Max Verstappen becomes a Dutch national hero after GP victory

FORMULA ONE driver Max Verstappen is a national hero in the Netherlands after becoming the first Dutchman to ever win the Dutch Grand Prix

Max Verstappen started the Heineken Dutch GP at the Zandvoort racing circuit this afternoon, Sunday, September 5, in pole position, and led the race from start to the chequered flag, to become the first Dutch Formula One driver to ever win a home Grand Prix, elevating him to the status of a national hero, as the capacity crowd of 80,000, mostly orange-clad fans went ballistic, with orange smoke filling the sky as they celebrated.

This victory in the Red Bull car puts the 23-year-old Dutchman back on top of the driver’s championship, three points ahead of his rival Lewis Hamilton, in the Mercedes, who finished in second position, and now they will head to Monza in Italy next weekend and do it all again, for the season’s second sprint race.

Speaking emotionally after the race, Verstappen said, “Obviously the expectations were high going into the weekend, and it’s never easy to fulfil that, but I’m just so happy to win here, to take the lead in the championship as well. It’s just an amazing day. The whole crowd… it’s incredible”, with Toto Wolff, the boss of the Mercedes team conceding, “Credit to him, credit to Red Bull, they were absolutely faultless today”.

Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas finished third, briefly leading the race when Verstappen went in for a pitstop, with France’s Pierre Gasly bringing his AlphaTauri home in fourth spot, as another French driver, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took fifth, as reported by skysports.com.

___________________________________________________________

Thank you for reading, and don’t forget to check The Euro Weekly News for all your up-to-date local and international news stories.