Red Bull’s Max Verstappen held off Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in a wet and wild 2023 Dutch Grand Prix that saw a late red flag [due to a sudden rainstorm] throw some additional chaos into what had already been a chaotic race. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly finished in the third and final podium position after Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate, Sergio Perez, was assessed a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane as the cars exited onto the track for the restart after the red flag.
Verstappen was the pole-sitter and easily distanced himself from McLaren’s Lando Norris but then a brief – but wet – rainstorm hit on the latter part of the first lap and threw the race into chaos. A slew of cars made pit stops at various times from the second lap to the fifth lap and the final result after all the shuffling came on Lap 13 with Verstappen still in front only to have a safety car emerge on Lap 16 after a crash by Williams’ Logan Sargent.
On the Lap 21 restart, Verstappen remained in front from then all the way until the end of the race – but it was not without some periods of drama as yet another rainstorm hit on Lap 61 of the 72-lap race and Verstappen elected to stay out on the track while others went in for a pit stop. That decision allowed Alonso to close the gap on what had been a formidable Verstappen lead to a more manageable distance but Alonso never got the opportunity to attempt an overtake of Verstappen as the race was red-flagged when the second deluge hit.
On Lap 67, the race was restarted after a pair of laps behind the safety car and Alonso had a brief look at passing Verstappen but was unable to make it stick and Verstappen cruised in for the victory from there. With the win, Verstappen holds a commanding lead in the driver’s standings with 340 points to 199 for Perez while third place remains contentious between Alonso [167 points] and seven-time Formula One world champion, Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes with 154 points.
2023 Dutch Grand Prix Top 10 Finishers
1] Max Verstappen Red Bull
2] Fernando Alonso Aston Martin
3] Pierre Gasly Alpine
4] Sergio Pérez Red Bull
5] Carlos Sainz, Jr. Ferrari
6] Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
7] Lando Norris McLaren
8] Alexander Albon Williams
9] Oscar Piastri McLaren
10] Esteban Ocon Alpine
