Verstappen retakes title lead after Zandvoort victory

Red Bull executed a perfect race strategy to deliver a never-in-doubt victory in the Dutch Grand Prix to Max Verstappen, moving the driver to the top of the drivers championship to the delight of the Orange Army cheering at full volume from the grandstands at Zandvoort.

Mercedes attempted to split their tactics for Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas but to no avail, the pair ultimately having to settle for second and third ahead of AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly.

In a race curiously lacking in incident given the high number of red flags in practice and qualifying, Haas' Nikita Mazepin retired with mechanical issues having earlier clashed with his team mate Mick Schumacher on the opening lap. AlphaTauri ordered Yuki Tsunoda to park the car with 22 laps remaining, and George Russell was similarly told to park by the Williams pit wall on the final lap.

• 2021 Dutch Grand Prix - Race results

A week on from the race-that-never-really-was in the rain-swept Ardennes, teams and drivers could hardly have asked for better beachside weather to mark Formula 1's return to the Netherlands after a 41-year absence from the calendar. And if the dominance of the colour orange in the grandstands wasn't enough of a clue, then the huge cheer that greeted Max Verstappen's arrival on the grid would leave no one in any doubt about who the star of today's show was.

The home favourite took up his position on pole ahead of Mercedes pair Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, but the second Red Bull could hardly be further away as Sergio Perez prepared for a pit lane start after a qualifying wipe-out left the team making the most of the situation by implementing mass changes on the RB16B overnight. It left Verstappen isolated at the front, but at least there was some consolation and potential back-up in the shape of former team mate Pierre Gasly lining up in fourth place for AlphaTauri.

When the lights went out to get the race underway, the cleaner side of the grid allowed Verstappen to power away at the front with Hamilton able to hold on to second place, while Bottas and Gasly briefly fought over third after sluggish starts. Once the dust settled the top six were unchanged, Charles Leclerc retaining position over Ferrari team mate Carlos Sainz. Fernando Alonso was the biggest gainer, up two places to seventh ahead of his Alpine team mate Esteban Ocon, and Daniel Ricciardo in ninth but worryingly belching smoke from the back of the McLaren as reported to the Williams pit wall by George Russell who was the leading driver to start on mediums from 11th, everyone ahead on softs.

Four laps in, Verstappen was already out of DRS range at the top with a 2.3s lead over Hamilton and Bottas, Gasly soon dropping off the pace. At the other end, Perez had already picked off fellow pit lane starter Nicholas Latifi for position, and was up to 18th after Mick Schumacher was forced to make an early stop for repairs after clashing with Haas team mate Nikita Mazepin on the opening lap. However a massive lock-up at Tarzan left Perez with serious flat-spotting on his opening set of hard tyres, wrecking his hopes of running an extended first stint and forcing him to make a premature stop for mediums on lap 10.

Red Bull were increasingly convinced that Hamilton would also be forced onto a two-stop strategy, with Mercedes possibly keeping Bottas out for a one-stopper in a bid to strategically squeeze Verstappen into making a snap call as to which to cover off. Meanwhile the first driver to make a scheduled pit stop was Sebastian Vettel on lap 11. McLaren's Lando Norris commented that this could result in a massive undercut advantage for the Aston Martin, but he was soon reassured by his race engineer that he should "be patient, our time will come."

The circuit was proving as resistant to overtaking as expected, although Latifi pulled off a nice move on Mazepin at turn 1 on lap 14 for 16th place. Shortly afterwards the recovering Perez also made short work of the Russian, and then lined up Latifi for a pass through turns 11 and 12 on lap 20. A lap later the status quo at the front was broken by Hamilton coming in to exchange his soft tyres for a new set of mediums, but it was a slower stop than usual in the cramped Zandvoort pit lane. Red Bull reacted immediately with a slightly swifter stop, the pair returning to the track in second and third respectively. Both were still ahead of Gasly, with Bottas now holding the interim lead by more than six seconds pending his own stop.

