Verstappen had earned the pole position in qualifying on Saturday when he out-qualified his title challenger Hamilton.
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Red Bull driver Max Verstappen won his home Grand Prix at the Zandvoort Circuit with a masterful driving display. The win would have been extra special for the 23-year-old, considering it is his home GP. Verstappen finished in the first place, followed by the two Mercedes drivers. Defending champion Lewis Hamilton finished in second place while Valterri Bottas came third. With the win, Verstappen took the top spot in the driver’s championship table, while his team, Red Bull, took the top spot in the constructor’s championship table. AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly delivered an incredible performance as he finished in fourth place followed by Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc finishing in fifth.
Verstappen had earned the pole position in qualifying on Saturday when he out-qualified his title challenger Hamilton. He lived up to his name in front of a sea of adoring home fans. It was an incredible performance by Hamilton as well but the Mercedes simply could not match the pace of the Red Bull. After 20 laps, Bottas was the one leading the pack, followed by Verstappen and Hamilton. However, the Dutch driver moved past Bottas shortly after, and took the lead in the race. Bottas would then make way for Hamilton to chase the Dutch driver and the first place.
Despite the defending champion’s best efforts, it was his closest title challenger who held out to record the seventh win of the season so far. Verstappen finally managed to move ahead of Hamilton in the driver’s championship table and he will be looking to build on this form to win the championship for the first time in his career. For Hamilton, the Italian GP next week will be crucial if he wants to win the championship for a record eighth time in his career.
Mercedes tried to employ a strategy where they changed Hamilton’s tyres to mediums very early, with the hopes of catching Verstappen out when he would stop for his tyre change. However, Red Bull reacted brilliantly to the strategy as they immediately changed Verstappen’s tyres to hard ones. By that time, Verstappen had a very healthy lead over the Mercedes and he did not fall behind after his stop. Mercedes’ strategy blew up in their faces and Hamilton did not hold back on his frustrations on the team radio.
Elsewhere, it was a wonderful performance by AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly. The Frenchman finished in fourth place and is having an incredible breakout season so far. He might be scouted for some big constructors, including AlphaTauri’s parent company, Red Bull. Gasly was a part of Christian Horner’s side but was replaced since he was not getting the results.
Red Bull’s second driver, Sergio Perez, also displayed a brilliant performance, as he fought back from 15th place at one point in the race to eighth. It was an incredible result for the Mexican who has recently been confirmed as a Red Bull driver for the 2022 season.
Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi will be disappointed at today’s result, especially since he qualified for the seventh position on the grid on Saturday. He could not build on that to finish in one of the points places. At the end of the race, he was far off from any point-scoring position. The Italian could only manage a 14th place finish.
