Verstappen praises Red Bull for ‘countering’ Mercedes’ F1 strategy “every time”

Verstappen came out on top at Zandvoort ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.

With two cars in play, Mercedes used Bottas to try and help his teammate, but Verstappen made light work of the Finn as he overtook with ease on Lap 31.

Mercedes attempted to undercut Verstappen on two separate occasions with Hamilton, but Red Bull maintained track position both times.

Red Bull got it right when it switched Verstappen to the unfavoured hard tyre, managing to extend his gap over Hamilton who was on the mediums.

In parc ferme, Verstappen said: “As you can hear already, it’s incredible. Of course, the expectations were very high going into the weekend and it’s never easy to fulfil that, but I’m very happy to win here, to take the lead in the championship, it’s just an amazing day. Just the whole crowd here, it’s incredible.

“It’s definitely a very good day. The start was very important and I think we did that well. Then of course Mercedes tried to make it very difficult for us but we countered them all the time really well and we can be really pleased with the whole team performance today.”

Verstappen’s seventh win of the year has allowed him to reclaim the lead of the championship.

He sits three points ahead of Lewis Hamilton going into Monza for the Italian Grand Prix next weekend.

In terms of the constructors’ championship, Mercedes is 12 points clear of Red Bull.