s destiny. Revived after 36 years, it exists only because of the man the Dutch call ‘Super Max’, whose prodigious talent has ignited a supporter base so fierce that it rivals the renowned passion of the Ferrari tifosi or the German Michael Schumacher diehards of the 2000s.

The well-travelled ‘orange army’ has already made successes of races all over Europe as Verstappen’s star has risen; now Circuit Zandvoort, near Amsterdam, is reaping the rewards of having a homegrown hero.

And from the moment Verstappen set foot on the circuit for his Thursday track walk, complete with standing ovations from the already massing crowd that would swell to a sold-out 70,000 people, victory at home seemed the only possible outcome.

Zandvoort’s fast bends and rolling undulation seemed built for the Red Bull Racing car, which powered around the renovated circuit as if on rails. Yes, Mercedes lost a full hour of crucial practice to a broken engine, but Hamilton’s car was recalcitra­nt all weekend long regardless, distrustfu­l of the unusual steep banking.

In the end Verstappen had enough pace in hand to swat away every challenge Mercedes threw at him, and in a haze of orange smoke and to the thunderous approval of the audience he soaked in the feeling of his first home victory.

“The expectatio­ns were very high coming into the weekend and it’s never easy to fulfil that, but the whole crowd has been incredible, and I am so happy to win here,” he said. “I’ve never experience­d anything like this before in my life.”

But the victory will quickly fade from memory as just one of 21 chapters in the 2021 season, and already it has been overshadow­ed by Mercedes’s decision to send Valtteri Bottas packing for Alfa Romeo in favour of rising star George Russell.

Bottas has long been behind the ferocious title pace set by Verstappen and Hamilton, while heir apparent Russell, in the final year of his Williams apprentice­ship, is increasing­ly frequently outperform­ing his backmarkin­g machinery.

Bottas’s contributi­on to Mercedes cannot be understate­d. His super single-lap speed and strong technical feedback has kept Hamilton and the car sharp. Crucially, his apolitical demeanour has kept the team harmonious after its high-profile boilovers in the preceding Lewis Hamilton-Nico Rosberg era.

“He has been the best teammate I’ve had the pleasure of working with,” Hamilton said, while team boss Toto Wolff added: “Valtteri has done a fantastic job over the past five seasons, and he has made an essential contributi­on to our success and to our growth.”

 ?? Photo: AFP ?? Verstappen celebrates his victory.
Photo: AFP Verstappen celebrates his victory.

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