With the Formula 1 Dutch GP not currently scheduled to return after 2026, it’s important to look back on the race which broke the circuit’s 36-year absence from the F1 calendar.
The 2021 Dutch GP was the first F1 race to be held in the Netherlands since 1985. The race was held at the familiar Circuit Zandvoort and played host to round 13 of a highly contested Formula One World Championship battle.
Off the back of half-points being awarded in the previous race at the F1 Belgian Grand Prix, Verstappen had cut Lewis Hamilton’s lead in the championship down to just three points. Red Bull were also chasing down Mercedes in the Constructors’ Championship as seven points separated the two teams.
Before the weekend, 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen announced his retirement from F1 at the end of the 2021 season but would be unable to compete in the race after testing positive for Covid-19 on Saturday morning. Alfa Romeo reserve driver Robert Kubica would replace him.
Navigating a fresh challenge
Over the course of the first one-hour practice session on Friday morning, there was only 25 minutes of run time as an engine failure for Sebastian Vettel in the Aston Martin red flagged the session for 35 minutes.
Free Practice Two saw some big shocks as Ferrari finished the session in first and second with Charles Leclerc ahead of Carlos Sainz. Meanwhile, Hamilton suffered an oil pressure problem which brought out the red flag. During this period, the stewards investigated Verstappen for overtaking another car under controlled conditions. However, they determined that he did not deserve a penalty.
Sainz hindered Ferrari’s good showing on Friday by crashing heavily at the banked corner of turn three during the final practice session on Saturday morning.Verstappen topped a session for the first time in Zandvoort when he set a 1:09.623 to go fastest of anyone in FP3.
A tricky Q1 and Q2
Ferrari matched their FP2 result to secure first and second in the first part of qualifying, while Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez was knocked out in P16. Vettel, Kubica, and the two Haas cars driven by Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin also finished in the bottom five. Mazepin seemingly impeded Vettel at Turn 13 on his fast lap, but the stewards did not hand out any penalty.
Q2 was a nightmare for Williams as both their cars found the barriers to leave the mechanics with a lot of work to do overnight. George Russell was the first to crash out as he spun into the wall on the exit of turn 13 whilst Nicholas Latifi later crashed at high speed at turn seven.
Both incidents brought out the red flag with the Canadian’s crash ultimately bringing the session to an early conclusion. Russell qualified 11th ahead of Lance Stroll, Lando Norris, Latifi and Yuki Tsunoda who were also all out of qualifying.
Could Verstappen deliver in Q3 at the Dutch GP?
In the first runs of Q3, Verstappen showed rapid pace to delight his home crowd as he delivered a 1:08.923, just under three tenths quicker than Valtteri Bottas in second and just under three and a half tenths quicker than his championship rival Hamilton in third.
With the chequered flag waving and the roars of the Dutch crowd behind him, Verstappen went even faster on his final lap in Q3 to deliver an incredible 1:08.885 lap time. A superb fastest final sector from Hamilton got him within 0.038 seconds of the Dutchman, but it wasn’t enough to deny Verstappen a maiden pole position at his home race.
The two championship protagonists would share the front row for a sixth time in the 2021 season ahead of Bottas and Pierre Gasly who delivered a brilliant P4 for Alpha Tauri. The two Ferraris of Leclerc and Sainz qualified fifth and sixth ahead of the impressive Antonio Giovinazzi in seventh. Esteban Ocon, Fernando Alonso and Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top ten.
A couple of pit lane starters
Latifi crashed heavily in Q2 and qualified P14, but he would start the Dutch GP from the pit lane because the stewards handed him a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change, and his team modified his car under Parc Ferme conditions.
Perez was another driver who had made changes to his car under Parc Ferme conditions, requiring him to also start from the pit lane. The officials had already sent the Mexican to the back of the grid for exceeding his allotted power unit elements.
F1 racing returns to Zandvoort
When the lights went out, Verstappen maintained the lead from pole position ahead of Hamilton and Bottas. Gasly and Leclerc followed them, as the top five all maintained their positions off the start.
Meanwhile, there was a five-car battle going on from Sainz in sixth to Ricciardo in tenth as Giovinazzi battled hard with the two Alpines going into turns five and six.
The Italian ultimately lost out as he dropped from seventh to tenth on lap one. Sainz held position in sixth now ahead of Alonso, Ocon and Ricciardo.
Hamilton pits first
There was little action to report in the opening 20 laps after the start but on lap 20 Hamilton and Mercedes headed for the pits to make their first tyre change of the race. The Briton had a comfortable gap to come out in third with a fresh set of medium tyres as the world champion attempted to undercut Verstappen.
