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Picture Credit: Formula 1

A double stacking in the pits, yellow flags, multiple car retirements, Vettel almost causing skirmish for Lewis in the Briton’s fight with Perez and ultimately, another Verstappen win, the Dutch Grand Prix of 2022 was as exciting as it was dramatic.

But what moment stood out from Verstappen’s homeland, one punctuated with punchy banked corners?

SportsTiger brings you the key talking points from Zandvoort. 


1. Verstappen’s marauding win

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In taking yet another win of the season, his tenth in 2022 and his thirtieth overall, Verstappen proved just why’s he so highly rated. 

For someone who looked in the elements even on Saturday as he eclipsed Leclerc at the fading moments of Q3, Max Verstappen did a great job in converting the pole into victory. 

Ten wins in fifteen contests is domination at another level, quite unprecedented where 2022 cars are performing. That’s with the knowledge that the Scuderia machines are nearly on par with the Red Bull. 

2. Not such a bad race for Leclerc

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Leclerc was aware of the countless chances that he and his Ferrari team binned all throughout the season. Probably so much so that maybe another opportunity of throwing away a win would have led to a state of despair from which the Monegasque would never have recovered.

This is why Leclerc’s P3 in the end was a valiant effort. Make no mistake.  

Charles eventually lost the front-row start that saw him begin from second on the grid. But that the man whose last podium came at Austria (July 10) was able to snatch another podium wasn’t an effort you’d feel atrocious. 

On the contrary, you’ve got to feel for Carlos Sainz, whose race was horribly compromised by yet another blunder by Ferrari who took over twelve seconds to release the Spaniard from the pits.   

3. Mercedes do a Ferrari to Lewis 

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Just why did they? How come they of all teams do such a thing? And why do that to King Lewis, of all drivers?

Questions there are many, but answers too few at this time that could sufficiently describe just why Mercedes put Lewis Hamilton on mediums when the rest of the grid was on softs?

It’s not before experiencing pure agony that one can revel in ecstasy as they say and ditto for sir Lewis Hamilton, whose race, at the back of a strategic gamble, fell apart. Which is when he was in second on lap 61 with only eleven more to go.

For someone who could have even bagged victory, the painful sight of being passed by Leclerc and then others made the Dutch GP an event to forget from Hamilton’s perspective. But again, there’s little that a driver can do when the team falters.

What’s worse is that Hamilton at the end of seventy-two laps maybe got an idea of how big a letdown it is for Leclerc, for example, when the team spoils it for you. In the end, a P4 is all that Lewis could manage.

4. New vigour by the old guard Alonso

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What else can you say for that driver who finishes sixth in the end having started from P13?   Which is why brilliant, brave and very Tarzan-like at the Tarzan corner are your adjectives to describe a true Titan of the grid: Fernando Alonso.

Despite evidencing a strong race from the end of his teammate Esteban Ocon, who actually started ahead of him, Fernando Alonso easily eclipsed the Frenchman at The Netherlands’ Zandvoort.

Taking car after car in the middle stages, as exemplified by his brilliant move on someone like a Gasly of Alpha Tauri, Fernando Alonso was ebullient and daring at best. 

He wasn’t here to participate in the midfield tussle; Alonso was here to drive a mighty fine race, which is exactly what the oldest driver on the grid did with great concentration and excellent tyre management. 

A sixth in the end also meant that the Spaniard collected points in ten back to back races. Not too bad for a man often described “old” by today’s emoji obsessed generation on an overload of Netflix, right?