(Motorsport) Max Verstappen won his ‘home’ Grand Prix to extend his Championship lead to 109 points with a frustrated Lewis Hamilton being forced to finish fourth after strategy calls by Mercedes. Unlike his teammate George Russell who was given the soft tyres, Hamilton remained on the medium compound and could not hold his position against Verstappen. To make matters worse, the seven time World Champion was then overtaken by his Mercedes teammate and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, only to finish fourth on the grid. 

With only seven races remaining, Verstappen has all but clinched his second World Championship while his teammate Sergio Perez finished in fifth place. Red Bull Racing are also in prime position to secure the Constructors Championship for the first time since 2013. As for Ferrari, the Italian manufacturer had another blunder at Zandvoort after Carlos Sainz was subjected to a 12 second pit stop because the team wasn’t ready with the tyres followed by a five second penalty for an unsafe release. Fernando Alonso finished sixth in the Alpine, coming ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris who was seventh. 

Speaking about Mercedes’ strategy, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said “You've got your home driver, leading in front of 105,000 people, and you decide to pit him for the soft tyres and concede track position behind two Mercedes. I was quite surprised that they didn't leave George out strategically as a rear gunner for Lewis. When he pitted, it gave a straight fight between Max and Lewis with a tyre offset. By the time they came past us on the pit wall, Max was already alongside, and thereafter it was a matter of controlling the race. My biggest concern was it would be two against one, but when George seemed to pit himself, that then freed up a one-on-one fight with Max versus Lewis." 

Reigning champion Max Verstappen said “I think I would have gotten both of them anyway if they would have stayed out. So I think it was a smart call to pit as well. I think everything worked well. We stayed calm and there's not a lot of confusion on the radio – they knew what to do. Even though we couldn't really do our preferred strategy initially because of that VSC – it came out a bit unlucky. We had to go to that hard tyre, which was not my preferred tyre, but it just seemed like we were more competitive on the softer compound because as soon as we switched back to the soft everything was alright. 

“It was just difficult to predict. After that VSC I was out on the hard, which was not great, but I think I would have managed them to the end, the gap would have been fine. But then of course we had to pit again with the Safety Car and you are behind. Of course I had the softer compound but they were so quick on the harder compound that I was like, 'let's see if we can actually pass them'. Then at the restart luckily we had a good run and I could go in the lead, and then I felt really comfortable with the car and the tyres again." 

Also read: Red Bull Racing could dominate like Mercedes says Lewis Hamilton