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London. — Max Verstappen retakes the F1 championship lead from Lewis Hamilton with victory in front of his passionate home Zandvoort support; Valtteri Bottas third in second Mercedes, with Pierre Gasly finishing impressive fourth for AlphaTauri
Max Verstappen sent his home crowd wild by winning his home Dutch GP from Lewis Hamilton to regain the world title lead from his Mercedes rival. Verstappen led from the front and did not put a wheel wrong in the first home race of his career despite coming under pressure from Hamilton at different points of the Zandvoort race, played out in front of astonishingly vocal and colourful local support in the orange-clad grandstands.
Hamilton’s three-point advantage at the start of the day now turns into a three-point deficit heading to next week’s Italian GP at Monza, the second of the season’s sprint race weekends.
“Obviously the expectations were high going into the weekend and it’s never easy to fulfil that, but I’m just so happy to win here, to take the lead in the championship as well,” said Verstappen, the first Dutchman to win his home race.
“It’s just an amazing day. The whole crowd . . . it’s incredible.”
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff conceded: “Credit to him, credit to Red Bull, they were absolutely faultless today.”
Valtteri Bottas finished a distant third in the second Mercedes. The Finn, on a long first stint, briefly led the race after the top two pitted for the first time but was only able to hold Verstappen at bay for so long before the Red Bull overtook.
Dropping back from the top two after his stop, Bottas was called in for a late tyre charge and, despite being urged out of it by the Mercedes pit wall, briefly took the fastest lap bonus point away from his team-mate. But Hamilton was being called in at the end of the penultimate lap and duly took the fastest lap back on the final tour.
Pierre Gasly, meanwhile, capped a stunni
Dutch GP race result: Top 10
1) Max Verstappen, Red Bull 2) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
3) Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes 4) Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri
5) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari 6) Fernando Alonso, Alpine
7) Carlos Sainz, Ferrari 8) Sergio Perez, Red Bull
9) Esteban Ocon, Alpine 10) Lando Norris, McLaren — Skysports
Online Reporter