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Dutch Grand Prix LIVE: Max Verstappen wins home race to leapfrog Lewis Hamilton in championship

Follow all the action from round 13 as Lewis Hamilton attempts to extend his lead in the championship

Sport Staff
Sunday 05 September 2021 15:59 BST
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Verstappen’s triumph, the 17th of his career, was greeted with emphatic celebrations by the 70,000-strong Zandvoort crowd.

Hamilton finished as runner-up, with Valtteri Bottas third in the other Mercedes.

Hamilton, who spent the final third of Sunday’s race complaining about his team’s strategy, now trails Verstappen by three points.

Verstappen claimed a superb victory at the Dutch Grand Prix to knock Hamilton off the top of the championship standings.

Follow all the action and live updates from the Dutch Grand Prix below:

Movement in the midfield

Further back from the fight at the front, Sergio Perez is up to seventh ahead of both Alpines after making his stint on medium tyres work really well so far.

Lando Norris, meanwhile, is in seventh and is the only man on track who has yet to venture into the pits. Both Ferraris are head of him, with Leclerc still leading Sainz.

Dan Austin5 September 2021 14:49

Russell given penalty by stewards

George Russell is currently running thirteenth in this race but has just been given a five second time penalty by the stewards for speeding in the pitlane.

That’s an enormous blow for a driver who has thoroughly impressed with solid defensive driving so far this afternoon.

Dan Austin5 September 2021 14:47

Bottas in the pits after failing to hold up Verstappen

Mercedes response to Bottas’ rather weak defence of the lead is to pit him and and put him onto medium tyres.

It is hard to imagine those tyres lasting until the end of the race, so he should pit again at some stage, but it might be worth a roll of the dice.

Dan Austin5 September 2021 14:44

Verstappen passes Bottas to take the lead

Max Verstappen has caught Valtteri Bottas after the Finn went wide through the final chicane and the Dutchman makes the move stick using DRS off the final corner.

Hamilton has followed straight through and the gap between the leaders is now 3s.

Dan Austin5 September 2021 14:42

Gasly overtakes Alonso

Pierre Gasly came out behind Fernando Alonso following his pitstop and has just re-overtaken the Spaniard by lining up a move around the outside of turn one and using all of the tarmac to carry enough speed to make it work.

Gasly is having yet another excellent weekend in that Alpha Tauri.

Dan Austin5 September 2021 14:41

Verstappen catching Bottas quickly

Max Verstappen is now reeling in Valtteri Bottas extremely quickly on fresh rubber, with the Finn struggling for pace on soft tyres which have now done 28 laps.

Verstappen is an average of 1.2s per lap faster than the Mercedes and will be all over Bottas’ gearbox in a matter of moments.

Dan Austin5 September 2021 14:39

Alonso proves Ocon wrong

Fernando Alonso has rather emphatically proven Esteban Ocon’s complaints about the Spaniard’s pace wrong since the start of the race.

After two laps the Frenchman asked his Alpine to allow him through, labelling Alonso “extremely slow”, but the two-time world champion has now pulled out a gap of six seconds.

He might have taken that personally...

Dan Austin5 September 2021 14:38

Pierre Gasly stops from fourth

Alpha Tauri have brought their first car in for a stop as Pierre Gasly drops back from fourth place to seventh in order to switch to the medium tyres.

Ferrari, who have both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz behind the Frenchman, will have to respond soon.

Dan Austin5 September 2021 14:36

Can Bottas make the one stop work?

Hamilton and Verstappen’s relatively early stops mean they won’t be able to go to the end on these medium tyres, so a second stop in the final third of the race is inevitable.

Valtteri Bottas, on the other hand, is still out there on his softs and could attempt a one-stop by moving to hard tyres. That would mean Verstappen, currently second and roughly 9s behind the Finn, would have to make the overtake in order to win the race.

This is that strategy advantage Christian Horner was talking about pre-race.

Dan Austin5 September 2021 14:34

Hamilton and Verstappen make first pit stops

Lewis Hamilton has pitted to change onto medium tyres after 20 laps, with a slightly slow change on the front right meaning an uncharacteristically slow stop from Mercedes.

Max Verstappen responds by making the same change on the next lap, and comes out 2.5s ahead of his title rival.

Bottas now leads the race.

Dan Austin5 September 2021 14:31

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