Cloudy. Occasional rain. Air +17…15С, route +30…20С
The biggest problem of the Dutch Grand Prix in 2023 was the weather. The organizers were proud that more than 105,000 fans would visit the autodrome every day of the weekend. And if the forecast did not come true on Friday and it was dry during the day, then on Saturday the ‘orange army’, as Max Verstappen called the crowd in Zandvoort last year, was wet and cold in the stands, although that was not the case. loses its enthusiasm.
Saturday’s Formula 2 race had to be canceled due to heavy rain, poor visibility and a series of accidents, but by the time the rain stopped, the track started to dry out.
On Friday, Lando Norris showed the best time, in the rest of the sessions Verstappen was in the lead – both in the rainy third practice session and in qualifying on the drying track. There were several accidents, seven red flags appeared, one team was forced to replace.
On Friday afternoon Daniel Ricciardo had a small but annoying accident. In the fast corner of Turn 3, Oscar Piastri was spun and slammed into the wall, Ricciardo followed and had no choice but to crash close to avoid hitting an opponent. Daniel complained of pain in his arm, it was found in hospital that one of his wrist bones was broken, so the Australian returned to the paddock with a cast on his arm and went to a specialist clinic in Barcelona on Saturday.
Ricciardo was replaced at AlphaTauri by 21-year-old New Zealander Liam Lawson, a reserve driver, who was given the opportunity to make his Formula 1 debut.
Verstappen and Norris started the race from the front row of the grid, Russell and Albon from second, Alonso and Sainz from third. Hamilton dropped out of contention in the second part of qualifying and started 13th, Tsunoda blocking him was awarded a penalty losing three places at the start. Magnussen, after replacing the power plant in an enclosed park, started from the pit lane.
The asphalt was dry before the start. The tire manufacturers brought hard lineups to the podium: C1 as Hard, C2 as Medium and C3 as Soft. Hamilton chose Medium for the first stint of the race, the others started on Soft.
At the start, Verstappen kept the lead, Alonso gained two positions back, Bottas – six
Top ten in the second round: Verstappen – Norris – Alonso – Russell – Elbon – Sainz – Piastri – Stroll – Bottas – Hulkenberg.
It started raining almost immediately. Many riders pitted for intermediate tyres, but Albon, Piastri, Bottas and Hulkenberg continued to ride on slicks.
Top ten in round 5: Perez – Zhou – Gasly – Verstappen – Leclerc – Alonso – Sainz – Tsunoda – Magnussen Elbon.
Lawson received a 10-second time penalty for overtaking.
Verstappen passed Gasly and Zhou and moved into second place.
On lap 9, Leclerc missed Sainz at the request of the team – in the fight against Piastri at the start, Charles damaged the lower and front wing.
The tarmac dried as quickly as it got wet – and those already on the slicks at the end of the pack gained a speed advantage.
In the 10th lap, Magnussen and Hamilton switched to slicks, in the 11th – Zhou, Alonso, Sainz, Tsunoda, Okon, Norris, Lawson and Russell, in the 12th – Verstappen, Gasly, Leclerc – Charlus also changed the front wing. Gasly exceeded the speed limit in the pit lane and received a five-second time penalty.
On the 13th lap, Perez also changed the tires – now everyone was on slicks.
Top ten in round 14: Verstappen – Perez – Alonso – Gasly – Sainz – Zhou – Magnussen – Piastri – Tsunoda – Ocon.
On 15th, Tsunoda lost two positions, missing Okon and Elbon.
On lap 16, Piastri changed the tyres. Sargent crashed the car on the exit of turn eight. The rider was not injured. The safety car drove off.
Bottas, Hulkenberg, Russell, Stroll and Lawson switched tires.
A restart was announced on the 21st lap. Verstappen kept the lead. Albon got ahead of Magnussen – defending against the attack, Kevin shifted under braking – and was warned by a black and white flag.
On lap 24, Okon overtook Magnussen. On the 25th, Piastri was ahead of Bottas. On the 26th, Hamilton and Piastri overtook Leclerc.
On lap 27, Okon overtook Zhou and Tsunoda overtook Magnussen.
On lap 28, Norris overtook Magnussen for 10th. On 29th, Hamilton was ahead of Magnussen.
Top ten in round 30: Verstappen – Perez – Alonso – Gasly – Sainz – Albon – Okon – Zhou – Tsunoda – Norris.
Hulkenberg for Leclerc, Piastri – Magnussen.
Tsunoda, Norris, Hamilton and Piastri took turns overtaking Zhou.
On lap 34, Russell overtook Bottas for 16th.
Stroll pitted on lap 35 and Magnussen on lap 36.
Russell and Bottas were ahead of Leclerc.
On lap 38, Zhou changed tires.
On lap 41, Lawson overtook Leclair, but Charles came back immediately and regained the position.
On lap 42, Sainz pitted. Leclerc pitted the car and retired from the race.
On lap 43 Norris changed tires, on lap 44 Ocon.
Russell beat Hulkenberg for 10th.
In the 45th lap Albon made a pit stop, in the 46th – Perez and Hamilton, in the 47th – Gasly, Piastri and Lawson, in the 48th – Bottas, in the 49th – Alonso – during the maintenance of the Spaniard’s car there was a problem. with mounting of the left front wheel.
