Max Verstappen holds on despite Safety Car drama at Zandvoort

Max Verstappen secured victory at the Dutch Grand Prix despite late drama at Zandvoort.

Mercedes’ George Russell and Charles Leclerc of Ferrari completed the podium.

Having boxed a second time when the virtual safety car was deployed on lap 48, Verstappen looked comfortably poised to win although Lewis Hamilton seemed the major threat to that as he and Russell in third had both extended their opening stint on medium tyres and pit for hards which took them deep into the race.

F1.com reports: “The events after a Lap 55 Safety Car dashed any hopes of victory that Hamilton harboured, however.

“The seven-time champion stayed out on mediums to inherit the lead while Verstappen came in for softs, followed by Russell and Leclerc, for the restart on Lap 61. In that restart, Verstappen swept past the Mercedes for the lead, with Russell and Leclerc following suit to pry Hamilton away from the podium.

“Hamilton ended up fourth at the flag as Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez – the former held back by a calamitous Ferrari pit stop earlier on, before a five-second penalty for an unsafe release in a later stop – battled late on for P5. That allowed Alonso and Norris to close in too, and when the penalty kicked in Sainz was dropped to eighth, promoting Perez to fifth, Alonso to sixth, and Norris to seventh.”

Dutch Grand Prix results

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	TIME/RETIRED	PTS
1	1	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING RBPT	72	1:36:42.773	26
2	63	George Russell	MERCEDES	72	+4.071s	18
3	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	72	+10.929s	15
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	72	+13.016s	12
5	11	Sergio Perez	RED BULL RACING RBPT	72	+18.168s	10
6	14	Fernando Alonso	ALPINE RENAULT	72	+18.754s	8
7	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN MERCEDES	72	+19.306s	6
8	55	Carlos Sainz	FERRARI	72	+20.916s	4
9	31	Esteban Ocon	ALPINE RENAULT	72	+21.117s	2
10	18	Lance Stroll	ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES	72	+22.459s	1
11	10	Pierre Gasly	ALPHATAURI RBPT	72	+27.009s	0
12	23	Alexander Albon	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	72	+30.390s	0
13	47	Mick Schumacher	HAAS FERRARI	72	+32.995s	0
14	5	Sebastian Vettel	ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES	72	+36.007s	0
15	20	Kevin Magnussen	HAAS FERRARI	72	+36.869s	0
16	24	Zhou Guanyu	ALFA ROMEO FERRARI	72	+37.320s	0
17	3	Daniel Ricciardo	MCLAREN MERCEDES	72	+37.764s	0
18	6	Nicholas Latifi	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	71	+1 lap	0
NC	77	Valtteri Bottas	ALFA ROMEO FERRARI	53	DNF	0
NC	22	Yuki Tsunoda	ALPHATAURI RBPT	43	DNF	0

* Provisional results. Note – Verstappen scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race. Vettel received a five-second time penalty for ignoring blue flags. Sainz received a five-second time penalty for an unsafe release.