<p>Formula One leader Max Verstappen celebrated a record-equalling ninth successive victory on Sunday after beating the rain to win a chaotic and red-flagged Dutch Grand Prix for the third year in a row.</p><p>The Red Bull driver's home triumph from pole position at a soggy Zandvoort equalled now-retired four times world champion Sebastian Vettel's 2013 streak of success with the same team.</p>.<p>It was also Red Bull's 14th consecutive triumph and 13th of the season, with the Italian Grand Prix at Monza following next weekend.</p><p>The race started dry before rain caused chaos at the end of lap one, with a dry period followed by a torrential downpour that halted proceedings for 40 minutes on the 65th of 72 laps with cars skidding off.</p><p>Fernando Alonso put Aston Martin back on the podium with second place and a bonus point for fastest lap after the eventual rolling re-start behind the safety car led to a thrilling final chase at the seaside circuit.</p><p>Pierre Gasly was third, his first podium finish for Renault-owned Alpine, as Red Bull's Sergio Perez collected a five-second post-race penalty for speeding in the pit lane and dropped to fourth.</p><p>Verstappen now leads Perez, his closest rival, by a mighty 138 points with nine races remaining.</p><p>"Incredible. They didn't make it easy for us with the weather to make all the right calls. Incredibly proud," said Verstappen as his army of orange-clad fans began the celebrations.</p><p>"I already had goosebumps when they were playing the national anthem before the start," added the 25-year-old, who chatted happily with the Dutch king and queen before the podium ceremonies.</p><p>"Even with all the bad weather, the rain, the fans are still going at it. So an incredible atmosphere."</p><p>Verstappen's 11th victory of the season, and 46th of his career, provided another big push towards clinching a third title well before the end of the season.</p><p>Ferrari's Carlos Sainz finished fifth with Lewis Hamilton sixth for Mercedes and fellow-Briton Lando Norris seventh for McLaren.</p><p>Alex Albon collected more precious points for Williams in eighth, ahead of McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Esteban Ocon 10th for Alpine.</p><p>New Zealander Liam Lawson finished 13th, and ahead of team mate Yuki Tsunoda, on his Formula One debut as a replacement for injured Daniel Ricciardo at AlphaTauri.</p><p>Lawson also had the thrill of overtaking Charles Leclerc on lap 41 before the Ferrari driver retired with a damaged floor.</p><p><strong>Clean start</strong></p><p>Verstappen led cleanly away at the start with Alonso seizing third place.</p><p>Only seven times world champion Hamilton, starting a lowly 13th on the grid, lined up on medium tyres with everyone else on softs but all team strategies were soon shredded as the skies opened.</p><p>Perez, seventh on the grid and everything to gain, pitted immediately for intermediates along with six others as the leaders stayed out.</p><p>The move paid off for him, but not Ferrari who had Leclerc come in only to find no tyres ready and mechanics scurrying to bring them.</p><p>Verstappen came in a lap later but resumed well down the field and set about closing the gap.</p><p>He pitted again for dry tyres on lap 11 and took over at the front a lap later when Perez came in and found to his bemusement that his team mate had successfully made the 'undercut' work.</p><p>The weather played havoc with others' hopes, Russell plunging from third on the grid to 18th on lap 13 and complaining over the radio.</p><p>"I was forecast for a podium. How did we mess this up?" asked the Briton, who climbed back up the order but ultimately retired after collecting a puncture in a clash with Norris after the re-start.</p><p>The safety car was deployed from lap 16 to 21 when U.S. rookie Logan Sargeant crashed his Williams into the barriers at turn eight.</p><p>Verstappen appeared to be cruising to victory after pitting for intermediates and staying in the lead when the rain returned with 12 laps to go.</p><p>The rain was far heavier than at the start and red flags were waved when Alfa Romeo's Guanyu Zhou crashed heavily, the Chinese driver emerging unhurt. </p>
