Official F1 Journal Formula 1 Sunday Round Up- Zandvoort

The Dutch Grand Prix 2023
​Zandvoort

After the changable conditions of Qualifying and a very similar Sunday weather report, the grid arrived at Zandvoort this morning knowing just about anything could happen today and the fans arrived expecting only 1 outcome and Max Verstappen didn't disappoint then at his home race!

When the race started the track was damp but as soon as the last red light lit up the rain started to fall and fall hard, the first corner was clean, Alonso passed both Albon and Russell in the first 3 corners to take 3rd, Sainz tried in vain to get past Albon, Piastri and Leclerc swapped position back and forth with the young Australian winning that battle but the ferrari being left with no right front wing end plate. But during all this action the rain was getting worse quickly and as Max Verstappen crossed the line to start Lap 2 others reacted to the rain on track and radar projections, Perez was the first man in followed by Chales Leclerc (to a totally unprepared pit crew who didn't have the intermediate tyres or themselves ready) and the cars of Gasly, Lawson and Tsunoda,  a call that would ultimately get Gasly his first podium of the season

Mean while on track the standing water was becoming over whelming and teams and their drivers were desperately trying to judge the severity and longevity of the rain and the ability of their drivers and the soft tyres to ride it out and if you are Fernando Aonso also over taking Lando Norris, but by this point Perez was overtaking them on the Inter tyre. Max & Alonso pit for the inter on lap 3, Russell, Norris, Hamilton, Albon & Piastri stayed out all on the soft tyre except Hamilton who had started on the Medium tyre, a choice he regreted at the end of the days events, but ultimately Russell, Norris and Hamilton couldn't ride it out and switched to the inter after being over taken on track by Perez for the lead on lap 3 who himself had Max hunting him and Pierre Gasly down to retake the lead but Gasly wasn't giving up that place easy and had some great back and forth with the reigning World Champion 

Lap 7 and Lawson gets a 10 second penalty for impeding Magnussen in the pit lane and Max Vertappen is up to 2nd after over taking a feisty Gasly and the Alfa Romeo  of Zhou with 11 seconds between himself and team mate Perez in first.
By lap 9 that gap was down to 6.1 seconds and closing fast and behind them the Ferrari pit wall was swapping the Scuderia drivers because the damage to car of Charles Leclerc was holding up his team mate Sainz behind him, a decision they didn't live to regret. Despite the more rain forcast the track was drying fast and the Albon & Piasti who had held out on the soft tyre through the wet conditions were flying and making great moves up the field along with the HAAS of Magnussen. The rest of the grid took the hint and in a flurry of activity pit for the dry soft compound, Redbull decided to pit Max Verstappen before lead driver Perez meaning the Championship leader under cut his team mate and Perez had no clue till after he had stopped and saw it on the timing board, not a  choice he seemed happy about. Even less happy was Gasly after the stewards decision to give him a 5 second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

Lap 16 and Piastri finally pit for new soft tyres but much to the dismay of the advancing rookie, as he left the pits Sargeant had a big incident at turn 8 bring out a Safety car and negating any advantage Piastri had gained from riding out the wet track with his dry starting tyres. Had the Mclaren team left him out 1 more lap Oscar could have had  very different fortunes today. During the safety car Mercedes and George Russell made the questionable choice to put the hard tyres on which landed him whey down the order and Stroll pit for new softs. lap 21 the safety car dipped in to the pit lane and Verstappen lead the grid around for the 1st restart of the day. It was a clean first corner with Perez holding onto the back of Max briefly, a great battle between Sainz and Gasly, and the latter held onto his position in 4th behind the Aston Martin of Alonso. Magnussen made a dangerous move while braking in defense of his position against an advancing Albon that the HAAS driver got a black and white flag for and Albon got the position, not long after Ocon also over took Magnussen, Piastri put a cracking move on Bottas and then Hamilton and Piastri passed an ailing Chales Leclerc, another fiery impressive move from the young aussie driving the tyres off the Mclaren. 

