Orange clouds of intoxication rose over the grandstands as the son of the Dutch motorsport community shot from the last steep curve to the finish and completed his premiere with a crowning glory: Max Verstappen's first race on Sunday with Formula 1 at home, in Zandvoort, first victory in Red Bull ahead of Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.

Anno Hecker

Responsible editor for sports.

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"That's incredible.

The expectations were so high ", he called into the microphone, heated, sweaty and exuberant:" It is never easy to live up to them.

So I'm all the happier. ”King Willem-Alexander watched from below as the 23-year-old embraced the symbol of triumph at the award ceremony and initially rose to the position of nominal chief pilot.

In the drivers' championship, Verstappen is back at the top with a three-point lead over Hamilton.

The race on the North Sea coast ran over 72 laps.

It started in the 21. That is the crux in Zandvoort.

As beautifully curved as the slope is, the pilots raved about the banked turns, the speed, the inspiring driving experience when going up and down. What makes a Grand Prix, captivates the spectators and gives the drivers the joy of hunting, is hardly possible: overtaking .

Two against one with an announcement

Too narrow the slope, too short the straight with around 630 meters for many braking maneuvers wheel to wheel. And so the race was a long time coming after the start.

Verstappen was slightly pulled by it, Hamilton just held second position in front of Bottas.

The rest?

Was kept at a distance with Pierre Gasly in the Alpha Tauri (4th) in front of the Ferrari.

All too slow to follow the two best teams.

And so the fans looked in the stands, vaccinated, tested or recovered, whether and how Mercedes could take the Dutch darling in a pincer. With an outnumbered strategy: two against one with an announcement. This resulted from the race on the grid, in which Red Bull made a mistake with driver Sergio Perez. The Mexican did not make it into the second round due to a timing error and fell out in sixteenth so far back in the field for a tactical game against Mercedes. Bottas, however, fulfilled his job as the third and first-time assistant.

Verstappen immediately countered Hamilton's first pit stop, 3.6 seconds too slow. That is why Bottas took the lead, but lost his lead on the used tires. A welcome loss of speed - from the point of view of the team leadership. Because such a Mercedes is a maddening blockade in full throttle operation in Zandvoort. The Finn made himself broad, not excessively, not unfairly, but from Verstappen's point of view time-consuming.

Lo and behold, in this driving game, Hamilton quickly appeared in full format in Verstappen's rear-view mirror. What to do? Looking for happiness in the escape forwards, chasing through the steep curve in front of the home straight at 280 kilometers per hour, taking advantage of the slipstream of the Silver Arrow and passing by at more than 300 km / h. Thought and done. The people in the orange zone jumped out of their seats, cheered and clapped for joy, while Verstappen shook himself in the lead in front of their eyes in the Tarzan curve at the end of the home straight.