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Formula 1
Dutch GP
F1 Dutch GP Live Commentary and Updates - Race
Minute-by-minute updates for the 2023 Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix
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Max Verstappen will start from pole position as he bids to equal Sebastian Vettel's record of nine consecutive grand prix victories.
The Dutchman will enjoy the vocal support of the Zandvoort crowd but faces stiff opposition from Lando Norris, who starts second.
George Russell qualified third and will be joined on the second row by Williams driver Alex Albon, while Liam Lawson will make his F1 debut, replacing the injured Daniel Ricciardo at AlphaTauri.
Kevin Magnussen will start from the pitlane after parc ferme changes, having fitted a new power unit and gearbox.
The action at Zandvoort will begin at 2pm BST.
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The weather radar shows extreme 'red' levels of rain rapidly approaching Zandvoort. Remember, we've seen races red-flagged and paused because of heavy rain before. Time will tell what happens next. 15 laps remain.
Albon overtakes Russell, who is struggling on his old hard tyres now, to take sixth place. But the major focus is on the incoming rain that could throw this running order into a washing machine.
Quote
"When the rain comes it'll be heavier than that at the start," Aston Martin tells Alonso over team radio. See, serious spice.
Tsunoda drops out of the points as Norris and Hamilton both pass him in a matter of metres. It's no good AlphaTauri waiting for the predicted heavy rain now.
Red Bull predicts rain, that could be heavy, 10 laps from the finish - so in about eight laps time. That'll add some serious spice.
Ocon and Norris are now on the rear wing of Tsunoda. The AlphaTauri driver reports damage to his front wing from debris on the track.
Russell and Albon both get by Tsunoda in the space of a lap. The Mercedes driver is up to sixth, with a five-second gap to Gasly ahead.
While other drivers have completed a mix of two, three and four stops - Albon continues having made just the one stop. He moves up to P7 as he passes Tsunoda, the AlphaTauri limping around on tyres that called enough some time ago.
Alonso spares Aston Martin's blushes with a lovely move on Sainz at Turn 1 to take third place.
Tsunoda locks up, his old tyres screaming enough, which allows Gasly free into fifth place. Is AlphaTauri praying for rain to force everyone back into the pits?
Alonso, who gets by Tsunoda with ease after that slow stop, is hunting down Sainz. He is already within DRS range of the Ferrari.
Norris passes Hulkenberg for P10 and Tsunoda will surely now lose position to the McLaren driver if he needs to pit again.
Pit stop
Verstappen pits, a rapid 2.2s stop, and he comes out back in the lead ahead of Perez by 5.5s.
Pit stop
Alonso duly pits but it is a slow stop with a sticky front-left tyre. That holds him up enough to allow Sainz to fly into third.
Sainz gets ahead of the yet-to-pit again Tsunoda for fourth. He'll be tracking Alonso's progress in the fight for third by the end of the race.
On his long-game strategy of getting to the end of the race on hard tyres, Russell is up to P7 as his rivals pit. While there are short-term gains, he'll be a sitting duck to those on fresh softs behind.
Pit stop
Gasly pits and serves his penalty for speeding in the pitlane earlier in the race. Gasly takes on fresh softs and comes out in sixth with Russell right behind him.
Pit stop
Perez pits from second place, needing one hell of an undercut to get back into the lead given the gap had grown to over eight seconds.
Ferrari has confirmed Leclerc was suffering with 'floor damage' and that was the cause of his lack of pace.
Stopwatch
Norris sets a new fastest lap of the race with a 1m14.905s, set moments after Sainz went fastest.
Pit stop
Albon makes his first pitstop of the race, trading his aging softs for mediums as required by the rules, and comes out in 11th just behind Hulkenberg.
Pit stop
Ocon pits from sixth, responding to those around him who have taken fresh tyres, so here we go for the second round of stops. The Alpine driver gets out just ahead of Norris.
Pit stop
Norris stops and comes out in a nice patch of clean air. He was P7 before stopping, and is now P14 but the undercut has proven to be extremely powerful today!
Mechanical problem
Leclerc pits and retires the car. Ferrari has confirmed there was damage on his car.
Pit stop
Sainz pits from fifth place, the first of the frontrunners to opt for a fresh set of tyres since the rain-induced in-out-in-out start. He takes on another set of softs and comes out in 11th.
Lawson is closing onto the gearbox of Leclerc - and he makes his move into Turn 10! What a move that was!
But Leclerc comes back into Turn 1.
But Leclerc comes back into Turn 1.
Highlighting the problems of Ferrari at the moment - Bottas has quite literally driven around the outside of Leclerc at Turn 1. The Finn is up to P14.
After dropping back several places, Zhou has stopped and fitted fresh soft tyres. With light rain on the horizon, that could yield a significant benefit.
The Max Express continues to charge clear with another fastest lap to push his lead to 6.2s.
Is Albon the new tyre whisperer? He's the only one yet to pit, which looked a bad call during the rain, but he's got through it, remains sixth and matching the pace of those around him. Problem is, he needs to pit again for the mediums or hards if it doesn't rain again.
Zhou drops back again, as he moves out of the way and concedes P11 to Piastri.
Stopwatch
Verstappen is still building his lead bit by bit with fastest laps. Last time around his 1m15.272s has pushed the gap to 4.5s over Perez.
With a strong tow and DRS in action, Hamilton moves past Zhou and into the top 10.
Alonso's brief hunt of Perez is over as he drops 3.2s back. He'll know his race is against those behind him to take that final podium place. Gasly, in fourth, still has that five-second penalty to serve.
Russell has so far failed to make the improvements he would have expected and is still in P17. On the hard tyre, his times are over half-a-second-per-lap slower than team-mate Hamilton.
It appears plenty of tyre management is going on, as that threat of rain hasn't delivered so far. It means it is as you were for the front five.
Tsunoda has now been shown the black-and-white flag for forcing Ocon off the track a handful of laps ago.
Stopwatch
Perez has shaken off Alonso from his DRS, while Verstappen puts in another fastest lap of 1m15.499s to push his lead to 3.4s over his team-mate.
Into the points for Norris as - at Turn 1 - he moves clear of Magnussen. The Dane also loses out to Hamilton.
Perez is keeping an eye on Alonso behind him as he has the Aston Martin driver in his DRS. The rest of the frontrunners have spread out and are outside of each other's DRS.
By: Autosport Staff
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