Tyre saving call behind Verstappen pace deficit in F1 Dutch GP

A rain shower hit Zandvoort on the opening lap of the race and seventh-starting Perez reacted fastest by pitting at the first opportunity to ditch soft Pirellis for intermediates.

As the majority of the grid then stopped one tour later, the Mexican emerged with a 10.4 second advantage over George Russell as Verstappen fell to 14.246s behind come the fourth lap.

Eventual race winner Verstappen then started running up to 4s faster than Perez to…