Max Verstappen claimed a 10th Formula 1 victory of the season in his home Dutch Grand Prix, after a late safety car restart overtake on Lewis Hamilton. After Valtteri Bottas ground to a halt at Turn 1 on Lap 55 of 72, Hamilton cycled to the lead as Red Bull pitted Verstappen who was required to make a second pitstop to use another compound of Pirelli tyre. The cars were ordered through the pitlane, with Mercedes electing not to put Hamilton on a fresh set of tyres, but changing George Russell to Softs. Hamilton restarted on Lap 60 in the lead, with Verstappen behind and Russell in third - but the Dutch driver roared past on the restart to take the lead and pull away for a fourth consecutive win and second in succession at Zandvoort. Russell was second after overtaking Hamilton on Lap 64 with the elder British driver then under pressure from Charles Leclerc for the final podium spot. After a quiet day for Leclerc, he managed to grab the position with six tours remaining as Hamilton's winless run goes on. Verstappen's championship lead is now 104 points over Leclerc with seven races remaining.
Mercedes in pound seat until Tsuonda stops
Mercedes were committed to a one-stop strategy from the off, by starting on the Mediums with both drivers as Verstappen, Leclerc and fifth-place finisher Sainz were all on Softs. Sainz triggered the first round of stops on Lap 15, but a long stop after a tyre wasn't ready ruined his afternoon. Verstappen responded to Leclerc's Lap 18 stop next time around to emerge P3, but needing an extra stop whereas Hamilton and Russell could make it on just the one-stop. They pitted on Lap 30 and 32, respectively, with Hamilton then losing nearly four seconds to Verstappen's teammate Perez and a dawdling Sebastian Vettel who ignored blue flags when exiting the pits. Hamilton whittled the advantage down to about 15s on Verstappen, with 20 needed for a stop, but on Lap 45, AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsuonda triggered a Virtual Safety Car. He had stopped the lap before, but managed to get going again feeling a wheel was loose. The team sent him out again, but stopped exiting Turn 3, allowing Verstappen to make his necessary second stop. Bottas then conked out laps later, with Red Bull deciding Softs were better than Mediums, allowing Verstappen the opportunity to pass Hamilton and cruise to the win by 4.5s from Russell and Leclerc. Hamilton finished where he started in fourth place.
Perez off the pace
Perez finished fifth after Sainz was handed a five second time penalty for an unsafe release, as Fernando Alonso banked sixth for Alpine. The Spanish driver was among the first to switch to the Hards - which proved a better race tyre than feared on Sunday morning. He lead home Lando Norris, Sainz, Esteban Ocon, as Lance Stroll picking up the final point, as Pierre Gasly just missed out on a points finish.
Albon ahead of Astons
Alex Albon, Mick Schumacher and Vettel were just behind Gasly, as Kevin Magnussen recovered from early contact with the barrier to finished 15th. Zhou Guanyu was 16th ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in 17th, 10 places behind Norris. Nicholas Latifi was the last finisher with Bottas and Tsuonda the only retirements.
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