The Dutch Grand Prix 2023 was the 13th round of the 2023 F1 season, and took place at the Circuit Park Zandvoort in Zandvoort, Netherlands, during the weekend of the 25th to the 27th of August.
Max Verstappen won the race from the pole, followed by Fernando Alonso, and Pierre Gasly completing the podium with an expectacular comeback, all the way from the 12th position of the grid.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 101 pit stops during the race, although only 84 which can be considered "normal". A red flag on lap 63 caused all drivers to pit on that lap.
The most popular pit stop windows, considering that these were affected by the red flag, were:
- Laps 1-4: 15 stops
- Laps 9-12: 15 stops
- Laps 15-17: 6 stops
- Laps 41-49: 13 stops
- Laps 59-61: 18 stops
- Laps 63-64: 13 stops
The fastest pit stop was Max Verstappen's, stopping the clock at 18.706 seconds during his pit stop on lap 49, while the slowest one was was Lando Norris's, who stopped the clock at 44.272 seconds, 25.566 seconds slower than Verstappen, during his pit stop on lap 64.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
The race was not obvious in terms of pit stop strategy, with different teams and different drivers choosing to make anywhere from 2 to 7 stops.
The race winner, Max Verstappen, was on a 6 stops strategy.
2 stops
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10Charles Leclerc
4 stops
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3Guanyu Zhou
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4Alexander Albon
5 stops
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9Pierre Gasly
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2Yuki Tsunoda
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3Fernando Alonso
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1Carlos Sainz
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7Lewis Hamilton
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1Oscar Piastri
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2Nico Hülkenberg
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4Valtteri Bottas
6 stops
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3Sergio Pérez
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16Kevin Magnussen
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-Max Verstappen
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6Esteban Ocon
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5Lando Norris
7 stops
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6Liam Lawson
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-Lance Stroll
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14George Russell
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 4 stops strategy lost an average of 4 positions, the ones on a 5 stops strategy gained 3.38 positions on average, the ones on a 6 stops strategy lost an average of 2.4 positions, while those on a 7 stops strategy lost an average of 2.67 positions.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 5 stops strategy was the best option, even if Max Verstappen managed to win the race making 6 stops.
That is for this particular race, with all its unique circumstances, amongst which, let's not forget was the red flag on lap 63, so it is very likely that this would have not been the ideal strategy under normal circumstances.
Incidents
There race went on mostly with no incidents. Only 3 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, Guanyu Zhou, and Logan Sargeant, both had to retire due to an accident, and Charles Leclerc, who had a problem with the undertray on lap 41.
Accident
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Guanyu ZhouLap 62
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Logan SargeantLap 14
Undertray
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Charles LeclercLap 41
Qualifying
Max Verstappen managed to get the pole position by 0.537 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:10.567. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Lando Norris.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and all of the drivers that took place in Q2 improved their times in this second session.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that all of the drivers that took place in Q3 managed to improve their times in this last session.