<p>Formula One leader Max Verstappen celebrated a record-equalling ninth successive victory on Sunday after beating the rain to win a chaotic and red-flagged Dutch Grand Prix for the third year in a row.</p><p>The Red Bull driver's home triumph from pole position at a soggy Zandvoort equalled now-retired four times world champion Sebastian Vettel's 2013 streak of success with the same team.</p>.<p>It was also Red Bull's 14th consecutive triumph and 13th of the season, with the Italian Grand Prix at Monza following next weekend.</p><p>The race started dry before rain caused chaos at the end of lap one, with a dry period followed by a torrential downpour that halted proceedings for 40 minutes on the 65th of 72 laps with cars skidding off.</p><p>Fernando Alonso put Aston Martin back on the podium with second place and a bonus point for fastest lap after the eventual rolling re-start behind the safety car led to a thrilling final chase at the seaside circuit.</p><p>Pierre Gasly was third, his first podium finish for Renault-owned Alpine, as Red Bull's Sergio Perez collected a five-second post-race penalty for speeding in the pit lane and dropped to fourth.</p><p>Verstappen now leads Perez, his closest rival, by a mighty 138 points with nine races remaining.</p><p>"Incredible. They didn't make it easy for us with the weather to make all the right calls. Incredibly proud," said Verstappen as his army of orange-clad fans began the celebrations.</p><p>"I already had goosebumps when they were playing the national anthem before the start," added the 25-year-old, who chatted happily with the Dutch king and queen before the podium ceremonies.</p><p>"Even with all the bad weather, the rain, the fans are still going at it. So an incredible atmosphere."</p><p>Verstappen's 11th victory of the season, and 46th of his career, provided another big push towards clinching a third title well before the end of the season.</p><p>Ferrari's Carlos Sainz finished fifth with Lewis Hamilton sixth for Mercedes and fellow-Briton Lando Norris seventh for McLaren.</p><p>Alex Albon collected more precious points for Williams in eighth, ahead of McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Esteban Ocon 10th for Alpine.</p><p>New Zealander Liam Lawson finished 13th, and ahead of team mate Yuki Tsunoda, on his Formula One debut as a replacement for injured Daniel Ricciardo at AlphaTauri.</p><p>Lawson also had the thrill of overtaking Charles Leclerc on lap 41 before the Ferrari driver retired with a damaged floor.</p><p><strong>Clean start</strong></p><p>Verstappen led cleanly away at the start with Alonso seizing third place.</p><p>Only seven times world champion Hamilton, starting a lowly 13th on the grid, lined up on medium tyres with everyone else on softs but all team strategies were soon shredded as the skies opened.</p><p>Perez, seventh on the grid and everything to gain, pitted immediately for intermediates along with six others as the leaders stayed out.</p><p>The move paid off for him, but not Ferrari who had Leclerc come in only to find no tyres ready and mechanics scurrying to bring them.</p><p>Verstappen came in a lap later but resumed well down the field and set about closing the gap.</p><p>He pitted again for dry tyres on lap 11 and took over at the front a lap later when Perez came in and found to his bemusement that his team mate had successfully made the 'undercut' work.</p><p>The weather played havoc with others' hopes, Russell plunging from third on the grid to 18th on lap 13 and complaining over the radio.</p><p>"I was forecast for a podium. How did we mess this up?" asked the Briton, who climbed back up the order but ultimately retired after collecting a puncture in a clash with Norris after the re-start.</p><p>The safety car was deployed from lap 16 to 21 when U.S. rookie Logan Sargeant crashed his Williams into the barriers at turn eight.</p><p>Verstappen appeared to be cruising to victory after pitting for intermediates and staying in the lead when the rain returned with 12 laps to go.</p><p>The rain was far heavier than at the start and red flags were waved when Alfa Romeo's Guanyu Zhou crashed heavily, the Chinese driver emerging unhurt. </p>