{"id":184667,"date":"2023-08-27T17:26:03","date_gmt":"2023-08-27T17:26:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indiansapidnews.com\/?p=184667"},"modified":"2023-08-27T17:26:03","modified_gmt":"2023-08-27T17:26:03","slug":"dutch-gp-max-verstappen-races-to-record-equalling-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indiansapidnews.com\/sport\/dutch-gp-max-verstappen-races-to-record-equalling-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"Dutch GP: Max Verstappen races to record-equalling victory"},"content":{"rendered":"
Formula One leader Max Verstappen celebrated a record-equalling ninth successive victory on Sunday after beating the rain to win a chaotic and red-flagged Dutch Grand Prix for the third year in a row.<\/p>\n
The Red Bull driver’s home triumph from pole position at a soggy Zandvoort equalled now-retired Sebastian Vettel’s 2013 streak of success and was the team’s 14th consecutive triumph and 13th of the season.<\/p>\n
The race started dry before rain caused chaos at the end of lap one, with a dry period followed by a torrential downpour that halted proceedings on the 65th of 72 laps with cars skidding off.<\/p>\n
Fernando Alonso put Aston Martin back on the podium with second place and a bonus point for fastest lap after the eventual rolling re-start behind the safety car led to a thrilling final chase.<\/p>\n
Pierre Gasly was third for Renault-owned Alpine as Sergio Perez, Verstappen’s Mexican team mate and closest rival, collected a five-second post-race penalty for speeding in the pit lane and dropped to fourth.<\/p>\n
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Verstappen now leads Perez by a mighty 138 points with nine races remaining.<\/p>\n
“Incredible. They didn’t make it easy for us with the weather to make all the right calls. Incredibly proud,” said Verstappen as his army of orange-clad fans began the celebrations.<\/p>\n
“I already had goosebumps when they were playing the national anthem before the start,” added the 25-year-old.<\/p>\n
“Even with all the bad weather, the rain, the fans are still going at it. So an incredible atmosphere.”<\/p>\n
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Verstappen’s 11th victory of the season, and 46th of his career, provided another big push towards clinching a third title well before the end of the season.<\/p>\n
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz finished fifth with Lewis Hamilton sixth for Mercedes and fellow-Briton Lando Norris seventh for McLaren.<\/p>\n
Alex Albon collected more precious points for Williams in eighth, ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Esteban Ocon 10th for Alpine.<\/p>\n