Max Verstappen says it was the “wrong call” to not stop at the end of the first lap, but admits it made his drive to victory in the Dutch Grand Prix “more fun”.
Having maintained the lead from pole position, Verstappen dropped to fourth when his side of the Red Bull garage opted not to box for the Intermediate tyre on the opening lap when a rain shower intensified.
However, the reigning World Champion swiftly rose to second before closing on team-mate Sergio Perez, who had inherited the lead, by 4.1s inside one lap.
Verstappen would resume the lead when he made the right call to move back onto slicks and held it to the chequered flag, despite having to endure another rain deluge and a lengthy red flag delay in the closing stages.
“Yeah the race itself, very hectic. Lining up and seeing the rain coming down, it was tough to make the right calls,” he reflected.
“I thought together with the team, they told me the rain is coming but maybe not enough to switch to an Inter, or maybe survive for a few laps. So we decided together to stay out for one more lap, but that at the end of the day was the wrong call. It made the race definitely more fun.
“From there onwards, I had to pass a few cars and close the gap up front. But luckily, I think within a few laps, I closed down like 10 seconds of the gap so that was very important for the rest of my race.
“And when we went into the slick tires as well I think, the tires were holding on quite well on my car for the stint. And it was very enjoyable to drive.
“But you think you’re going to have an easy ride home, and then they tell me like 10-15 laps before the end there’s some rain coming again. And this time it was not just some rain, it was quite a lot! So we pitted for inters, and within a lap, it almost becomes undriveable on an Inter, and we opted to go for an extreme.”
Once the race resumed following two tours behind the Safety Car, Verstappen was made to fend off pressure from Fernando Alonso in the first lap back under racing conditions.
Verstappen asserts that he had been expecting Alonso to be right on his rear at the restart, having admitted he had been struggling with tyre warm-up all weekend.
Asked about his most stressful moments in the race, the Dutchman said: “I think the first laps on the slicks were quite stressful, you don’t want to immediately go off the track, and also knowing how much grip there is still out there on the tires with the amount of water coming down, it was not easy.
“And of course the final restart, seven laps to go, six laps to go, whatever, I knew that my first lap the whole weekend already has not been the best with warm-up.
“So I knew that I had to survive that first lap. Fernando was pushing very hard behind, I could see him closely in my mirrors. But once I had the temperature in my tires, it was all well-balanced again.”
Verstappen’s third successive triumph at Zandvoort was also his ninth consecutive victory, drawing him level with Sebastian Vettel for the most wins in a row by a single driver in Formula 1 history.
Pressed for his thoughts on equalling the record, he responded: “Yeah, it was probably one of the more difficult races to win again, but yeah, nine in a row is something I never even thought about.
“Very happy with that, but I’m in general very happy to win here in front of my home crowd.”