On lap 50, Hulkenberg and Verstappen swapped tyres.
Gasly overtook Tsunoda for fifth.
On lap 52, Alonso overtook Sainz for third. Russell overtook Tsunoda for sixth.
On lap 56, Hamilton overtook Norris for ninth and Albon Russell for sixth.
On lap 58 Hamilton overtook Ocon for eighth and on lap 60 Russell moved up to seventh. Gasly defeated Sainz.
Top ten in round 60: Verstappen – Perez – Alonso – Gasly – Sainz – Albon – Hamilton – Russell – Ocon – Norris.
On lap 61 it started to rain heavily. Racers pitted for intermediate tires. The window was equipped with bands for heavy rain.
Perez flew out in the first corner and missed Alonso.
Top ten in round 63: Verstappen – Alonso – Perez – Gasly – Sainz – Hamilton – Norris – Russell – Albon – Piastri.
On lap 64, Zhou crashed the car. The Race Directorate has announced a virtual safety car mode.
Verstappen and Pérez changed tyres, put on tires before heavy rain, and at that point the race was stopped with red flags – Max managed to get back on track, but Sergio didn’t, but on the restart he was put in third place – in the position he occupied in the last sector before the red flags.
Soon the rain eased, but the forecast promised that precipitation would continue within 15 minutes. There were still seven laps to go before the finish, but the restart failed to materialize for a long time, although there was no standing water on the track.
Because of this, the restart was announced 43 minutes after the session ended. We wrote that this weekend race control reserved the right to require racers not to run on rain, but on intermediate tires – such a decision was made.
The order of the riders at the restart: Verstappen-Alonso – Perez – Gasley – Sainz – Hamilton – Norris – Russell – Albon – Piastri – Ocon – Tsunoda – Stroll – Hulkenberg – Bottas – Lawson-Magnussen.
The restart was announced en route, after two laps behind the safety car.
Verstappen retained the lead at the restart. Russell went around Norris – there was contact, George’s car had a flat tire and he retired on the next lap. The stewards left this incident without consequences.
Perez received a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
Top ten in round 69: Verstappen – Alonso – Perez – Gasly – Sainz – Hamilton – Norris – Albon – Piastri – Ocon.
Hamilton pressured Sainz for fifth, but Carlos stayed ahead.
==
Max Verstappen won at Zandvoort for the third year in a row and scored a career-high 46 wins, 11th of the season and ninth in a row, repeating Sebastian Vettel’s record. He also won in Newey’s car.
Fernando Alonso climbed to the second step of the podium, Pierre Gasly – to the third, having won the second podium for Alpine of the season.
Liam Lawson finished 13th in his debut race in difficult conditions, ahead of teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
Next week the battle will continue in Monza, Italy.
Racing results
| Pilot | Team | Time | Speed | Pete |
| 1. M. Verstappen | Red Bull | – | 6 | |
| 2. F. Alonso | Aston Martin | +3,744 | 5 | |
| 3.P Gasly | Alps | +7,058 | 5 | |
| 4. C. Perez * | Red Bull | +10,068 | 6 | |
| 5. K. Sainz | Ferrari | +12,541 | 5 | |
| 6. L. Hamilton | Mercedes | +13.209 | 5 | |
| 7. L. Norris | McLaren | +13.232 | 6 | |
| 8. A. Albon | Williams | +15.155 | 4 | |
| 9. O. Piastri | McLaren | +16,580 | 5 | |
| 10. E. Okon | Alps | +18,346 | 6 | |
| 11. L. Walk | Aston Martin | +20,087 | 7 | |
| 12. N. Hulkenberg | hare | +20,840 | 5 | |
| 13. L. Lawson | AlphaTauri | +26,147 | 7 | |
| 14. K. Magnussen | hare | +26,410 | 6 | |
| 15. V. Bottas | Alfa Romeo | +27,388 | 5 | |
| 16. Y. Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | +29,893 | 5 | |
| 17. D Russell | Mercedes | +55,754 | 7 |
* Added 5 seconds to Perez’s result due to speeding in the pit lane
best round: Fernando Alonso (Alpine) – 1:13.837 (lap 57)
Reasons for leaving
| Pilot | Team | circles | Cause |
| L Sargent | Williams | 15 | accident |
| Sh.Lecler | Ferrari | 42 | mechanical problems |
| G.Zhou | Alfa Romeo | 64 | accident |
Championship position: Individual
Championship Position: Constructors’ Championship
| Team | engine | Glasses | |
| = | 1 Oracle Red Bull Racing | Honda RBPT | 540 |
| = | 2. Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team | Mercedes | 255 |
| = | 3. Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team | Mercedes | 215 |
| = | 4 Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari | 201 |
| = | 5. McLaren F1 team | Mercedes | 111 |
| = | 6. BWT Alpine F1 Team | Renault | 73 |
 |
7Williams Racing | Mercedes | 15 |
 |
8. MoneyGram Haas F1 Team | Ferrari | eleven |
| = | 9. Alfa Romeo F1 team commitment | Ferrari | 9 |
| = | 10 Scuderia AlphaTauri | Honda RBPT | 3 |
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
