Welcome to Sportstar’s highlights of the 2022 Dutch Grand Prix. This was Nihit Sachdeva taking you through the lap-by-lap updates as the action unfolded at Circuit Zandvoort in Netherlands on Sunday, September 4, 2022.
Summary: Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won his home Dutch Grand Prix from pole position for the second year in a row on to take his 10th victory of the season and extend his Formula One lead into triple figures.
LAP 72: Final lap of the Dutch Grand Prix. Max Verstappen, the home favourite and reigning world champion, survives a dramatic race and wins at Zandvoort for the second year running!!!!! Russell finishes second while Leclerc takes the final place on the podium. A dejected Lewis Hamilton finishes fourth.
LAP 70: Three laps to go. Perez and Sainz fight down the main straight, Perez goes off track trying to go round the outside and into the gravel on turn 1. Meanwhile, Verstappen leads Russell by four seconds.
LAP 68: Fifth-placed Sainz gets a five-second time penalty for unsafe release during lap 58. That possibly puts him out of top 10.
LAP 67: Fight between Norris and Alonso for 7th. Alonso leads by half a second.
LAP 66: Lewis Hamilton, who looked set to get his first win of 2022, is now out of podium places as Leclerc goes past him on the main straight.
LAP 65: More trouble for Hamilton as Leclerc closes in on him.
LAP 64: After all the drama, it is home favourite Verstappen who leads. Russell overtakes Hamilton to go second down the main straight!!!!
LAP 61: Verstappen overtakes Hamilton on Turn 1 right after the Safety Car ends!!!! Fastest lap for the Red Bull - 1:13.682s
LAP 60: Hamilton - “ It’s going to be hard to keep that car (Verstappen) behind me now, guys.” Safety Car is ending. No DRS for two laps.
LAP 59: Lapped cars now allowed to overtake the Safety Car.
LAP 58: Possible unsafe release by Ferrari - Sainz. Just about avoids contact with Ocon. Russell pits and this means, Verstappen is up to second.
LAP 56: Verstappen pits, time taken 3 seconds as he switches to soft. Hamilton stays out and it is a one-two for Mercedes.
LAP 55: Bottas stops on the main straight due to engine issues. Yellow flag waived but Sainz overtakes Ocon to go sixth. Safety Car has been deployed.
LAP 54: Hamilton takes the fastest lap with 1:13.854 seconds as he looks to close the gap between him and Verstappen.
LAP 52: Alonso sets the fastest lap - 1:14.144 seconds.
LAP 50: Green flag. No VSC anymore. Verstappen leading. Hamilton chasing. Russell in third.
LAP 48: Verstappen pits. This will be crucial. Time - 2.8 seconds! Hamilton pits and his pit-stop time is 2.8 seconds as well while Mercedes go for the medium tyres as compared to Red Bull’s hard tyres. Advantage, for the time being, to Verstappen as he stays ahead.
LAP 48: Tsunoda says, “Something strange with the rear” and his team asks him to stop. Yellow flag has been waived. Virtual Safety car deployed.
LAP 47: Pit stop for Tsunoda. The AlphaTauri did have some issue with the car.
LAP 46: Pit stop for Leclerc. Time -2.5 seconds. Hard compound tyres on. Hamilton moves to second.
LAP 44: Tsunoda stops near the barriers and complains the tyres aren’t fitted correctly. However, no safety car as the AlphaTauri driver rejoins the race.
LAP 42: Sergio Perez with the fastest lap of the race - 1:14.930s.
LAP 42: Incident noted - Vettel possibly ignored a blue flag while coming out of the pit lane in front of Hamilton and Perez during Lap 37.
LAP 41: Perez pits. Switches to hard compound tyres. Possibly a data-gathering move from Red Bull to plan for Verstappen.
LAP 40: Red Bull looking to keep Verstappen out for as long as possible before the inevitable second pit-stop to give him the best chance to overtake the others at the end with fresher tyres.
LAP 37: Hamilton overtakes Perez round the outside on the main straight, Vettel comes in the way while exiting from the pit lane but the seven-time champion avoids any damage to hold his position. Verstappen - first, Leclerc - second, Hamilton - third!
LAP 36: Hamilton comes close as it could be to Perez on the main straight. Perez locks up but forces the Mercedes driver wide at the exit and holds position.
LAP 35: Hamilton clocks the fastest lap of the race - 1:15.472s
LAP 34: Hamilton chasing Perez for the third spot at the moment. Expected overtake in two laps.
LAP 32: Russell pits. Time- 2.8 seconds. Current top five - Verstappen, Leclerc, Perez, Hamilton, Russell.
LAP 30: Hamilton pits. Time - 2.6 seconds. Switches to hard compound tyres. Smooth. One-stop strategy?
LAP 29: Second pit stop for Daniel Ricciardo of McLaren. He has switched to hard tyres. Position - 19th.
LAP 28: Gap between Verstappen and Russell is a little more than half a second. Russell goes to the inside but Verstappen goes past him on the main straight to move to second!
LAP 26: Everyone else has had a pit stop except the two Mercedes. They must be hoping for a safety car now.
LAP 25: Verstappen is quickly reducing the gap between him and Russell. It’s just two seconds now.
LAP 22: Pit lane incident involving Sainz and Perez has been noted. In a separate case, Zhou Guanyu has been noted for overspeeding in the pit lane.
LAP 20: Easy overtake for Sainz on Albon on turn 1. Sainz upto 6th.
LAP 19: Verstappen pits and switches to medium tyres. A 3.4 second pit stop. Hamilton is the race leader now followed by his teammate George Russell.
LAP 18: Leclerc pits. Meanwhile, Verstappen stays on track. Hamilton on second. 2021 flashback, anyone?
