F1 Dutch GP: Max Verstappen equals Sebastian Vettel win record amid rain chaos
Max Verstappen equalled Sebastian Vettel’s record of nine successive F1 victories by winning a dramatic, red-flagged Dutch Grand Prix.
The Dutchman overcame two separate deluges of rain that caused chaos at both the start and finish to take his 11th win from 13 races this season and delight his raucous home crowd.
Fernando Alonso claimed a brilliant second in his upgraded Aston Martin, ahead of Pierre Gasly, who completed the podium for Alpine.
Sergio Perez threw away second with an off just before the red flag stoppage, before a five-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane dropped him from third on the road to fourth.
Verstappen’s 46th career victory - and third in a row at Zandvoort - further extends his championship lead over his Red Bull teammate to 138 points with nine races remaining and continues his charge towards a third consecutive world title.
Despite starting seventh, Perez led the opening exchanges by being the first driver to pit for intermediates as the rain created a jumbled order.
But Verstappen, who dropped to fourth after pitting for intermediates later, rapidly hunted down his teammate, before undercutting him to move into the lead when the field switched back onto dry tyres.
With Verstappen cruising towards a historic win, Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu aquaplaned off during a heavy downpour, resulting in a red flag which set up six laps of racing following a rolling restart.
Behind Perez came Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who fended off the late attack of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes to take fifth.
McLaren’s Lando Norris was seventh, ahead of Williams’ Alex Albon and Oscar Piastri, while Esteban Ocon completed the points-paying positions in 10th for Alpine.
Joining Zhou on the sidelines was Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Logan Sargeant, who crashed heavily in his Williams on Lap 16.
