Max Verstappen has extended his winning run to nine races after securing victory in wet conditions at the Dutch Grand Prix.
Fernando Alonso crossed the line second, while Pierre Gasly secured the final spot on the podium after a penalty dropped Sergio Perez out of the top three.
As the cars left the grid on the formation lap, drops of rain started to fall at Zandvoort, and the track quickly turned wet as the race got underway.
Perez was among the first to stop for intermediate tyres, and as the conditions continued to worsen it paid dividends for the Mexican as he took the lead of the race, easily passing those trying to stay out on slicks.
Having stopped later, Verstappen dropped down the order, but once on the intermediates he quickly made up ground and was running second as the track started to dry.
As a dry line started to appear on the circuit, drivers switched back onto slicks, and with Verstappen stopping one lap sooner than his teammate, he regained the lead of the race.
The busy pitlane caught out a couple of drivers, as Liam Lawson – filling in for the injured Daniel Ricciardo – received a 10-second penalty for impeding Kevin Magnussen, while Pierre Gasly was given a 5-second penalty for speeding.
A lighter shower started fall a few laps later, with the drivers trying to stay out on slicks, but Logan Sargeant lost grip and collided with the barrier at high speed, resulting in a safety car.
Most of the drivers stayed out, but George Russell – who dropped down the order in the earlier round of pitstops – came in for a change.
Charles Leclerc picked up damage on his Ferrari early on, and gradually slipped down the order to find himself battling with Lawson for 15th before Ferrari decided to retire the car.
The teams started to warn the drivers about another spell of rain, expected to hit the track with 10 laps to go, and as the showers started to fall again the drivers started to switch to intermediates again, except Esteban Ocon, who rejoined on the full wet tyre.
The rain continued to get heavier, with Red Bull bringing their drivers in again to change onto the extreme wet, but as Perez was coming back in, Guanyu Zhou collided with the barrier at turn 1 and conditions continued to worse, bringing out a red flag.
After more than half an hour with no action, the cars rejoined the track behind the safety car with seven laps remaining, with the rain having stopped but the track still wet.
Despite being in the pitlane when the red flag came out, Perez was allowed to restart in third because of his position when the red flag was thrown, but once the race resumed he was informed he had a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pitlane.
Russell’s hopes of finishing in the points were dealt a blow when he banged wheels with Lando Norris while battling for seventh, leaving the Mercedes driver with a puncture.
The slippery conditions meant Perez couldn’t open up a big enough gap over Gasly to hold on to third place, dropping down to fourth once the extra five seconds had been applied.
Provisional classification:
1 Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
2. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
3. Pierre Gasly (Alpine
4. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
5. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
6. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
7. Lando Norris (McLaren)
8. Alex Albon (Williams)
9. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
10. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
11. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
12. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)
13. Liam Lawson (AlphaTauri)
14. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
15. Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo)
16. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri)
17. George Russell (Mercedes)
DNF:
Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo)
Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
Logan Sargeant (Williams)
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