Despite Ferrari looking like Red Bull’s biggest threat at Zandvoort, strategy and race flashpoints put Mercedes as the closest contenders to Verstappen.
Lewis Hamilton had appeared set for a late race showdown with Verstappen on their opposing strategies, but a late race virtual safety car and full safety car, plus a pitstop call, left the British driver powerless to stop his rival charging by at the restart and powering to a fourth consecutive win.
PLUS: How Mercedes overcame Ferrari to become Verstappen’s 2022 Dutch GP win challengers
Hamilton was left frustrated by Mercedes’ strategy call as he faded to fourth at the finish, as team-mate George Russell, who did pit under the safety car, claimed second place ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Ferrari had another difficult race due to a late pitstop call which delayed Carlos Sainz on his first stop, and then he picked up a five-second penalty for an unsafe release on his final pitstop to drop to eighth place and leave him furious.
There were plenty of other talking points, including an unusual situation involving Yuki Tsunoda and his AlphaTauri which stopped on track twice, in an eventful and intriguing Zandvoort race.
Matt Kew looks back at the Dutch GP with the help of Jess McFadyen and Jake Boxall-Legge, with Luke Smith live from the Netherlands.
You can listen to the podcast using the player below, or via all good audio platforms including Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.
