Verstappen takes dominant win from Hamilton

Max Verstappen calmly controlled the 2021 Dutch Grand Prix to win at home ahead of Lewis Hamilton as the Red Bull driver regained the lead in the Formula 1 championship.

The only major threat to Verstappen’s race was after his first pit stop when he climbed back up behind Valtteri Bottas, but the Mercedes driver was soon evacuated with the help of DRS.

When Hamilton was working on an alternate strategy that put him on the faster middle tires, but for a longer stint, Verstappen held a 2.5 second lead over his title rivals before a late Hamilton pit stop ensured Verstappen a later win with Scored 20.9 seconds.

Verstappen had made a good start from the left side of the grid to get cleanly past Hamilton, who was never close enough to pose a significant threat to overtake at Turn 1.

As a result, Verstappen was able to easily evade the pursuing Mercedes, with Bottas starting much more slowly than his team-mate.

At the end of the first lap of 72, the Red Bull driver gained a lead of 1.7 seconds, which he widened to 2.3 seconds the next time.

At the beginning, Fernando Alonso soon demoted his Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon. Though the Hungarian GP winner enjoyed the inside line at Turn 1, the pair squeezed through the next bend before Alonso circled the outside of Turn 3 on the high line and secured seventh place.

Antonio Giovinazzi was also overtaken by the two-time champion, who had to lift his Alfa Romeo when he was pushed onto the grass by Carlos Sainz before brushing the back of Alonso, whose car was sitting over the bumps on the run to Turn 6.

Then a procession set in as Verstappen’s front pad peaked in 3.2 seconds on lap 8 before Hamilton switched to a two-stop strategy and began pushing on his soft tire.

He was initially 0.4 seconds faster on board his Mercedes to narrow the gap to 2.8 seconds, but the difference then stabilized at 2.9 seconds when Verstappen was instructed to respond to Hamilton’s pace.

Hamilton was called to the pits on lap 21 and switched from Softs to Mediums, but was delayed by a slow move from the front right Pirelli and continued in third, 13 seconds behind Bottas.

Red Bull responded to the Mercedes threat by pitting Verstappen a lap later and also taking over the media.

Hamilton drove the fastest lap when the pair approached Bottas. The Finn struggled with his softs but had the potential to delay Verstappen under orders “to defend the race win”.

Verstappen joined Bottas’ rear end on lap 30, and when the Mercedes driver ran far in turn 11, Verstappen was able to close and take the lead on the main straight with DRS.

Bottas immediately pulled aside at Turn 2 to give Hamilton second place, with the seven-time champion 1.5 seconds behind Verstappen.

Mercedes pitted Bottas for a series of media on lap 32 before being delayed by a second at Turn 3 when he had to thread a lapped Sebastian Vettel between the wall and the spinning Aston Martin.

Hamilton made his second stop on lap 40, switching for another set of scrubbed media, and rejoining 2.3 seconds ahead of his teammate, before stopping again a lap later.

Red Bull changed its strategy, put him on the slower, harder mix and came back on track 2.9 seconds ahead of Hamilton.

From then on, the Briton regularly complained about the condition of his tires and the reputation of the pits, while Verstappen set off a solid 3-second lead.

Bottas was delayed by a slow, precautionary stop five laps before the end, which came in response to a vibration. It did, however, give him a chance to chase the fastest lap.

Bottas claimed this by eight tenths, forcing Hamilton to pit on the penultimate tour on a soft tire charge.

This ensured that Verstappen achieved his seventh win of the season with a 20.9 second lead over Hamilton when the Red Bull driver regained the lead in the drivers’ championship.

Hamilton was able to snag a point for the fastest lap and regain the title with a final minute of 1: 11.097 minutes, which was a second faster than Bottas’ previous benchmark.

Gasly had a lonesome race to hold fourth on the grid to the finish after Bottas completed the podium while Leclerc led the Ferrari attack on hard tires, securing fifth.

Despite his teammate’s protests, Alonso was able to escape team orders that may have left him falling behind Ocon as the double-winner pounced on Sainz late and secured sixth place.

Perez, who started from the pit lane after installing a fourth engine this season, finished eighth after a late pass around the outside of Turn 1 to Lando Norris.

Perez’s race was a slow burner after suffering a vibration on his hard tires to force an early switch to medium. But the Red Bull driver made good use of the undercut before overtaking Daniel Ricciardo to prepare the late dice with Norris.

Ocon eventually slipped to ninth place ahead of the McLarens, while Lance Stroll started in 12th place and teammate Vettel recovered from his early spin to 13th.

A puncture caused Alfa qualifying star Giovinazzi to drop from seventh to 14th place in front of his deputy team-mate Robert Kubica.

Behind Nicholas Latifi in 16th place, George Russell had to accept a late retirement to be on the sidelines next to Yuki Tsunoda (loss of strength) and Nikita Mazepin (hydraulics).