However, Red Bull responded a lap later by bringing in the race leader for his first pit stop. Verstappen also put on a set of medium compound tyres and emerged from the pit lane still ahead of his championship rival.
Whilst Verstappen and Hamilton were opting for the two-stop strategy, it now looked like Mercedes were going to put new race leader Bottas on a one-stop in an attempt to hold up the Red Bull or maybe even claim a first win of the season for himself.
Verstappen meets Bottas in the middle
By the end of lap 30, Verstappen had charged up to the back of Bottas and made the move with the Drag Reduction System (DRS) down the start-finish straight to regain the lead of the Dutch GP.
A couple of corners later, Bottas conceded second place to his teammate who was now less than eight tenths behind Verstappen’s lead.
Further back, on lap 37, Vettel had a spin whilst on the inside line of the banked corner of turn three but avoided any contact with the barrier. This hampered Bottas who had just pitted for a fresh set of medium tyres as he had to take avoiding action which lost him one and a half seconds in the first sector alone.
Perez makes progress to the points
On lap 53 of 72, Ricciardo now running in tenth was told by his race engineer to “hold him (Perez) up.”
However, three laps later, Perez made a sweeping move around the outside of the McLaren at turn one.
The Red Bull driver had now moved into the points after starting from the pit lane and acclaimed: “Let’s go. Who’s next?”
On lap 66, Perez would find that Ricciardo’s teammate Norris was his next target to overtake as he attempted to repeat the move around the outside of turn one.
However, Norris seemingly pushed Perez a bit wide and there was wheel to wheel contact between the front-right of the Red Bull and the rear-left of the McLaren but it wasn’t enough to stop the Mexican from claiming ninth place going into turn two.
Confusion over the fastest lap
With a few laps to go, Mercedes pitted Bottas onto a fresh set of soft compound tyres in an attempt to ensure that they claim the fastest lap of the race.
However, when it looked like Hamilton was going to claim the fastest lap with just three laps to go, Bottas was handed this message: “Valtteri, it’s James. Please abort the fastest-lap attempt before the end of the lap.”
The problem for Mercedes was that Bottas had already set a fastest first and second sector on the lap so that even when he slowed down for the line, the Finn still claimed the fastest lap of the race.
This caused Hamilton to make another pit stop as he argued that “I need that extra point, guys.”
Hamilton resolved the issue on the final lap of the race by setting a new lap record of 1:11.097, earning himself one extra World Championship point.
A Dutch driver on top
With the orange flares of the Dutch fans in the background, Verstappen crossed the line on lap 72 to win the Dutch GP to become the first ever Dutch driver to win or even stand on the podium at their home race.
Merecedes outscored Red Bull in the points as they claimed a double podium with Hamilton finishing in second, as he set the fastest lap, ahead of Bottas in third. Gasly and Leclerc completed the top five in an exact copy of how they had lined up on the starting grid.
In the lower points scoring positions, there had been some late race drama as Alonso had passed his compatriot Sainz for sixth whilst Perez’s recovery reached a climax when he passed Ocon for P8 with a few laps to go. Norris rounded out the points in a poor day for McLaren as Ricciardo just missed out in P11.
Verstappen’s perfect day hands him the championship lead
With Verstappen’s 17th career victory, he overtook Hamilton in the Drivers’ Championship to take a three-point lead going into the F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Bottas moved into third as a result of Norris and Perez’s lowly points scoring finishes.
In the Constructors’ Championship, Merecedes still had the more prolific weekend in terms of points which extended their lead over Red Bull to 12 points. Ferrari overtook McLaren for third in the standings, highlighting McLaren’s struggles at Zandvoort.
The post-race reviews
Speaking after the race, Verstappen said: “It’s incredible to win here today on another home track and it feels great to take the lead in the driver’s championship again.
“Of course the expectations were very high coming into the weekend and it’s never easy to fulfil that but the whole crowd has been incredible and I am so happy to win here.”
Hamilton said: “What a race and what a crowd, honestly, it’s been an amazing weekend.
“Max did a great job so congrats to him. I gave it everything I had out there, but they were just too quick for us this weekend. I think even if we’d have got everything right today with the traffic, the pit stops and the strategy, it’d still have been tough to get by them.”
Bottas said: “It was quite a quiet race for me but as a team, we scored solid points and there’s been an amazing atmosphere here.
“Before the race, there was so much energy from the crowd, and it’s a really cool track to drive. Very hard to overtake on, but good fun.”
