F1: Max Verstappen Storms To Dutch GP Win Against Resurgent Mercedes

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen further extended his lead over Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in the 2022 F1 world championship as he won a chaotic Dutch GP at Zandvoort. The reigning world champion had the measure of Leclerc in the first half of the race but then faced a challenge from the Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell as their cars gathered pace on the medium and hard tyres, but a series of safety cars meant that Verstappen gained a tyre advantage on the Mercedes duo who had overtaken him by virtue of being on a single pitstop strategy. But the Mercedes strategy was ruined by two safety cars that allowed Verstappen short pitstops and parity on tyres. 

Russel still managed P2 for Mercedes ahead of Leclerc in P3 for the Ferrari, but Hamilton’s race was ruined by a faulty tyre strategy and the 7-time world champion just managed P4 after being the favourite to win the race at one point of time. He was followed by Red Bull’s Sergio Perez in P5 followed by Fernando Alonso in P6 for the Alpine who managed an amazing recovery drive. 

Carlos Sainz Jr in the Ferrari had qualified in P3, but his race was ruined by a pitstop issue and then in the latter half of the race he was penalised for overtaking while the yellow flag was on. He ended up P8 behind even Lando Norris in the McLaren. Esteban Ocon managed P9 in the second Alpine. Lance Stroll capped off the points scorers with P10 for the Aston Martin while his teammate, the soon-to-be retiring Sebastian Vettel had a horrid race In P14. 

Pierre Gasly managed P11 for AlphaTauri while his teammate Yuki Tsunoda retired after a torrid race and was the catalyst to trigger the first safety car. Alex Albon finished in P12 Williams while his teammate Nicholas Latifi managed P18. Under pressure, Mick Schumacher who is fighting for a race seat next year finished in P13 for Haas ahead of his teammate Kevin Magnussen who managed just P15. Guanyu Zhou managed P16 for Alfa Romeo ahead of his teammate Valtteri Bottas who didn’t finish the race. Outgoing McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo continued his horror show of form with the team as he just managed P17. 

2022 Formula 1 Round 15 Dutch GP: Race Results

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2022 Formula 1 World Constructor's Championship Standings After Round 14 - Belgian GP