PETER COSTER reports on a race where the top teams slip in an out of contention as the heavens open.
Max Verstappen’s continuing domination marks him as one of the greatest drivers in the history of F1 with his ninth straight victory at the Dutch Grand Prix.
The RB19 is also the dominant car of the past three seasons, but it is the margin between Verstappen and teammate Sergio Perez that demonstrates Verstappen’s mastery.
The Mexican driver has won two of the 13 races so far this year with the Dutchman winning 11.
There are still nine races to go and it is highly likely Verstappen will add to a record unequalled since the start of the world championship at Silverstone in 1950.
Next year there will be 24 races and next week will see the teams in Monza for the Italian race.
But this Sunday was all about Verstappen. The Dutch driver and the tens of thousands of his adoring fans were treated to the strains of fellow Dutchman Andre Reiu and the Johann Strauss Orchestra.
This is the master showman who drew similar crowds to his sold-out stadium concerts in Melbourne.
At the Dutch Grand Prix the fans were in a similar mood as they sang the old Doris Day anthem Que Sera Sera in the blinding rain.
You had to be approaching your dotage to know the words, but it seemed to have something to do with the weather they had to endure at the circuit among the shifting sand dunes at Zandvoort.
The race started on a dry track, which turned into a skating rink as aqua-planing cars changed from slicks to intermediates and full wets before slicks once again.
“Whatever will be, will be” seemed to suit the occasion. Verstappen spent the time between a red flag and the last seven laps of the race getting advice from Red Bull consultant Helmut Marko.
The Austrian octogenarian is a former Formula One driver whose career ended when a stone thrown up by Ronnie Petersen’s March blinded him in one eye during the French Grand Prix in 1972.
Marko won the Le Mans 24-hour race the year before in a Martini-Porsche with Gijs van Lennep.
The 80-year-old shows no signs of slowing downs the tough and uncompromising head of Red Bull’s driver development program.
Young drivers listen to the old man. If they don’t they’re out, like Dutchman Nyck de Vries who had to give up his seat with Red Bull junior team AlphaTauri to Daniel Ricciardo.
The Australian was having surgery on a broken bone in his left hand in Spain on Sunday after hitting the barriers during practice.
At least it gave promising young Kiwi driver Liam Lawson his chance at an F1 drive.
Ricciardo hopes to be back in the AlphaTauri for the Singapore Grand Prix following the Italian race at Monza.
It may prove to be too fast a turnaround after the incident, which involved fellow Australian Oscar Piastri.
Piastri hit the barriers on the sweeping turn three of the Zandvoort track leaving the rear end of the McLaren on the racing line.
Ricciardo chose to hit the barriers but admitted he didn’t get his hand off the wheel quickly enough to avoid the impact through the front suspension.
What Ricciardo should have done was demonstrated by Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu who let go of the steering wheel a micro second before his Alfa Romeo aquaplaned into the barriers.
The race finished with a rolling start behind the safety car to avoid further incidents in the rain with the race directors mindful of the chaotic finish to the Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne when cars crashed during a standing start.
Alonso finished second at Zandvoort in the Aston Martin. Pierre Gasly was third in the Alpine with Perez relegated to fourth in the Red Bull after a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
Perez led the race in there early laps before being left on the track while Verstappen was given preference for a tyre change.
Perez was quickly on the radio to complain as Verstappen regained the lead.
Red Bull said they called Verstappen in to cover off other cars but the more likely explanation is they wanted Verstappen to have every chance to continue his run of victories.
The Dutchman has equalled the record set by Sebastian Vettel with Red Bull in 2013 and back in the day with Alberto Ascari before he was killed in a testing accident at Monza, the circuit for next Sunday’s race.
Meanwhile, McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri deserved better at Zandvoort than their respective seventh and ninth placings.
Norris was second to Verstappen in qualifying after holding out Verstappen until there Dutchman’s last flying lap before the track dried out.
Piastri said there were “a few decisions we would have made differently” in the race and in qualifying when he was lying third before a poor final lap after a red flag.
At the mid-way point after the European summer break the silly season is in full swing with rumours that Norris and Piastri could be looking at drives with either Mercedes or Ferrari.
But why would they?
Mercedes and particularly Ferrari are struggling with the Scuderia showing more than its usual incompetence, calling in its cars for tyre changes when the team doesn’t have the tyres ready.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz can only sit and wait. More likely are changes in the garage, not in who’s sitting in the driver’s seat.
PETER COSTER is a former editor and foreign correspondent who has covered a range of international sports, including world championship fights and the Olympic Games.
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