There were breaking news in the build-up to the Dutch GP weekend. Formula 1 veteran Kimi Räikkönen announced on Instagram, that he will retire from Formula 1 at the end of this season. The news didn't caught people by surprise, but the truth is, that Kimi's retirement will end a special era in Formula 1. Kimi has the most GP starts under his belt (341 at the moment) and he still is the latest driver to have won the championship for Ferrari.
Last time Circuit Park Zandvoort has hosted an F1 race back in 1985, with legendary Niki Lauda driving to the chequered flag as the race winner. The special feature on this track are the banked corners, especially Turns 3 and 14, which have a banking of 18 degrees. Circuit Park Zandvoort punishes dearly for mistakes, as there are no run-off areas.
Another breaking news was dropped on Saturday morning, as Alfa Romeo Racing announced, that Kimi Räikkönen had been tested positive for Covid-19 and was therefore out of the rest of the GP weekend. The Iceman was replaced by the reserve driver Robert Kubica. After last week's pouring rain sun was very welcome on the qualifying day. The Ferrari duo of Charles and Carlos were the fastest men in the first session. Especially the slow corners in the middle sector suited the Scuderia perfectly. The biggest name casualty in Q1 was Sergio Perez, who just barely missed out on his second attempt.
Red Bull ace Verstappen put up a staggering show on his home soil. The orange army went crazy, as their hero set a dominant benchmark on his very first flyer. Both Mercedes drivers were over six tenths off the pace. Especially the banked Turn 3 was the place, where the magic happened; Verstappen was 0.33s faster than Hamilton in that Turn alone. Q2 was interrupted by red flag twice, both caused by Williams drivers. First Russell crashed out in Turn 13, and as the session was resumed, it was Latifi, who crashed into the barriers in Turn 8. Q2 was not resumed.
The battle for pole turned out surprisingly tight. Verstappen had claimed provisional pole by 0.299s to Bottas, but there was more to come from the reigning world champion. Although Max had an issue with his DRS, he managed to improve by 0.038s at the end. Those thousandths of a second proved extremely significant, as Hamilton improved dearly in the end. Actually the gap between the two turned out exactly 38 thousandths of a second! Bottas qualified third and was accompanied by AlphaTauri's Gasly on the second row. The third row was locked down by the red-suited drivers, with Charles having the upper hand on his teammate. Alfa Romeo's Giovinazzi equaled his career best grid slot by qualifying 7th. The Alpine duo of Ocon and Alonso and McLaren's Ricciardo rounded out the top ten.
The sun was shining and the grandstands were orange, as the lights went out. Home hero Verstappen took a perfect start and didn't let anyone challenge him for the lead. Hamilton followed, and teammate Bottas managed to maintain his 3rd place. The best start within the top ten was taken by Alpine's Alonso, who gained two places by moving 7th. Alfa Romeo's Giovinazzi, on the other hand, dropped down from P7 to P10. Red Bull's Perez, who had failed badly in the qualifying, started to the race from the pitlane with some new power unit elements changed to his RB16B. Following Saturday's crash Williams' Latifi started from the pits as well.
Circuit Park Zandvoort definitely turned out to be a track, where following another car was difficult. By lap 6 Verstappen had pulled a 2.5-second gap to Hamilton, who had a similar gap to his teammate. Gasly in fourth proved totally unable to match the top three's pace and was over five seconds down on the Finnish Mercedes driver.
Hamilton was the first top driver to pit on lap 21. It was a slow pit stop for the Briton, who rejoined the track on fresh medium Pirellis. Red Bull reacted right away and called race leader Verstappen in on the sequential lap. The flying Dutchman opted for similar tyre strategy to his arch rival. Bottas was now in the lead, and the Finn was to drive on a one-stop strategy. However, the out-worn tyres caused vibration, and Verstappen was rapidly closing the gap to the Finn, with Hamilton right at his very tail. Finally it didn't turn out too a difficult task for Verstappen to get past Bottas at the end of the start/finish straight on lap 31. After the overtaking move Bottas let his teammate past as well. Bottas was called in for his pit stop, switching to a fresh set of medium Pirellis. Bottas maintained his third place in front of the Ferrari duo of Leclerc and Sainz.
The only yellow flags were brought out by Aston Martin's Vettel on lap 37. Vettel span, which caused a lock-up for Bottas, who could just barely avoid hitting the German's AMR21. Perez in his RB16B had a humiliating moment a couple of laps later, as both Verstappen and Hamilton lapped him.
The top two's second pit stop roulette took place on laps 40 and 41, once again Hamilton first. The two championship contenders had different tyre strategy, as Hamilton opted for another set of medium Pirellis, but Verstappen was forced to switch to the hard rubber, as he had no medium tyres left. Behind the top three the Scuderia drivers were on a one-stop strategy. Both Leclerc and Sainz had switched to the hard rubber for their second stint.
Verstappen was close but still so very far away. Hamilton was able to squeeze the gap as into tiny 1.5 seconds, but that was the closest that Hamilton could get. Bottas instead was massive 20 seconds down on his teammate. Initiated but failed one-stopper had forced the Finn to save his tyres, which had had costly consequences in terms of his race pace.
With ten laps to go, only five drivers were on the very same lap. Perez, who had started to the race from the pit lane, had made his way through the pack and was fighting McLaren's Norris for P9. The Mexican made his move in Turn 1, which led into light contact between the two. Another sculp for Perez, who now moved 8th in the race.
With only four laps to go, Mercedes called Bottas in for the second pit stop. The Finn rejoined the track in his secured third place on a fresh set of soft Pirellis. Right after that Bottas set the screens purple in the first two sectors, but the team told the Finn to abort the fastest lap time, because Hamilton needed the extra point. As Hamilton proved unable to challenge Verstappen for the victory, Mercedes called the Briton in for a new set of softs as well. Hamilton nailed it on the final lap and claimed the extra point for the fastest lap time, which his teammate had been denied.
Orange smoke was everywhere, as Verstappen took the chequered flag as the race winner. Verstappen definitely gave his fans everything that they could dream of by snatching pole on Saturday and now winning the race. Hamilton and Bottas completed the podium, leaving Gasly fourth and Leclerc fifth. Alpine's Alonso had made a final-lap move on Carlos in his Ferrari, claiming P6. Perez finally made it P8, bringing four points for Red Bull. By winning on his home soil, Verstappen robbed his arch rival of the championship lead by three points. Perez's failure in the qualifying meant, that Mercedes still maintained their lead in the constructors' championship standings by 12 points.
The last round of the triple-header will take the F1 caravan to Monza, Italy. Hopefully passionate Tifosi will help the Red Team gain success at the Temple of Speed, where we'll see the second Sprint of the season. Forza Ferrari!
With passion for racing red,
Iina Huhmarniemi
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