The home fans got what they wanted on Sunday, as their hero Max Verstappen clinched victory in a dramatic Dutch Grand Prix – but it wasn’t all smiles for everyone. We’ve picked out six winners and five losers from an entertaining race at Zandvoort.
Winner: Max Verstappen
Verstappen’s relentless march to a second successive World Championship gathered even more pace on home soil to the delight of a 100,000-strong crowd at Zandvoort.
Victory was his 10th in 15 races this season. It moved him 109 points clear of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and if results go his way, the Red Bull driver could wrap up his defence with four races to go.
READ MORE: Verstappen says Dutch GP win was ‘extra rewarding’ after overcoming Safety Car drama and Mercedes threat
This was the first time Verstappen has won four races in a row. If he wins four of the final seven races, he will break Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher’s record of most wins (13) in a season.
Loser: Charles Leclerc
Leclerc may have managed to get back on the podium for only the second time in 10 races, in what was his first top-five finish in three races. But on a track which should have suited the F1-75, Ferrari couldn’t compete with Red Bull – or indeed Mercedes – on Sunday afternoon, and he lost yet more ground to championship leader Verstappen.
Moving back up into second in the drivers’ standings – the Monegasque is tied on points with Sergio Perez but ahead on countback of wins – will be of a little consolation.
READ MORE: ‘There is something wrong we need to address’ admits Binotto after tough Dutch GP for Ferrari
Winner: George Russell
George Russell has become known as “Mr Saturday”, but in 2022, he’s been more like “Mr Consistent” on Sunday. His second place in Zandvoort ties his best-ever result and continues his run of 14 top-five finishes in 15 Grands Prix.
The Mercedes racer moves ahead of Carlos Sainz into fourth in the drivers’ standings and he’s now just 13 adrift of second-placed Leclerc. A fine result, inspired by strong pace and a bullish call for softs during the Safety Car period, in what was his 75th Grand Prix.
READ MORE: Russell says Mercedes would have fought for win without VSC after second place finish at Dutch GP
Loser: Carlos Sainz
The highs of Saturday, when Sainz qualified within 0.1s of pole position, quickly seemed like a distant memory as the Spaniard – who pursued a different set-up direction to team mate Leclerc – lacked the race pace to compete on Sunday.
2022 Dutch Grand Prix: The unsafe release that earned Carlos Sainz a time penalty at Zandvoort
His race was made even harder first by a slow stop, when the team didn’t have a left-rear tyre ready when he arrived in the box, and then by a five-second time penalty that dropped him from fifth to eighth.
READ MORE: Sainz calls his Dutch GP a ‘mess’ after pit stop trouble and penalty drop him to P8
Winner: Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso is on a hell of a run right now, the Spaniard having scored points in each of the last 10 races. Only championship leader Verstappen is on a better streak.
Sixth equals the Spaniard’s second-best result of the season and moves him to within seven points of team mate Esteban Ocon and 21 of McLaren’s Lando Norris, the latter of whom occupies the best of the rest slot in seventh.
Loser: Valtteri Bottas
Valtteri Bottas began life at Alfa Romeo with six top-10 finishes in seven races. But since then, the Finn has managed just one points score in eight Grands Prix.
His retirement on Sunday, on a weekend where Alfa Romeo suffered their worst performance of the year, was the third time in a row that he has failed to see the chequered flag – which is a first in his career.
Winners: Mercedes
For the second time in three races, Mercedes were genuine and comfortable podium contenders, Zandvoort’s high-downforce, tight and twisty layout suiting the 2022-spec Silver Arrows.
READ MORE: ‘I’d rather take the risk to win’ says Wolff as he defends Mercedes’ Safety Car strategy in Zandvoort
While they missed out on their first win of the season, the pace was there to get the job done. Russell’s second place was Mercedes’ 12th podium of the season, and leaves them just 30 points adrift of Ferrari and very much in the hunt for P2 in the constructors’ championship.
2022 Dutch Grand Prix: Russell almost collides with team mate Hamilton before passing him for P2
Loser: Yuki Tsunoda
on Saturday, Yuki Tsunoda was the cheeriest he’s been after a track session for a long time, having qualified inside the top 10 for the Dutch GP. However, his race unravelled when he felt something wrong with the car and he stopped out on track.
The team called him back to the pits and fitted fresh tyres but shortly after he left, he suffered a failure, which the team are still investigating, and retired the car. He has now gone nine races without scoring.
READ MORE: ‘Aggressive early stop’ key to Alonso’s rise from P13 on the grid to sixth as Alpine extend advantage over McLaren
Winner: Lando Norris
Starting P7, Lando Norris knew it was going to be tricky to keep both Alpines behind, so he did well to limit the damage to just one loss of position to Fernando Alonso.
It was the fourth time in five races that he has finished seventh from seventh on the grid, and he retains his grip on seventh in the drivers’ championship.
Losers: Haas
It was a weekend that offered so much promise for Haas, after a strong final practice with Mick Schumacher was followed up with a top-10 start for the German.
But a slow stop with a front jack issue dropped him out of contention for points, while Kevin Magnussen couldn’t recover from a kiss with the wall on Lap 2. It’s now four races on the bounce without points, with AlphaTauri only five points behind in the fight for seventh in the constructors’
HIGHLIGHTS: Relive the action from an intense Dutch Grand Prix as Verstappen seals 10th win of the season
Winner: Lance Stroll
This was one of Lance Stroll’s strongest weekends of the year, the Canadian qualifying inside the top 10 and hanging on in there to score a point.
That’s the fifth time the Aston Martin driver has finished P10 this season without ever finishing higher, but their pace across the weekend generally bodes well for the rest of the season.