Verstappen soon proceeded to cut the gap to Bottas, with Hamilton also doing his best to catch the Red Bull. Bottas started to struggle with a lack of grip on his old tyres and finally ran too deep, opening the door for Verstappen to blast his way past down the main straight on lap 31. Bottas kept out of the way of his team mate following through and then immediately pitted, safely returning to the track in third place now ahead of Leclerc. The Ferrari driver was the last of the starting top ten to make his first stop, which finally happened moments later at the mid-point of the 72-lap race, coming back out in fifth ahead of Sainz.

Lando Norris - also still to stop - was now up to seventh as a result, while Perez was running in eighth ahead of the two Alpines of Alonso and Ocon. Ricciardo continued to run in 11th despite his earlier smokey scare, followed by Russell although the Williams had managed to incur a five second time penalty for speeding on pit lane.

Any chance that Mercedes might have a strategic trump card still to play evaporated when Hamilton was called in for his second pit stop on lap 40, Red Bull then covering the move off next time by as a matter of course, Verstappen taking the hard compound while Hamilton remained on the medium. Despite having made one stop less, Bottas was six seconds in arrears in third but that still left him almost half a minute ahead of Gasly, Leclerc and Sainz. Norris finally pitted from seventh on lap 44, putting him right in the crosshairs of Russell for 11th, while Perez clung on his ageing tyres to lap 49 before making his second and final stop and coming out just behind the Williams. That promoted Alonso and Ocon to seventh and eighth, with Norris already back up to ninth having dispatched not only Russell but also his own team mate Ricciardo who was on older tyres in the interim.

Meanwhile Hamilton was not at all happy with how the race had developed, complaining to the pit wall that the team had called him in too early when there was still life left in his previous set of tyres. Now he was worried that the current mediums weren't going to make it to the finish, but then he promptly punched in a new fastest lap and started to rapidly close up on the leader again as both cars experienced problems with lapped traffic. Nonetheless Verstappen still seemed able to control the race and the effort to catch up eventually took its toll on Hamilton's tyres, effectively sealing the race result.

With the win no longer within reach, Mercedes pitted Bottas for a second time on lap 68 for a set of softs although this was explained as 'precautionary' rather than as part of a bid to secure the bonus point for fastest lap. Told in no uncertain terms by the team pit wall to abort his flying lap, Bottas disregarded the instruction and did so anyway although in mitigation he had backed off by the final sector. Mercedes then pitted Hamilton, and his final lap blitzed Bottas's previous effort by more than enough to seize back the bonus point. Even so, this may be the moment when Bottas tacitly confirmed his forthcoming departure from Brackley at the end of 2021.

Verstappen finished the race with more than 20 seconds in hand over Hamilton, with Bottas over half a minute behind. Their combined effort means that while Verstappen takes a three point lead in the drivers championship, Mercedes actually extend their lead in the constructors standings to 12 points. Only the top three finished on the lead lap, with Gasly passed by the race leader in the final moments. Leclerc took fifth ahead of a late charge from Alonso who just moved ahead of Sainz, while Perez completed his comeback drive in eighth ahead of Ocon heaving earlier muscled his way past Norris with the pair making contact in the process. Norris ended up crossing the line in tenth while Ricciardo just missed out on the points followed by Lance Stroll, Sebastian Vettel, Antonio Giovinazzi and his stand-in Alfa Romeo team mate Robert Kubica who took 15th ahead of Nicholas Latifi. George Russell was classified in 17th, leaving Mick Schumacher the last car on track.

The race had seen earlier spins for Vettel and Schumacher, but both drivers had been able to continue. Ultimately the race saw only three retirements, with Mazepin bowing out on lap 44 with mechanical issues and Yuki Tsunoda ordered to park the AlphaTauri on lap 50 after the team spotted worrying developments on the telemetry. Although counted as a classified finisher, Russell was summoned back to the Williams garage just before the finish.

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