198
Max Verstappen won his home Dutch Grand Prix for Red Bull on Sunday and took the Formula One championship lead in front of a roaring, dancing army of fans hailing their hero with orange flags and flares.
The 23-year-old dominated from pole position to take the chequered flag, in the first Dutch Grand Prix for 36 years, 20.932 seconds ahead of Mercedesโ seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton.
Hamiltonโs Finnish team mate Valtteri Bottas completed the podium, moving up to third in the championship, with the rest of the field all lapped by Verstappen.
Hamilton took a bonus point for the fastest lap but Verstappen overturned a three-point deficit to go three points clear of Hamilton, with 224.5 to the Britonโs 221.5.
The victory was Verstappenโs seventh in 13 races, with nine rounds remaining, and set off a gigantic beachside party.
โAs you can hear, itโs incredible,โ said the winner over the roar of the crowd.
โObviously, the expectations were very high going into the weekend and itโs never easy to fulfil that, but Iโm of course so happy to win here, to take the lead as well in the championship as well.
โItโs just an amazing day. Just the whole crowd, Itโs incredible.โ
Hamilton also hailed the 70,000-strong crowd for its passion and enthusiasm.
โWhat a race, what a crowd,โ he said. โItโs been an amazing weekend. Max did a great job, congratulations to him. I gave it absolutely everything today, flat out. I pushed as hard as I could but they were just too quick for us.โ
French driver Pierre Gasly was fourth for AlphaTauri with Ferrariโs Charles Leclerc fifth and Fernando Alonso sixth for Renault-owned Alpine.
Ferrariโs Carlos Sainz was seventh with Red Bullโs Mexican Sergio Perez Driver of the Day after racing back to eighth from a pitlane start.
Esteban Ocon took two points for Alpine with McLarenโs Lando Norris completing the top 10.
Mercedes continued to lead the constructorsโ championship with 344.5 points to Red Bullโs 332.5.
AlphaTauriโs Japanese rookie Yuki Tsunoda and Haasโs Nikita Mazepin were the only retirements.
The Italian Grand Prix at Monza follows next weekend.
REUTERS