 With a couple of downpours and tyre gambles aplenty, the Dutch Grand Prix was a topsy-turvy race but the winner was predictable; with nine victories on the bounce, Max Verstappen has now equalled the record set by Sebastian Vettel in 2013. 'Well, I think after like five wins in a row, or something like that, Seb texted me,' revealed the Dutchman. '[He said] well done, keep it up, you're going to do it.' Vettel retired from F1 at the end of last year. Despite he and Red Bull's dominance this season, Max (below) didn't think it was a given that he'd be smashing records like Vettel did back in his championship-winning pomp with the same team. 'Nine wins in a row, it's something very impressive. I never thought I would be able to be already on eight.' Until now, Verstappen's best previous streak was five wins in a row last year. 'I'm not in this sport to try and break records,' he claims, 'I'm just here to win.' But with five days to go to the Italian Grand Prix, his date with destiny is approaching fast. Despite Red Bull being the class of the field once again at Zandvoort, heavy rain and a headwind allowed teams such as Aston Martin and Williams to close the gap. Fernando Alonso enjoyed his weekend in the Netherlands (Picture: Getty Images) Once the race was restarted after a 45-minute red flag, triggered by a crash from Zhou Guanyu, with six laps to go Fernando Alonso managed to briefly lock onto Verstappen and considered making a move, but without the benefit of DRS it would have been touch-and-go. It certainly wouldn't have been popular with the home crowd, he joked. 'I did think about trying the move on the last re-start, but then I thought maybe I cannot exit the circuit, so I stayed calm in second.' It was a return to form for the racing green team, with Alonso delivering his best result since Canada. Thrilled with his car's speed this weekend, the Spaniard radioed his team to say: 'We w){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
With a couple of downpours and tyre gambles aplenty, the Dutch Grand Prix was a topsy-turvy race but the winner was predictable; with nine victories on the bounce, Max Verstappen has now equalled the record set by Sebastian Vettel in 2013.
‘Well, I think after like five wins in a row, or something like that, Seb texted me,’ revealed the Dutchman. ‘[He said] well done, keep it up, you’re going to do it.’
Vettel retired from F1 at the end of last year. Despite he and Red Bull’s dominance this season, Max (below) didn’t think it was a given that he’d be smashing records like Vettel did back in his championship-winning pomp with the same team.
‘Nine wins in a row, it’s something very impressive. I never thought I would be able to be already on eight.’