(Motorsports news) Following a red light for excessive rain towards the finish of the race, the championship leader maintained composure and brilliantly timed a restart over Fernando Alonso to continue his winning streak in Formula One in the dominant 2023 season. Verstappen had a chance to attack Hamilton for the lead that he had held since lap 12 when the race was stopped due to heavy rain on the 61st lap.
Max Verstappen held his cool to construct a 3.7-second advantage by the finish of the race to increase his championship lead, despite the fact that Alonso drew close at the restart and was following him at the first corner. At the start of the race, raindrops started to fleck the drivers’ visors. Later, a deluge made the course clearly wet and forced several opportunistic drivers to pit right away.
Perez was one of them and acquired the intermediate compound of tire, ensuring he had the appropriate tire for the deteriorating weather. Verstappen made the decision to pit on the subsequent lap, although Perez was able to pass his teammate due to lowering speeds on the soft tyre.
The yet-to-be-stopped George Russell and Lando Norris were stumbling around on a soggy circuit as attempts to brave the rain failed. The Mexican carefully made his way past them. Verstappen’s runs on the intermediate tyre were quick, despite him stopping a lap later, and he was filled with the confidence to move up the order. After passing first-lap stoppers Zhou Guanyu and Pierre Gasly, he quickly moved up to second and started to pursue Perez.
The track subsequently started to dry, and drivers who didn’t stop seemed to be giving out signals that the crossover point had emerged, causing the intermediate runners to pit once more. Verstappen was given the opportunity to pit before Perez at the end of lap 11 to equip a new set of soft tyres, and the expanding gap in their tire wear allowed the Dutchman to undercut Perez when he stopped a lap later.
Max Verstappen and Perez established a rhythm after taking back the lead, and on lap 16, a safety car was brought out after Logan Sargeant’s Williams crashed into the wall coming out of Turn 8. Verstappen handled the lap 22 restart admirably, though, while Perez was unable to remain tethered to his teammate’s gearbox and had to avoid Alonso going into Turn 1.
Verstappen was informed of coming severe rain as a cell of heavy rains could be seen on weather radars getting closer. Perez was the first to exit as Verstappen believed it was dry enough to go for one more lap when it reached the Dutch seaside town of Zandvoort on lap 60. Verstappen was able to make his way back to the pits on lap 61 and gather the intermediates despite the rapidly worsening weather.
Then, on lap 63, Perez significantly harmed his own hopes when he skidded off the road at Turn 1, handing second position to Alonso as he just escaped hitting the gravel. Zhou’s crash at the first corner while it was still raining was enough for the FIA to upgrade an initial virtual safety car to a red flag, saving Perez’s face. His request for wet tyres was denied because the pitlane exit was closed, but since the order went back to the previous lap, he was unaffected by the agonizingly long time he spent stopped at the traffic lights.
The race resumed after a 43-minute delay for the last eight laps, two of which were behind the safety car, before a six-lap shootout to determine the winner. Alonso sought to catch up to Verstappen and tried a variety of lines to get an edge, but he was unable to match the Red Bull’s speed. Verstappen then continued to increase his lead until he eventually matched Sebastian Vettel’s run of nine consecutive victories in Formula One, which the German accomplished at the end of 2013.
