September 05, (THEWILL) – Max Verstappen The Red Bull challenge of Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team’s dominance of the Formula One standings was again in focus as Max Verstappen regained control of the drivers’ championship with a start-to-finish victory at the Dutch Grand Prix in front of a fervent home crowd.
The Netherlands race driver for Red Bull had qualified on pole ahead of Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton by three hundredths of a second in the qualification race. He made that advantage count with a dominant race performance at the Dutch GP to edge out the Brit.
Verstappen’s victory translates to just enough points to scale over Hamilton to the summit of the drivers’ championship, three points in front of the seven-times world champion.
It was a tactical competition all the way to the end, with Red Bull matching the Mercedes Team stop for stop. When Hamilton decided to use a two-stop strategy, Verstappen responded in a like manner. It left the Dutchman sandwiched between the two Mercedes for a number of laps.
And despite a late onslaught of pace by Hamilton to try for a photo finish with Verstappen, as soon as the Red Bull driver had made quick work of passing Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas, he established a large enough advantage to take him to the end of the race in front of the field.
The one-two finish of Verstappen and Hamilton was followed by Bottas, who got his much-needed podium finish when he crossed the line in third. Behind the trio, Pierre Gasly completed an impressive weekend with a fourth-place finish for AlphaTauri.
Verstappen again has picked up the gauntlet and demonstrated the determination of Red Bull to not allow Mercedes or Hamilton an easy race to the championship this time around. At his home race, the crowds were pleased to see one of their own take the win and he basked in the adulation at the finish line in Zandvoort.
All through his race, tens of thousands of Dutch fans, who had purposely come to back him up, cheered him on and it brought out the best in him. Verstappen did not give an inch, leading from start to finish. And, unlike in the qualifying, there were deserving cheers for Hamilton too.
In his remarks after the race, Hamilton conceded that Verstappen was simply just “too quick”. He said: “What a race, what a crowd. Honestly, it’s been an amazing weekend. Max did a great job and congratulations to him. I gave it absolutely everything today, flat-out pushed as hard as I could but they were just too quick for us.”
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
