2021 Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix highlights

Max Verstappen has moved back to the head of the drivers’ standings, after winning the 2021 Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort over title rival Lewis Hamilton, sending his home fans into ecstasy, as the second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas completed the podium.

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2021 Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix as the first race since 1985. Verstappen led away from the pole, keeping Hamilton at bay throughout the 72-lap encounter around the sweeping Zandvoort track, to bring home his seventh win of the season, as Hamilton had to settle for second, the seven-time champion stopping with two laps to go for softs.

Bottas was a comfortable third, despite his own late stop for soft tyres, with Bottas appearing to then ignore team orders not to attempt to take the fastest lap bonus point away from Hamilton – only for Hamilton to claim it anyway on the final lap.

Bottas led home the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly, who drove a brilliant race to take fourth, ahead of the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

Fernando Alonso was sixth for Alpine, having passed the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz on the last lap. Sainz was ahead of the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez, who recovered well from his pit lane start and an early flat spot in the race to take P8, with the second Alpine and of Esteban Ocon and the McLaren of Lando Norris – who’d been allowed past his 11th placed teammate Daniel Ricciardo earlier in the race – rounding out the top 10.

Lance Stroll was 12th, ahead of Aston Martin teammate Sebastian Vettel, then the Alfa Romeo pairing of Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen replacement Robert Kubica in P14 and P15, with Nicholas Latifi taking 16th – as George Russell was classified 17th, ahead of Mick Schumacher, with Yuki Tsunoda and Nikita Mazepin retiring.

But the Dutch fans only had eyes for one driver, greeting Verstappen’s win with jubilation, as he moved three points clear of Hamilton in the standings.

Mario Isola – Head of F1 and car racing at Pirelli commented:

All three compounds that we nominated for the 2021 Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix played a prominent role, underlining how there was a big variety of successful strategies today on this brand new and very exciting circuit, with the drivers pushing to the maximum all the way to the end. Along with the warmer weather, today compared to previous days, this meant that there were plenty of demands placed on the tyres – so it was the right decision to come here with the three hardest tyres in the range.

Wear was higher than predicted due to a lack of long runs before the race, while degradation was in line with expectations. Prior to the final stops for the soft from Mercedes at the end of the race, a used medium tyre showed its capability to set the fastest lap. Congratulations to Max Verstappen and Red Bull for an extremely popular home victory.

2021 Formula 1 Dutch GP Race Results

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Here are the team-by-team highlights:

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