Lewis Hamilton (P2, Fastest lap, 19 pts): 9/10
There can be little doubt that Red Bull has moved ahead of Mercedes and now have the best car on the grid in terms of chassis and engine performance. Lewis Hamilton is to be commended for throwing everything he can into extracting the most out of W12 but it's still not quite enough to cut the gap entirely, as shown once again by the events of Zandvoort. Hamilton was narrowly quicker than Max Verstappen in a truncated FP1 but the true situation was there for all to see when the Red Bull was a full half a second faster than the rest of the field in final practice. In such circumstances, getting within 0.038s of pole in the afternoon was a mighty effort from Hamilton (and in part due to a DRS issue for Max). But in the absence of any safety cars or red flags, such a speed differential meant it was impossible for Hamilton to beat Verstappen on Sunday regardless of what strategy the team employed. He was still the only driver on the grid to come anywhere close to dethroning the anointed local hero this week.
Max Verstappen (Pole, P1, 25 pts): 9.5/10
Max Verstappen could do no wrong in the eyes of his adoring legions of Orange Army fans at Zandvoort - and even those of us of a more sceptical nature will find it hard to pick fault with the Dutch driver's performance on home ground this weekend. Narrowly pipped by Lewis Hamilton in FP1 and then unable to show his true pace in FP2 due to traffic and red flags, he was firmly on top by more than half a second in final practice. He then survived a last minute surge from Lewis Hamilton to claim pole for the race by 0.038s. The only cloud on the Red Bull horizon was the absence of any team support on hand after Sergio Perez was left stuck at the other end of the grid. But of course Max needed no help anyway, getting a textbook start when the lights went out and then calmly managing the race by shadowing Hamilton's pit stop strategy to perfection, ensuring that Mercedes could spring no surprises. He wasn't tempted into a late additional stop to make a run at the point for fastest lap, but the victory alone was already enough to put him back in the lead of the drivers championship and dismiss all thoughts of those recent frustrations at the Hungaroring and Silverstone.
