Max Verstappen Dominates 2021 Dutch Grand Prix To Regain Championship Lead

Max Verstappen dominated 2021 Dutch Grand Prix on home soil at Zandvoort to regain the championship lead with victory. 

Verstappen dominated from lights out and twice survived strategic undercut from Lewis Hamilton to become the first Dutch driver to win his home race.

Hamilton settled for second with the bonus point for fastest lap ahead of Valtteri Bottas who finished third as both Mercedes drivers avoided being lapped, unlike the rest of the top ten as Pierre Gasly finished fourth ahead of Charles Leclerc, Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz.

Sergio Perez begun the race from the pitlane after a power unit change but fought back to finish eighth ahead of Esteban Ocon and Lando Norris who rounded out the top ten.

In the driver standings, Verstappen now leads Hamilton by three points after a six point swing his way, having entered this weekend three points behind the Brit.

Bottas leapfrogged Norris into third in the standings with a nine point lead after outscoring the McLaren driver by 14 points in Zandvoort, as Sergio Perez sits fifth ahead of Leclerc and Sainz.

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In front of an electric home crowd, Verstappen pointed his Red Bull straight at Hamilton as lights went out which paid off as he swept away into the lead unchallenged.

Further back, Giovinazzi made a mistake on the exit of Hunserug to drop from seventh to tenth and ultimately faded to a 14th placed finish at the checkered flag.

Up front, Hamilton struggled to close Verstappen down and chose to roll the dice on a two-stop strategy, as he pitted on Lap 21 for mediums, with a slow front-right tyre change costing him dearly as Verstappen pitted a lap later and completed his stop 0.9 seconds quicker to retain his advantage over the Brit.

Mercedes left Bottas out to hold up Verstappen which ultimately failed to pay off as Verstappen utilised DRS to pass Bottas on the pit straight to regain his lead, with Bottas immediately letting Hamilton through.

The Brit ultimately couldn’t do anything despite making his second stop on Lap 40 as traffic cost him on his outlap, as Verstappen pitted a lap later and retained his lead to the flag despite traffic allowing Hamilton to reduce his deficit briefly.

Bottas meanwhile made his second stop towards the end and proceeded to set the fastest lap despite slowing down in the final sector, which caused Hamilton to make a third stop as he snatched back the fastest lap and one bonus point on the final lap.

Elsewhere, Perez started the race from the pitlane on hard tyres but had to pit on Lap nine after locking up on his hard tyres, which enabled him to charge through the field to an eventual eighth placed finish despite making contact with Norris on Lap 66 on exit of Tarzanbocht as they fought over ninth.

Up front, Verstappen took a dominant victory by 20.932s from Hamilton much to the delights of the home crowds, as he became the first-ever Dutch winner of the Dutch Grand Prix in the race’s history.

Formula One now heads to Monza next weekend with Qualifying taking place on Friday (10 September), ahead of the experimental Sprint Qualifying which returns on Saturday (11 September) in order to determine the grid for the Italian Grand Prix.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	72	1h ..m ..
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	72	+ 20.932
3	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	72	+ 56.460
4	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	71	+ 1 Lap
5	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	71	+ 1 Lap
6	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	71	+ 1 Lap
7	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	71	+ 1 Lap
8	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	71	+ 1 Lap
9	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	71	+ 1 Lap
10	Lando Norris	McLaren	71	+ 1 Lap
11	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	71	+ 1 Lap
12	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	70	+ 2 Laps
13	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	70	+ 2 Laps
14	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	70	+ 2 Laps
15	Robert Kubica	Alfa Romeo	70	+ 2 Laps
16	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	70	+ 2 Laps
17	George Russell	Williams	69
18	Mick Schumacher	Haas	69	+ 3 Laps
RET	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	49	Power
RET	Nikita Mazepin	Haas	42	Hydraulic