Max Verstappen wins Dutch GP
Verstappen could clinch his second world title as soon as the Singapore GP later this month

Max Verstappen won the Dutch Grand Prix with ease, continuing his march to a second title.

The Red Bull driver had to pass Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes after a late safety-car period to take his 10th win of the season.

Hamilton was angry after Mercedes didn't change his tires.

After the restart, George Russell and Charles Leclerc passed him and took the other podium places.

The way in which Hamilton lost his world title in Abu Dhabi last year is eerily similar to the way in which he lost his race with about 20 laps to go.

He was in fourth place behind Red Bull's Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso's Alpine and Lando Norris' McLaren. Sainz was demoted to eighth after a five-second penalty for an unsafe pit stop.

Verstappen in control

Max Verstappen
Verstappen has won 10 grands prix in a season for the second successive year. With seven races remaining in 2022, he has a chance to eclipse the all-time record of 13 wins in a season held jointly by Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel

There were a couple of cautions in the final part of the race.

Hamilton and Russell were going to use a one-stop strategy instead of the two used by Verstappen andFerrari.

After his second stop, Verstappen would have had to pass both Mercedes, but he was saved by a strange sequence of events.

After a pit stop, Tsunoda stopped on the track, but was told by the team that it was okay. He stopped on the track and forced a virtual safety car.

Verstappen used the VSC to pull in for his second stop and switch to the hard tire for the rest of the race.

When the VSC stopped again, Mercedes took the opportunity to fit medium tires.

Hamilton began to close in on Verstappen after the VSC period ended.

There was a safety car with 16 laps to go after the engine in Valtteri Bottas' Alfa Romeo failed.

Verstappen pitted again for soft tyres, putting him behind both Mercedes but on better tires, and then a lap later, as the field was directed through the pits, Russell made the call to do the same, while Mercedes did not change Hamilton's medium.

Verstappen swept around the Mercedes at the first corner after the restart to take control of the race.

Hamilton swore on the radio to his team, saying he couldn't believe how much they had messed him up, as first Russell and then Leclerc passed him and deprived him of the podium place it looked like he had earlier locked away.

Verstappen's second home win in as many years sent a capacity crowd of 105,000 wild on a weekend that was devoted to worshiping a national hero.

The whole race was pushed by us. Making the right calls with the virtual safety car is always a challenge, but it worked out well once we got back to the soft tyres. We had a lot of speed.

"After the full safety car period, I had a good run in the restart, we had a bit more top speed and that helped to attack into Turn One and from there onwards we had really good balance in the car again."

I had to work harder to win the home grand prix. The weekend was an amazing one.

Ferrari fade again

Carlos Sainz
Ferrari mechanics scramble to fit the left-rear tyre to Sainz's car at his opening pit stop

The team that a few races ago had designs on the title had yet another bad afternoon after starting the race with Leclerc and Sainz.

Sainz's race was ruined at his first pit stop, when the team did not have his left rear tire ready, and the call for him to pit was too late.

The race pace and one-stop strategy of Mercedes meant that Leclerc was demoted to fourth place.

The late safety car and Mercedes' decision not to change Hamilton's tires gave him a second chance and he followed Russell past the seven-time champion to take third.

It was difficult to do better than third. We weren't lucky with the VSC. I don't know if this would have made a difference.

The gap in the championship is now really big and we will take it race by race and try to maximize our potential.

Verstappen is almost certain to win the title when F1 goes to Asia after the next race in Italy.

He is world champion if he leaves the next race in Singapore with a lead of at least 136 points. It needs to be 112 to leave Japan.

There is only one question: when.

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