FACTS AND STATS: A career first for Verstappen with four wins on the bounce
The Dutch Grand Prix kept us guessing throughout, as the odds of a Red Bull win or a Mercedes win swung repeatedly back and forth. In the end that swing went in Max Verstappen’s favour – and also added some fascinating numbers to our post-race stats round-up…
• Verstappen has won four consecutive races for the first time in his career.
• He is the first driver other than Lewis Hamilton to do so since Nico Rosberg won seven in a row in 2015/16.
REPORT: Verstappen wins dramatic Dutch GP as Russell and Leclerc complete podium after late Safety Car
• Today was Verstappen’s 10th win of the year with seven races still remaining – that matches his 2021 total, and he could yet beat Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher’s record of 13 wins in a season.
• Verstappen today moved into the top 10 in the list of all-time lap leaders, moving ahead of Nelson Piquet and Niki Lauda.
• Thanks to Verstappen, a Dutch driver has taken pole and won the race in the Netherlands both times since F1 returned to Zandvoort in 2021.
• Red Bull led the 5,000th lap in their constructor history today.
• George Russell’s P2 tied his career-best result from the rain-curtailed Spa race in 2021 and marks his first second place in a full Grand Prix.
• It was Mercedes’ 12th podium finish of the year without a win.
• Russell has moved ahead of Carlos Sainz into fourth in the drivers’ championship, and is only 13 points away from second-placed Charles Leclerc, without having won a race.
• It was Russell’s 75th Grand Prix start today.
DRIVER OF THE DAY: Verstappen edges Hamilton to get your vote
• P3 was only Charles Leclerc’s second podium finish in the last 10 races. He also won in Austria.
• Prior to today, Leclerc didn’t even have a top-five finish in the last three races.
• Passing Hamilton late in the race put Leclerc back into second in the drivers’ championship, tied with Sergio Perez on 201 points.
• Hamilton is now 30 points behind Russell, despite out-qualifying him eight-seven so far this year.
• Other than his Lap 1 DNF at Spa, Hamilton hasn’t finished lower than fourth place since his eighth place in Monaco.
• Perez inherited P5 thanks to Sainz’s time penalty, but lost second to Leclerc in the drivers’ championship on results countback – he has one win compared to Leclerc’s three.
• Fernando Alonso’s P6 for Alpine was his 10th consecutive points finish.
• With Esteban Ocon in P9, both Alpines scored for the fifth race in a row.
• McLaren’s Lando Norris was seventh on grid, seventh in race, and is seventh in the drivers’ championship.
• Norris has finished seventh in four of the last five races.
• Sainz was fifth across the finish line, but demoted to P8 in the second consecutive race where Ferrari have incurred a post-race time penalty.
READ MORE: Sainz calls his Dutch GP a ‘mess’ after pit stop trouble and penalty drop him to P8
• Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll took his fifth 10th-place finish of the year, without ever having finished higher.
• Williams’ Alex Albon (P12) took his seventh top-12 finish of the season.
• Valtteri Bottas’ DNF in the Alfa Romeo means he has failed to reach the chequered flag at three consecutive races for first time in his career.