|F1 2022 Dutch GP| race analysis:

Verstappen takes fourth straight victory in action-packed race at Zandvoort

Race results. Dutch GP F1 2022.

race results Dutch gp f1 2022 - Presticebdt

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Verstappen heading to the Italian Grand Prix in stunning form

World drivers championship leader Max Verstappen took his fourth Formula One race in succession at an action-packed Dutch Grand Prix as he continues to edge ever closer to another world title.

During a chaotic race which saw a late safety car close the pack together with less than ten laps to go, Verstappen overtook Lewis Hamilton on the restart to claim the 30th race victory of his career so far.

The win also sees him extend his lead at the top of the world drivers championship to 109 points over Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc with just seven races left of the 2022 season.

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Even though he didn’t have it all his own way around Zandvoort, Max Verstappen powered through to claim another vital win at the Dutch Grand Prix – his fourth in-a-row as he closes in on a second successive world drivers championship title.

Now sat 109 points clear of Charles Leclerc at the top of the standings, Verstappen heads to the Italian Grand Prix next weekend in scintillating form.

This time around in Zandvoort he had led from pole position for much of the race before Lewis Hamilton assumed the lead due to a late safety car.

With the home crowd on edge, the Dutchman got the perfect exit off the final corner after the safety car restart to retake the lead heading into corner one which he held until the end of the race to send the majority of the 109,000 spectators at the event into raptures.

MAX VERSTAPPEN WINS AT ZANDVOORT!!!

What an incredible race that was! 😵

Russell takes second place with Leclerc finishing third#DutchGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/NO0f0nJjss

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 4, 2022

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Mixed emotions for Mercedes

Second place is far more than Russell would have been expecting after Perez’s spin grounded him to sixth on the grid in qualifying and Russell deserves great credit for making it happen.

It was he who overruled his Mercedes team and boldly made the call to pit and concede second place to Verstappen. This switch to the soft tyres gave him far superior grip to his team-mate who he easily cast aside – albeit via nearly running into the back of Hamilton such was his pace advantage.

Hamilton had too solid a weekend to end up off the podium, but he’s been on the other end of the vagaries of VSC/SC timing enough in his career to the point where it’s hard to feel this was that big an injustice.

The strategy call was proven clearly wrong, with Hamilton hung out to dry ‘Leclerc at Silverstone’-style, but like in Leclerc’s case some will be keen to point out that, like Sainz at Silverstone, Russell was the maker of his destiny relative to Hamilton.

On another note, though, while the radio messages that followed didn’t exactly cover Hamilton in glory, he said the exact right things with a cooler head after the race – something the Mercedes rank-and-file are likely to appreciate, regardless of what Toto Wolff said about the team’s “vomit bag on an aeroplane” role.

Lewis is FUMING with Mercedes 😳 pic.twitter.com/ot9zqNEmFn

— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) September 4, 2022

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CARLOS SAINZ AND FERRARI

Both sides dropped the ball here, although Ferrari did it in a much more spectacular fashion.

From the shocking rushed first pitstop to the unsafe release that left Sainz lobbying desperately – and not very convincingly – on the radio, the race on the Spaniard’s side was not executed well in the least.

But he was also just not very fast at all, suffering with overheating and a difficult rear end, and sinking like a bag of stones in the first stint versus a much faster Leclerc on a day on which the Ferrari package anyway just didn’t look good.

Ferrari customer teams Alfa Romeo and Haas are getting far too familiar with our losers category in recent times.

For the fifth (Alfa) and fourth (Haas) consecutive race weekend neither team scored points nor got anywhere close.

Haas never stood much chance after a slow pitstop for Schumacher dropped him well adrift of the points fight and an opening lap excursion made Magnussen’s already long odds even longer.

Alfa suffered yet more reliability woes with Valtteri Bottas stopping on track while Zhou Guanyu finished down in 16th place.

Formula 1, Dutch GP: Pit lane problems add to Ferrari's Carlos Sainz troubles - Presticebdt

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Race results – after the race: Dutch GP F1 2022

Binotto explains bizarre Ferrari strategy

Although Verstappen and Red Bull are running away with both titles, Binotto says the Scuderia remain focused on winning as many races as possible from now until the end of the season.

With a trip to Monza next on the calendar, the team principal is hoping the Tifosi will lift the spirits at Ferrari and propel them to a strong result.

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Binotto:

“We still are looking for victories and our intention is to try to win at each single race and that includes Monza,”

“It’s certainly a difficult moment right now, because we are not getting the results, at least in terms of the expectations we have, but we need to react.

“At Monza we will have our Tifosi there after COVID. It’s great to have our Tifosi there in the grandstands, and that will be important for us because they will certainly cheer for us and boost us as a team, which we need [in order] to find some good results, as well as for the spirit and the mood.”

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