Max Verstappen was delighted to claim his third straight victory in the Dutch Grand Prix on Sunday, his home race, in front of King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands and adoring legions of his 'orange army' of fans at Zandvoort.
"Today they didn’t make it easy for us with the weather to make all the time the right calls, but I’m incredibly proud. Very happy to win here in front of my home crowd.”
The weather meant that it wasn't an easy win for the reigning world champion, who started from pole but lost the lead on the second lap amid a flurry of pit stops as teams scrambled to respond to a heavy shower.
"The race itself was very hectic," he told the media after the chequered flag. "Lining up [on the grid] and seeing the rain coming down, it was tough to make the right calls.
“I thought together with the team, they told me the rain is coming but maybe not enough to switch to an Inter, or maybe survive for a few laps so we decided together to stay out for one more lap.
"At that at the end of the day was the wrong call, "he admitted. "But it made the race definitely more fun!"
Verstappen's Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez ended up picking up the lead. “From there onwards I had to pass a few cars and close the gap up front.
Luckily, I think within a few laps, I closed down like ten seconds of the gap [to Perez] so that was very important for the rest of my race."
It remained the case until the rain stopped and drivers returned to pit lane a second time to switch from intermediates back to slicks where Verstappen was able to undercut Perez by being first to stop this time.
From that point on he pulled away from Perez and stayed in the lead for the remaining 60 laps. "When we went onto the slick tyres, the tyres were holding on quite well on my car for the stint and it was very enjoyable to drive.
“But you think you’re going to have an easy ride home, and then they tell me like 10-15 laps before the end there’s some rain coming again. And this time it was not just some rain, it was quite a lot!
"So we pitted for inters, and within a lap, it almost becomes undriveable on an Inter, and we opted to go for an extreme.”
The race was red-flagged, with Fernando Alonso taking the restart in second place and Verstappen fearing a major attack from the Aston Martin driver.
"I knew that I had to survive that first lap. Fernando was pushing very hard behind, I could see him closely in my mirrors. But once I had the temperature in my tyres it was all well-balanced again.”
It meant that Verstappen clinched not only another home win, but his ninth consecutive Grand Prix victory of the season - equalling the all-time record set by his Red Bull predecessor Sebastian Vettel.
“It’s incredible," he said of the historic achievement. "“I’ll think about it next week. I’m first going to enjoy this weekend. It’s always tough, the pressure is on to perform, and I’m very happy of course to win here.
"It was probably one of the more difficult races to win again. Nine in a row is something I never even thought about."
There were deafening cheers from the grandstands as the Dutch fans celebrated their idol's achievement as he spoke the media in parc ferme afterward.
“I already had goosebumps when they were playing the national anthem before the start," he admitted. "Even with all the bad weather, the rain, the fans were still going at it - an incredible atmosphere.”
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