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Man of Few Emotions, Max Verstappen, Expresses Honest Feelings After Hearing Dutch National Anthem on Historic Day

Published 08/27/2023, 12:15 PM EDT

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via Reuters

Max Verstappen makes history at the Dutch GP in torrential conditions. After going through almost everything that a driver can at a race, the Dutchman takes his 3rd at his home race. But that’s not all. There’s another record to his name. Despite being known as a man of few emotions, the 25-year-old opens his heart up about hearing the Dutch national anthem. What did Verstappen say?

Anger and aggression is generally the attribute assigned to Max Verstappen. But the story was completely different today. Max Verstappen took the win and equaled Sebastian Vettel’s record of 9 straight wins. That too in ever-changing conditions. There’s nothing that could’ve stopped the Dutch lion at his home race today. Whether it was pouring rain or a red flag, it didn’t matter.

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However, even before the race started, Verstappen talked about getting goosebumps after hearing the National anthem before the race. During the post-race interview, Max said, “Today they didn’t make it easy for us with the weather, to make all the right calls. I already had goosebumps when they were playing the anthem at the start. I’ll think about [the 10th win] next week, I just want to enjoy this one. The atmosphere is very special.”

The man of few words just wanted to take it all in and enjoy the moment, live in the moment. He’s not worried about the next race. It’s all about celebrating this one currently. What a champion. In Max Verstappen’s words, it was “simply lovely.” Let’s see how the race panned out for the two-time champion.

Max Verstappen triumphs despite everything thrown at him

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The race started on slick tires. As soon as it was lights out and they went racing, it started pouring down on Lap 1. Max Verstappen went the extra lap and was undercut by Sergio Perez who took the lead. However, when it started to dry out, it was the Dutchman, who was already catching Perez at a significant rate, who undercut the Mexican to take the lead back.

via Reuters

It was all smooth and under control until the thunderstorm arrived with about 10 laps remaining. It was raining cats and dogs. Again, despite staying out the extra lap, the Dutchman weathered it out and came back out in the lead. That was before the race was red-flagged due to undrivable conditions and Zhou’s crash. With a 5 lap sprint to the end, in tricky conditions, things could’ve gone anywhere, but Verstappen kept it under control, kept Alonso behind, and took the chequered flag in P1.

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Written by:

Pranay Bhagi

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Pranay Bhagi is an F1 writer at EssentiallySports, who has always been passionate about sports and writing. With a degree from a prestigious institute, he has channeled his enthusiasm into sports journalism, particularly F1, a sport that has captivated him for over a decade. Pranay's deep-rooted love for the sport began during the Sebastian Vettel era, and he has been following it religiously ever since.
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Edited by:

Aishwary Gaonkar