How the Dutch Grand Prix unfolded

1. Verstappen wins home race amid huge celebrations and flares
2. Hamilton takes fastest lap point after Bottas defiantly tries to take it away late on
3. Mazepin, Tsunoda out
4. Get involved: #bbcf1

Thanks and goodbye

That's all for this live page. Thanks for joining us and for your comments.

Not long until the next one. Italian Grand Prix, Monza, next weekend.

Hopefully see you then. Bye for now.

Verstappen wins home Dutch Grand Prix - read the report

Andrew Benson

BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

Getty Images

Red Bull's Max Verstappen took a dominant victory over Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton in the Dutch Grand Prix to retake the championship lead.

Verstappen, cheered on by 65,000 enthusiastic home fans, led all the way from pole position, comfortably keeping a following Hamilton at bay.

The Dutchman leads Hamilton by three points after his seventh win in 2021.

Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas was third, ahead of Alpha Tauri's Pierre Gasly and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

Mercedes tried what they could to challenge Verstappen, putting Hamilton on a two-stop strategy, then trying to use Bottas to hold him up, but Red Bull always appeared to be in control.

There appeared to be some disagreements between Hamilton and the team on the strategy deployed, but their conversations were a function of the fact that Verstappen just had that bit of extra pace to be able to answer everything Mercedes threw at him.

"They were just too fast today," Hamilton said over the radio on the slowing down lap.

'Making the difference'

Mercedes extend lead in constructors' championship

Mercedes were eight points ahead of Red Bull in the constructors' title but, despite Red Bull winning the race, Lewis Hamilton's second-placed finish and the fastest lap along with Valtteri Bottas' third means the gap actually extends to 12 points.

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Verstappen ahead by three points

Max Verstappen started the day three points behind Lewis Hamilton but ends it three ahead of his rival.

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Get Involved

Phil Alcock: Well done Red Bull and Max for a good race. Who knows what Mercedes we’re doing? Great track but boring racing like Monaco.

F1 Force: Lot of criticism for the race but thought it was pretty good. It was tense rather than thrill a minute but any mistake from Max was likely to be punished. Loads of overtakes does not make a race necessarily better. It should be a difficult skill.

Reuters

Zandvoort by the sea of orange

Getty Images

Zandvoort was hosting a Formula 1 grand prix for the first time since 1985 - and the Dutch fans were revelling in its return.

With homegrown star Max Verstappen to cheer on from the grandstands, the Orange Army were giving British supporters at Silverstone a run for the money in fanatical support.

BBC Sport took a look at the flares, fancy dress and DJ sets as a Netherlands coastal town was turned into a giant festival of racing.

• Check out more of the colourful Zandvoort pictures here.

Where next?

That's 13 races of the season done and we need three more for it to count as a full world championship campaign.

Next up on the list is the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in seven days' time.

This is where we should be going, with Qatar expected to fill the spot on 21 November.

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Get Involved

Douglas Mcfarlene: Bit of a bore really when you look through neutral eyes, apart from some overtakes further down the grid. Sounds like a great atmosphere but the true excitement should be out on track, not the grandstands.

S_Holt: For all the build up and the hype of Zandvoort and the banked corners etc. I thought that race was very dull. Do we need more races where it’s hard to overtake…

Andy Johnson: So stop Bottas going for fastest lap because Lewis wants it. And people think Russell would be allowed to race Lewis.

'We didn't time it right'

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff to Sky Sports on a busy day for the Mercedes strategy team: "We had a sniff of an undercut there but we didn't time it right. We didn't expect him [Verstappen] to go on the hard tyre but it is what it is.

"He [Bottas] was backing off, we could see on the timings that he was but we felt it necessary for James to tell him to back off on the radio.

"It's so close and here Max was the quickest. Monza is going to be different and we feel that we are still in the run for the championship."

'I didn't go for fastest lap'

Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas, who finished third: "Unfortunately for me, it was pretty uneventful.

"Obviously I kept pushing. We tired a one-stop and a long first stint and tried to survive with the tyres until the end but in the end, we had quite a big gap behind me, so we just made a stop for safety, basically. We tired, but we didn't quite have the pace today.

"I didn't go for the fastest lap today. Lewis got it, so as a team, we got the points.

"The crowd have been really supportive, so thank you."

'An amazing weekend'

A quite cheerful Lewis Hamilton, who couldn't find an answer to Verstappen's pace today, said: "What a race, what a crowd. It's been an amazing weekend.

"Max did an incredible job so a huge congratulations to him. I gave it absolutely everything today, I pushed flat out all race but they were just too good.

"I've had an incredible weekend, a big thanks to the fans as they've been amazing.

"The last lap was one of the best parts of the race for me, this track is incredible on a single lap on low fuel - this is now one of my favourite tracks."

'So happy to win here'

Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who has taken his seventh win of the season: "As you can hear already, it is incredible because the expectations were high going into the weekend and it's never easy to fulfil that.

"But I'm so happy to win here and to take the lead as well in the championship. It's just an amazing day with the whole crowd. Incredible.

"It's definitely a very good day. The start was very important, I think we did that well. Of course, Mercedes tried to make it difficult for us but we countered them all the time really well. We can pleased with the whole team performance today."

Right, let's hear from the top three, starting with a happy Dutchman...

The Dutch King and Queen are at the venue, but there's only one King of Zandvoort.

'Frustrating'

Jolyon Palmer

Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra

A frustrating one for Lewis Hamilton today. He just couldn't offer anything - apart from a fastest lap.

Start the party

Other finishers

• 11. Ricciardo
• 12. Stroll
• 13. Vettel
• 14. Giovinazzi
• 15. Kubica
• 16. Latifi
• 17. Russell
• 18. Schumacher

DNF - Tsunoda, Mazepin

Jack Nicholls

BBC Radio 5 Live F1 commentator

Mercedes well and truly beaten today, I think it is fair to say.