Dutch GP 2023: Verstappen defies the rain chaos, Gasly on the podium

Max Verstappen (Red Bull) won the 2023 Dutch GP from pole position ahead of Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) and Pierre Gasly (Alpine). Tyre choice decided the race twice: Verstappen took the lead back when the field switched to slicks on lap 11, and he defended it in the wet finale after the red flag. That gave him a third consecutive home win, and with nine wins in a row he equalled Sebastian Vettel's record.

On our race page for the 2023 Dutch GP you can relive the whole race in 3D. Everything about the track is on the Circuit Park Zandvoort page.

Verstappen got away cleanly, while Alonso immediately passed Lando Norris (McLaren) and George Russell (Mercedes) at the banked Turn 3. Then the rain arrived on the very first lap, and the field split into two groups.

Sergio Pérez pitted for intermediates as early as the end of lap 1 and was leading three laps later. Verstappen didn't come in until a lap later and dropped from P1 to P4. According to the timing, Norris was briefly in front on lap 2, and Pérez led from lap 3. Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo) also gained from stopping early after lap 1: three laps later he was running P2.

As the track dried, Red Bull swapped the order around. Verstappen switched to softs on lap 11 and moved from P2 to P1, while Pérez didn't pit until lap 12 and dropped to P2. From lap 13 Verstappen was back in front and held the lead all the way to the chequered flag. After Logan Sargeant (Williams) retired, the Safety Car was out from lap 16 to 22, and Verstappen was never under threat at the restart.

Staying out on lap 1 proved costly. Norris stayed on slicks until lap 3, and after his stop he was no longer P1 but P12. Russell stayed out even longer, until lap 4, and fell from P2 to P14. Both spent the rest of the race fighting back.

Alexander Albon (Williams) took the opposite approach. He stayed on slicks through the whole first shower and ran his softs from the start until lap 44. He was P5 before switching to mediums and P8 three laps later. He finished P8, in the points. “we stuck to our guns and it worked for us with tyre management”, said Albon (source 3). He admitted that his second stop in the wet finale still needed to be talked through. That stop on lap 61 dropped him from P6 to P9.

Oscar Piastri (McLaren) was unlucky. He stopped on lap 15 and fell from P8 to P14, one lap before the Safety Car came out. Under the Safety Car on lap 16, Lance Stroll, Nico Hülkenberg (Haas), Valtteri Bottas and Russell lost less time with their stops. Piastri still scored points in ninth.

Timing also mattered when the second rain came. Gasly switched to intermediates on lap 60 and moved from P5 to P3. Lewis Hamilton gained one place on the same lap (from 7 to 6), Norris three (from 10 to 7). Alonso came in a lap later and went from P3 to P2. Esteban Ocon was the only driver to fit wet tyres, on lap 61, but he dropped from P7 to P11. The gamble didn't pay off.

The rain returned with full force in the closing laps. Pérez half-spun at Turn 1, hit the barrier and lost P2 to Alonso. Shortly afterwards Zhou slid off at Turn 1 after 62 laps. He said his car aquaplaned the moment he hit the brakes. Zhou was unhurt. A Virtual Safety Car came first on lap 64, followed by the red flag.

After a stoppage of around 40 minutes, the race resumed with 17 cars: two laps behind the Safety Car, then a rolling start. Verstappen held the lead against Alonso, who set the fastest lap as a consolation prize.

Further back, the podium was settled off the track. Pérez slid during his pit stop, brushed the wall and was speeding in the pit lane as a result. He was given a 5-second penalty for it on lap 67. He crossed the line ahead of Gasly but dropped to P4 after the penalty. That took Gasly from 12th on the grid to P3, even though he had also picked up a 5-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane on lap 17. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) held on to P5 ahead of Hamilton.

• Logan Sargeant (Williams), retired after lap 14: Like his teammate Albon, he had stayed out on softs without pitting and was shown blue flags several times between laps 7 and 10. He crashed into the barrier at the exit of Turn 8. He said he apparently lost hydraulics and power steering after hitting a kerb. The Safety Car came out after the crash.
• Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), retired after lap 41: It started going wrong at the first stop: when Charles Leclerc came in after lap 1, his tyres weren't ready. He spent 32.6 seconds in the pit lane, against 22.6 seconds for Pérez on the same lap. Contact with Piastri early on, which was ruled a racing incident, damaged his floor, and a new front wing didn't fix it. Leclerc said the damage cost a lot of downforce, and Ferrari retired the car after lap 41.
• Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo), retired after lap 62: Crashed after aquaplaning at Turn 1, unhurt.
• Liam Lawson: 10-second penalty for impeding Magnussen in the pit lane. His AlphaTauri team had serviced both cars back to back. Liam Lawson (AlphaTauri) still went from grid position 19 to P13.
• Yuki Tsunoda: 5-second penalty for colliding with Russell at Turn 1 on lap 54. Yuki Tsunoda finished fifteenth.
• Norris vs Russell: On lap 68 the two touched at Turn 11 while fighting for P7. The stewards took no further action. Russell picked up a puncture, had to pit and dropped from P8 to P17.
• Kevin Magnussen: Kevin Magnussen (Haas) started from the pit lane and finished sixteenth. When the race ended, the stewards were still looking into a possible infringement at the restart.

Winners: Gasly gained more places than anyone, nine, and put Alpine on the podium. His teammate Ocon went from P16 to P10 and scored a point. Hamilton gained seven places from grid position 13, Lawson six. With P2 and the fastest lap, Alonso was back on the podium for the first time since Canada and was voted Driver of the Day.

Losers: Russell started third and finished only seventeenth, 14 places down. Norris dropped from grid position 2 to P7, losing five places, mainly because he switched to intermediates late, on lap 3. Pérez lost his podium to the penalty. For Ferrari, Leclerc's retirement and P5 for Sainz made for a sobering day. Sainz said the team had lacked pace all weekend.

In the 2023 standings, Verstappen now leads on 339 points, 138 clear of Pérez (201). Alonso stays third on 168 points, ahead of Hamilton (156). Sainz moves up two places to 5th with 102 points. Leclerc and Russell are level on 99 points and each drop one place. Gasly is now 10th with 37 points.

In the constructors' standings, Red Bull lead comfortably with 540 points, ahead of Mercedes (255). Aston Martin (215) are 14 points ahead of Ferrari (201). McLaren (111) and Alpine (73) follow.