Max Verstappen wins Dutch Grand Prix for 9th straight victory
Jun 19, 2022; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen of The Netherlands stands during the national anthems after winning the Montreal Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Mandatory Credit: David Kirouac-USA TODAY Sports
Max Verstappen on Sunday claimed his 9th consecutive Formula One victory, winning on his home track at the Dutch Grand Prix. He is now tied with Sebastian Vettel for nine consecutive P1 finishes and will go for 10 straight next week at the Italian Grand Prix.
Winning 9 races in a row is a truly incredible achievement, which I’m extremely proud to be a part of @redbullracing 🙌 Today was a challenge, but the car was an unbelievable rocket ship, let’s keep this going and keep pushing 👏 pic.twitter.com/lw8q2AWJOE
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) August 27, 2023
While Red Bull still remains the team to beat, the race was not without controversy. Red Bull provided Verstappen with the more favorable tire strategy and allowed Verstappen to undercut his teammate Sergio Perez to reclaim first position during the opening stages of the race when almost every team was on intermediate tires.
For his part, Perez had several blunders. Not only did he go off track on lap 65 to drop from P2 to P3, but he also received a 5-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane, which resulted in him finishing P4 and outside the podium.
pic.twitter.com/oybL1skF5Y Sergio Perez' penalty (speeding in pitlane) that cost him a podium in Zandvoort #DutchGP
— Rindi Putra (@rindiputra) August 27, 2023
Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin seemed to have regained their form after the summer break and finished 2nd.
On the other hand, while both Mercedes and McLaren were able to secure some points by finishing within the top 10, they both made questionable tire strategy decisions that led to them not finishing on the podium.
The biggest disappointment of the race was Charles Leclerc, who lacked pace throughout the race and was even lapped by rookie Liam Lawson before eventually have to retire from the race with undercarriage damage.
