Max Verstappen gains back the lead of the drivers’ championship on home soil, as he wins the Dutch Grand Prix ahead of the two Mercedes cars.
The German team tried everything to stop the Flying Dutch, but he was just too good and too fast.
Max Verstappen – 10
What a performance from Verstappen, who dominated the Saturday and got pole position even though his drs stuck closed.
The start of the race was perfect, he flew away and overcame the threat of having to overtake the yet-to-stop Valtteri Bottas.
A controlled race that puts him back on top of the championship.
Lewis Hamilton – 8.5
He really did try everything to win the race, but Verstappen was too quick.
Lewis Hamilton did what he had to do and limited to losing just six points to Verstappen in a race where the Red Bull driver appeared faster.
Valtteri Bottas – 6.5
Never a single spark, nor a moment where he appeared like he could challenge the front two.
Bottas is by now a driver who, at best, can challenge for third place in normal conditions.
Mercedes tried to keep him out to hold off Verstappen, but he locked wheels and went wide, allowing the Dutchman to get past easily.
Pierre Gasly – 9
For about the first time this season, Pierre Gasly was in control of his position and maximised his qualifying pace.
He was splendid on Saturday, placing his car on the second row and then was flawless in the race, demonstrating that he is becoming a complete driver.
Charles Leclerc – 8
The Monegasque’s performance helps Ferrari win back the third place over Mclaren in the Constructors’ championship.
It was a fine drive, often spent chasing vain on Gasly, to claim fifth.
Fernando Alonso – 8
Fernando Alonso’s race is another one of his great drives, ensuring he exited Holland with the most amount of points.
He appeared slow at the start, leading a train of multiple cars and dropping away from the Ferraris.
Suddenly, however, he came to life in the second part, gaining more than 10 seconds on Carlos Sainz and winning sixth on the last lap.
Carlos Sainz – 6.5
A difficult weekend, despite a decent result for Sainz.
The Spaniard crashed on Saturday morning, but put his car alongside Leclerc on the grid.
On Sunday, he didn’t have the pace of his teammate and finished 30 seconds adrift.
Sergio Perez – 5
The count of lost opportunities for Sergio Perez keeps increasing, as he finishes eighth in a weekend dominated by Verstappen.
He exited qualifying in Q1 and had to start last. His race was ruined by a lock-up in the first laps which forced him to stop twice.
His come-back was fine, but he was eighth through faults of his own.
Esteban Ocon – 7
Esteban Ocon’s performance probably deserved more points.
The Frenchman dropped behind Alonso at the start and followed him through, even appearing faster.
He only finished four seconds behind, but that meant there were two positions in between.
Lando Norris – 5.5
A decent Sunday drive for Lando Norris, but qualifying meant he was only set to get a single point. He massively dropped off on Saturday, with his worst qualifying since Italy 2019.
Overtaking at Zandvoort is very complicated and he only cleared traffic with a good overcut.
He caught up to those in front, but had to settle to 10th.
Daniel Ricciardo – 5
Despite qualifying ahead of Norris and entering Q3 with the fourth fastest time, Daniel Ricciardo was only 10th at the start and finished 11th, once again behind the Brit.
Although he remained in front of Norris for half of the race, he still finished 12 seconds behind.
Lance Stroll – 6
Not a bad race for the Aston Martin driver, who suffered the poor pace of the car.
He appeared in contention for points with a decent first stint, but at distance he finished behind faster cars.
Sebastian Vettel – 5
Messy weekend for the German.
He was out in Q1 after his last lap was aborted due to traffic and he spun after making an undercut which could have gained him places.
Antonio Giovinazzi – 8
Finishing qualifying in seventh with an Alfa Romeo is a hard challenge already, doing it under enormous pressure when trying to find a seat for next year is a great accomplishment.
Antonio Giovinazzi’s Saturday was incredible and it was such a shame that he got a puncture on Saturday, which took away the possibility of fighting for points.
Robert Kubica – 7
Robert Kubica was called up on Saturday morning to replace Kimi Raikkonen and he did a decent job.
He finished ahead of the two Haas cars in qualifying and had a positive start to the race.
He eventually dropped off, but it was a very positive outing.
Nicholas Latifi – 5
He lost a precious opportunity on Saturday by crashing out in Q2 after demonstrating decent pace.
This forced him to start from the pit lane, as he put up some decent moves, but it was all for just a 16th place finish.
George Russell – 6
The Williams looks like it closed the gap to some of the cars in front and George Russell can regularly compete to enter Q3.
His opportunity was lost as he also spun during qualifying, just missing out on the top 10.
He tried to fight for points in the race, but lost ground, before retiring with few laps remaining.
Mick Schumacher – 6
An anonymous weekend for the Haas driver, who could just beat Nikita Mazepin on qualifying and finished three laps off the frontrunners.
Yuki Tsunoda – 4.5
He is experiencing huge struggles in his first season in the sport and once again he was miles off Gasly in qualifying.
Yuki Tsunoda never appeared in contention for points and retired with a mechanical issue.
Nikita Mazepin – 4
Poor weekend for Mazepin, who was last in qualifying and his only race highlight was pushing his teammate close to the wall when racing at full speed.
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