Owrestling clouds rise above the grandstands. In the Netherlands, when Formula 1 has reached its goal, that’s a smoke signal from the fans: We have a champion! Max Verstappen. After his tenth victory in the 15th Formula 1 race of the season, there is hardly any doubt about that.
Because Verstappen left the by no means surprisingly quick George Russell (Mercedes) behind in the Red Bull for the fourth win in a row. His challenger Charles Leclerc was “only” third in the Ferrari and lost even more ground in the fight for the drivers’ title. His gap to the leader Verstappen grew to 109 points. There are still seven Grands Prix to go. “The gap is pretty big,” said Leclerc soberly, “we’re now looking at races.”
Finely worked out tactical program
The spectators, estimated at 70,000 in the fully occupied grandstands, had to wait. Not on Verstappen’s lead, who remained in the lead after starting from pole position, followed by Leclerc and the second Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz. But on what makes the hearts of the fans beat faster, overtaking maneuvers. A problem at Zandvoort. The routing offers only one opportunity for tricky attacks. A risk on Sunday, because the cars of the fastest, Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes seemed to be circling at eye level for a long time.
And so the engineering community had prepared a tactical program to move forward with the pit stop plans. Finely worked out down to the tenth of a second. It would probably have worked out well if people hadn’t been in and on the machine. That’s why the fans got their money’s worth even during the slowly looming decision about victory and defeat.
At least when looking into the pit lane, Formula 1 offered good entertainment. Above all Ferrari. Lap 16: Sainz, in third place, pits. 2.5 seconds is standard for changing tires. When all the tires are there. Ferrari is missing the left rear tire. 12.7 seconds elapsed before the Scuderia sent their second man back into the race.
When questioned, team boss Mattia Binotto openly admits that Sainz was called earlier than planned: “It was a mess, the mechanics weren’t prepared yet.” Haas also let Mick Schumacher stew ten seconds because of a jammed jack, which is why he was only 13th ahead of Sebastian Vettel in the Aston Martin. But Ferrari is still eyeing the constructors’ title. With three wheels?
Verstappen’s fan community, who streamed from the car and bicycle parking lots to the slopes on the Volkswandertag in Oranje, accepted the weakening of the opponent with audible joy. Especially since her compatriot confidently survived the first pit stop aria, extending the lead in front of Leclerc to a good eight seconds halfway through the race. A little surprise, Ferrari wanted to be within striking distance again after the disaster in Belgium a week ago.
The track in the dunes allows a different set-up that suits the Ferrari. Over one lap, in qualifying, Verstappen was only able to outpace the Monegasque by 0.021 seconds, thanks to virtuoso steering skills. But in the endurance run, the world champion didn’t let the challenger get close, on the contrary. The distance grew. That was a good moment to turn our attention to a completely different strategy, that of Mercedes: wanting to make ends meet with one pit stop instead of two.
Lo and behold, Lewis Hamilton returned to the stage, attacked Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull, wheel to wheel, the two pulled through the first corner until the Mexican had to cede third place to the record world champion on the next lap on more worn tires. An indication of impending danger for Verstappen? With his second pit stop, the champion would fall behind Hamilton and Russell.
It is precisely in this phase around the 45th round that Yuki Tsunoda enters the scene. The Japanese returned to the pits after a first stop on the open track and resumed the race before parking the Alpha Tauri at the edge of the track shortly afterwards. He could have chosen a better position. How lucky for Verstappen. The mishap in the Red Bull subsidiary team leads to the use of the virtual safety car. The distances are frozen, a pit stop, for example by Verstappen, then takes eight seconds less in Zandvoort.
And so the local hero stayed in front of the Mercedes drivers after his service. “That would probably have been a different finale,” says Mercedes’ team boss Toto Wolff later. But you meet twice in the race. When an Alfa Romeo gets stuck, the real safety car comes out. Verstappen has the rubber changed for the third time. Mercedes relies on two strategies: Hamilton stays out, Russell follows Verstappen.
The Silver Arrows bet on their chance of winning. But the car is too slow on the straight. Hamilton made a mistake in the “flying” restart, and Verstappen took the lead again. This is where the true potential of the RB18 becomes apparent. The world champion drives almost a second faster per lap at the beginning. Hamilton is overtaken by Russell on the better rubber and then has to give way to Leclerc. He scolds like a reed sparrow. His successor seems to have been found.