Joel’s racing rec room

Verstappen’s Dutch GP hat trick

Max Verstappen of Red Bull overcame the wet conditions in the Netherlands this weekend to make a hat trick of Dutch Grand Prix wins and tied Sebastian Vettel, retired German driver, for nine consecutive F1 victories.

The rain started and finished the race alongside the F1 drivers and made the already challenging track even more difficult.

The early addition of rain split the pack with tire strategies leading to a Red Bull one-two for most of the race.

Verstappen led the pack early on but because of the split strategies, actually dropped back to fourth at one point in the race.

The rain started early, slowed off and on during the race, with the sun drying the 72-lap race at one point, and then soaked the checkered flag with force in the closing stages.

Alongside Verstappen on the podium were Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in second and a surprising third place finish for Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. Sergio Perez and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz took the next two positions.

The down pour near the end of the race not only cause a flurry of pit lane activity but also led to Alpha Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu to crash and cause a seven lap dash to the finish line.

This was Alonso’s first podium finish since the Canadian GP, more than two months ago. Perez actually crossed the line in third place, however he was hit with a five second penalty for speeding in the pit lane. This promoted Gasly who had qualified and started in 12th.

One of the big topics of discussion during the race and someone that everyone was keeping an eye on was newcomer Liam Lawson, a New Zealand driver with AlphaTauri. Lawson was granted a spot in the race after returning driver, and crowd favorite, Daniel Ricciardo was injured during practice for the race.

Despite a 10 second penalty for impeding in the pit lane, the 21-year-old driver had a strong performance and actually finished three spots ahead of his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda. Tsunoda took a penalty as well for causing a collision during the race.

Zhou wasn’t the only car on the sideline after an accident. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc picked up damage on the first lap of the race and American driver Logan Sargeant followed up a qualifying crash with one in the race.

The drivers and teams travel to Monza next weekend for the 53-lap Italian GP. The Autodromo Nazionale Monza was the world’s third purpose-built race track, coming after Brooklands in the United Kingdom and Indianapolis, Indiana. 

“Rapido” is how Monza is described and it is the home of the fastest ever lap in Formula 1’s history.