SecondAfter Oranje-Jubelmeer’s home win, Max Verstappen wrapped himself in the Dutch flag and won the respect of thousands of ecstatic fans. With the victory over the sand dunes of Zandvoort, the Crown Prince of Formula One regained the title on Sunday and pushed his champion opponent Lewis Hamilton back to second place. “Expectations are so high and it is not easy to meet them. This is a beautiful day,” the Red Bull driver said after winning his seventh victory of the season in front of the happy Dutch royal couple.
Before Sunday’s game at Monza continued, Verstappen now leads defending champion Hamilton by three points in the overall standings. “Max did a great job. I gave everything, but they were too fast,” said the seven-time world champion driving Mercedes, who at least completed the fastest lap of the race. The third place is his Finnish teammate Valtery Bottas. His brief blockade has no effect on Verstappen.
The bright orange party in the North Sea is a spectacular return to the time before Formula One Corona, but it is not a fascinating weekend for the German driver duo. Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel lost points in 13th place at Aston Martin, and Mick Schumacher finished last in Haas.
But the audience can barely see this. Long before the start of the game, 75,000 fans were close to each other, and most of them did not wear masks, roaring in the stands, and the large intoxication spread on the sloping curve of Oranje. Thirty-six years after Zandvoort’s last cameo, Verstappen’s ecstasy was boiling when Nicky Lauda won his final career.
With his nerve-wracking pole position drive, he has already made fans boil in qualifying and brought hope to the Dutchman’s first victory at home. Before the game, he showed his official car to King William Alexander and Queen Maxima. After the red light went out, he immediately drove his red bull car and turned into the first turn as the obvious leader. Hamilton, behind him, threw another meter on Verstappen as he accelerated away from the right turn.
After the first lap, Verstappen led Hamilton by 1.7 seconds. In this way, the British are already outside the overtaking window of at most one second. Verstappen continued to fly over the Dutch route. The 17-year-old Dutchman entered Formula One in 2015, the 1,000th lap of his career, and this was another step he took to win the World Cup after 9 laps. Hamilton just couldn’t do it, and the sensation caused by the De-Ohas duo farther on the court was not so much a lack of understanding, as it caused a sensation.
After a quarrel between Mick Schumacher and Nikita Macepin on Saturday, the Russian made a very dangerous maneuver near the pit wall, breaking the front wing of the son of the world champion. Mick Schumacher had to enter the pit and was overtaken by Verstappen after only nine laps.
Hamilton got the only trump card he initially seemed to have: pitting before Verstappen. However, his staff took almost a second longer than Verstappen, who changed tires after one lap. At least Hamilton can reduce the gap from more than three seconds to less than two seconds.
So now Bottas should be a Verstappen interceptor. Mercedes left the Finn with worn tires, and the Finn still does not have a new contract for next season. Bottas tried everything, but at the end of the corner, he had to let Verstappen pass-the fans jumped from their seats to celebrate the actions of their local heroes.
Hamilton also surpassed Bottas, but immediately lost time with the Red Bull leader. “He was lucky in traffic,” the 36-year-old said over the radio, and then he tried again to stand in front of Verstappen. Once again, without any results, Red Bull and Verstappen defended their lead. The radio communication between Hamilton and Mercedes command post is booming. Especially because Bottas then ran the fastest lap with new tires-despite the team’s order to the contrary, which brought Hamilton to his best performance on a single lap, while Verstappen was on the North Sea sand dunes. The sea of joy enjoyed the last few kilometers.
