Verstappen wins Dutch Grand Prix as Hamilton questions Mercedes’ strategy call

Max Verstappen took his second Dutch Grand Prix victory while Lewis Hamilton was left questioning his team’s strategy call.

Following his second Dutch pole position, Verstappen’s orange army took to Zandvoort in high numbers to support the home hero as he did battle with a resurgent Silver Arrows.

Max amid a sea of orange! ?#DutchGP @redbullracing pic.twitter.com/4lYnG8fCkf

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 4, 2022

Verstappen led Charles Leclerc on the start while Carlos Sainz made contact with Hamilton at the first corner. The front two began to pull away as Hamilton stuck close behind Sainz, the rest of the pack struggling to overtake around the track.

The soft tyres were quickly abandoned by teams as they degraded at the start, leaving the race to fall into the hands of Mercedes, who had started on the medium tyre, further aided by a very poor pit stop for Sainz who spent 12.7 seconds in his pit box.

Although Verstappen soon passed Russell, the Silver Arrows seemed to hold the upper hand, as both drivers pitted for hard tyres and began to best the Dutchman’s lap times.

Hamilton’s first obstacle was Verstappen’s teammate, Sergio Perez, who defended valiantly to try and hold the seven-time champion back. Although Perez failed to hold him behind, both he and a lapped Sebastian Vettel cost the charging Hamilton some valuable seconds.

On lap 44, confusion surrounding Yuki Tsunoda emerged as he pulled his AlphaTauri to the side of the road with an apparent loose wheel. He was quickly released once again, his team telling him there was no problem.

They were wrong, though, with Tsunoda parking his car soon after. This brought out a virtual safety car, leaving Mercedes’ strategy pointless as the race leader pitted. On lap 55, Valtteri B0ttas stopped at the first corner, bringing out the safety car.

Verstappen opted to pit again for soft tyres, while Mercedes stayed on track to re-take a 1-2 lead. The safety car led the drivers through the pitlane, allowing Russell to pit for soft tyres while his teammate remained on old rubber, leaving him vulnerable to his 2021 title rival.

Almost immediately, Verstappen broke past Hamilton into the lead of the race. This led many to question the Brackley-based outfit’s strategy. including Hamilton himself, who ranted to the team in anger as he tumbled down the order:

“I can’t believe you guys **** **** me. Can’t tell you how **** I am.”

Following this, Verstappen charged to his tenth victory of the season in front of a jubilant home crowd. He was followed by Russell and Leclerc, while Hamilton fell off the podium.

In the post-race interviews, Verstappen told David Coulthard:

“It was not a straight-forward race. We had to push all race. Of course, the safety car and the virtual safety car, making the right calls, always a bit of a question mark but it worked out really well once we got back to the soft tyre.

“It’s always special to win your home Grand Prix, it was already last year. This year, I have to say I had to work for it even more. An incredible weekend and I’m really happy we got the Dutch Grand Prix.

“I’m proud to be Dutch.”

While Red Bull will be happy with the result, Ferrari will be surely dreading the next race, as they return home to Monza where they will have to perform if they hope to please the Tifosi.

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