Lap 27 was the beginning of a genuinely impressive amount of over taking from the whole grid, the track was drying rapidly and DRS had been enabled. Verstappen had a 2.8 second lead over Perez, followed by Alonso & Gasly in 3rd & 4th, Albon, Ocon, Tsunoda, Norris, Hamilton & Piastri over took Magnussen and Zhou who had made their way to 6th and 7th at the restart but couldn't hold on to them in the dry condition. As Norris, Hamilton and Piastri pushed their way forwards together Hamilton was always right on the back of Norris pressuring his fellow Brit.

Lap 38 and Charles Leclerc was losing yet more places, being over taken by the Alfa Romeo of Valteri Bottas and Liam Lawson in his first race in formula 1, before Ferrari retired the damaged car just 3 laps later.
When Alex Albon finally pit to change the soft tyres he started on, on lap 45 (a truly impressive stint through the rain at the start) and was up to 5th behind Gasly, but unlike all the cars who switched to the intermediate in the rain Albon( and Piastri) had to run a 2nd soft compound and was force to put the medium tyre on, Piastri and Mclaren did the same when he pit a lap later. Alonso had a slow stop that dropped him from 2nd to 4th. In the flurry of pit stops Yuki tsunoda had made his way up to 5th but over the next 5 laps drops down 6 places. More overtakes going on all over the track, Albon passing Russell, Hamilton got Norris, Gasly and Sainz had another great battle and Hamilton makes another brilliant move on the Alpine of Ocon, putting the Mercedes cars  together on track with Hamilton on a much better strategy and Russell being told to let his team mate past but not without pushing hard enough to stay in front he dips a tyre on to the grass and has to make what you can only describe as a miracle catch to keep the car on the track altogether. 

Lap 60 MORE RAIN!!! Lots more rain and this time no one is risking it stopping and making the soft work, the whole grid pit for inters except Ocon and Verstappen who put the full wet tyres on, with Redbull doing the same with Perez just 1 lap later and....at the same moment Zhou hits the wall bringing out a safety car and then being upgraded to a red flag while Perez was in the pit lane on lap 64 and with the rain only increasing in intensity the grid stat it out in the pits till it was safe to run.

The restart was a rolling start with the whole field on the Intermediate tyre. Alonso had a real look at Max on the restart and stayed with the leader always looking like the move was on, while we got the news Perez was under investigation for speeding in the pit lane and a lap later that he had a 5 second penalty. Russell got the job done on Norris after a great battle between the friends but Lando took the place back and unfortunately Russell sustained a puncture and had to retire the 63 car for just the third time this year. 
With 2 laps to go Hamilton was trying everything he had to pass the sole surviving Ferrari of Sainz but despite some fantastic racing between the 2, Sainz held off the Brit who had a rapid Lando Norris on his tail, ready to pounce had either of the drivers in front made a mistake. Also fighting to the end was Albon and Piastri, with Albon staying ahead and finishing 8th a head of Piastri in 9th. 

Max had over come 6 pit stops, 2 rain storms and changeable conditions to win his 3rd Dutch Grand Prix and his 9th Consecutive race this year beating/equaling the record held by Sebastian Vettel. It was a master class from the Championship leader but other drivers deserve some genuine applause, like Piastri for his mega and many over takes, Hamilton who again in the face of adversity came alive in the Mercedes, Norris who raced brilliantly after a bad call on tyres at the start that took his chances of better than 7th. Lawson who not only kept it on the road in a car he had never driver before Practice 3 Saturday morning, he also beat his experienced team mate Yuki Tsunoda, Gasly of course deserves a massive shout out, the team made a great call to pit him behind Perez for inters and the he did them proud by driving beast of a race making great overtakes and showing his real race craft. 
WHAT A BLOODY BRILLIANT RACE( Please pardon the language but it really was)

Dutch Grand Prix Result-

1 VER  
               2 ALO
3 GAS
               4 PER
5 SAI
               6 HAM
7 NOR
               8 ALB
9 PIA
              10 OCO
11 STR
              12 HUL
13 LAW
              14 MAG
15 BOT
              16 TSU
DNF's   RUS
             ZHO
             LEC
​             SAR 

Joanna Blackmore 
​Writer @ F1 Journal