LAP 17: Schumacher goes past Vettel after a brief resistance from the four-time champion. The Haas driver moves up to 16th.
LAP 15: Sainz decides to pit. Hamilton goes up to 3rd. Disaster for Sainz as the Ferrari could not realise him before Perez, who was also having a pit stop just behind him. A 12-second pit stop could cost him a place on the podium.
LAP 14: Problem for Mick Schumacher in the pits. Something is wrong with his left rear tyre.
LAP 13: However, Alonso decides to go for an early pit stop and give up his advantage. He is now at 16th.
LAP 12: Alonso overtakes another AlphaTauri - this time it is Tsunoda at turn 1. Alonso up to 11th now.
LAP 11: Magnussen goes down the inside of Latifi at turn one but fails to hold on to the advantage.
LAP 10: Verstappen increases his lead over Leclerc. The gap is now more than 1.5 seconds. Meanwhile, Alonso overtakes Gasly on the home-straight to go 12th.
LAP 7: Hamilton is closing in on Sainz. The gap between the two is less than a second.
LAP 4: Verstappen leads Leclerc by more than a second at the moment. Great start for Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who is on 9th after starting from 12th. Same from Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll - 8th now after beginning the race from 10th.
LAP 2: Kevin Magnussen loses control, the Haas enters into the gravel, hits the barrier and is back on track. Lucky!
LAP 1:It’s lights out at Zandvoort! Verstappen starts off nicely to stay on pole position but there was possible contact between third-placed Sainz and fourth-placed Hamilton on the very first corner.
6:30PM IST: Verstappen, Leclerc and Sainz start on the soft compound tyres while Hamilton has opted for the medium one. Formation lap begins.
6:25PM IST: Just four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel making a little fan’s day in his final race in The Netherlands.
6:15PM IST: Just 15 minutes to go for live action. Will it be another win for the home favourite?
Red Bull’s Dutch driver Max Verstappen waves to the crowd on the drivers parade ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix at Circuit Zandvoort on Sunday.
6:05PM IST: Here’s how the circuit at Zandvoort looks-
6PM IST: ICYMI, here are the highlights from first half of the 2022 Formula One season (till Hungarian Grand Prix) and what to expect from the second half - by Pranay Rajiv and Abhishek Saini.
5:50PM IST: Saturday’s qualifying session had its fare share of drama due to factors totally unrelated to the world of Formula One - flares and pigeons. The second phase of qualifying was briefly halted after a smoking orange flare was thrown onto the track.
The governing FIA said the person responsible had been removed by security.
Williams’ Alex Albon was alone on track at the time and he sounded more vexed by the local wildlife, reporting a “tonne of pigeons” pecking at the edge of the track.
A marshal tried to chase away the birds during the halt.
Another thrown flare was seen on television cameras at the start of the third and final phase, but it landed in the grass by the side of the track.
5:40PM IST:What happened in qualifying on Saturday (via Reuters)
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen fired up his fans by seizing pole position at his home Grand Prix for the second year in a row with a storming final effort.
The runaway championship leader was joined on the front row by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, after qualifying at Zandvoort ended with Verstappen’s Mexican team mate Sergio Perez crashing at the final corner.
The yellow warning flags prevented seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton making a last-gasp bid for pole in his Mercedes, and the Briton ended up in fourth place with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in third.
The pole was Verstappen’s fourth of the season and first since Austria in July, while the margin of 0.021 between the top two drivers made it the tightest qualifying battle of the season so far.
“Unbelievable,” said the 24-year-old, who had struggled in Friday practice, as the crowd celebrated in the grandstands.
“Especially after yesterday as well. We had a difficult day but we worked really well overnight with the whole team to turn it around.
“Today we had a quick race car again, but it was very close. A lap around here, a qualifying lap, is insane.”
Verstappen will be chasing his 10th win of the season and fourth in a row at a track where overtaking is not easy.
Leclerc, a massive 98 points behind Verstappen after 14 of 22 races, was fastest after the first flying laps of the third session, with Verstappen 0.059 slower and Hamilton third quickest.
The Ferrari driver went faster again with his second effort, a one minute 10.363, but Verstappen then put in a clinching 1:10.342 before Perez ended the session.
Leclerc said he made a mistake at turn 10 on his second lap and went very wide, losing more than a 10th compared to his previous effort.
“I think the pole position lap today was in the car and I just didn’t put exactly everything together,” added the Monegasque.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff could only contemplate what might have been.
“It’s very frustrating. We were a 10th (of a second) up on Verstappen and on Leclerc so Lewis played for the pole here,” said the Austrian.
“I think he (Perez) pushed it a lot and lost it. It’s not his fault.”
Perez -- 93 points behind Verstappen and second overall in the standings -- will start fifth with Mercedes’ George Russell sixth and Lando Norris seventh for McLaren.
Mick Schumacher, his future uncertain beyond 2022, bagged eighth place on the grid for Haas while team mate Kevin Magnussen was 18th.
Yuki Tsunoda was ninth for AlphaTauri and Canadian Lance Stroll 10th, although the Aston Martin driver was unable to take part in the final phase due to a technical problem.
McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, due to be replaced by fellow Australian Oscar Piastri next season, was only 17th.
“It was going OK, it wasn’t electrifying, and then I guess whoever was in front dropped a wheel (off track) in the second last corner so coming up to the last corner it was dirt everywhere,” said Ricciardo.
“I lost about three tenths there so that was the difference.”
5:30PM IST: Hello and welcome to Sportstar’s live coverage of the 2022 Dutch Grand Prix at Circuit Zandvoort in Zandvoort, Netherlands. The race begins at 6:30PM IST. Stay tuned for all the buildup and the lap-by-lap updates!
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