Formula One Max lives up to expectations for jubilant Dutch fans
MAX Verstappen claimed a superb victory at the Dutch Grand Prix to knock Lewis Hamilton off the top of the championship standings.
Verstappen’s triumph, the 17th of his career, was greeted with ecstatic 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 Sunday’s race complaining about his team’s strategy, now trails Verstappen 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 Holland after 36 years away, and their star man did not disappoint with a commanding win from pole.
The Dutchman roared away from his starting marks to keep Hamilton at bay in the 262-metre charge to the opening Tarzanbocht and by the end of the opening lap he was already 1.7 seconds clear of his rival.
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.
In a race of few incidents, Bristolborn Norris and Sergio Perez banged wheels in the battle for ninth. Perez took the position with Norris 10th for McLaren.
Verstappen said after the race: “The expectations were high coming into the weekend and it is not easy to fulfil that so I am so happy to win here and to take the lead of the championship. It is definitely a very good day. Mercedes tried to make it very difficult for us.”
Hamilton added: “I was flat out, I pushed as hard as I could, but they were too quick for us. The last lap was one of the best parts of the race.”