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Max Verstappen wins F1 Dutch Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo 11th after horror start

Max Verstappen had pressure on him at his home Grand Prix, but he held his nerve. (AP: Francisco Seco)

Max Verstappen has taken the lead in the Formula One driver's championship after a brilliant victory in front of his home fans at the Dutch Grand Prix.

The Dutchman converted his pole position to a second consecutive win over Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, with the Briton's teammate Valtteri Bottas a distance third.

Meanwhile, Australia's Daniel Ricciardo tried to signal to race officials that he could not start the race just before the lights went out as he struggled to get his car into first gear. 

In front of a partisan home crowd, Verstappen retook the lead in the driver's championship over Hamilton by three points.

The 23-year-old showed maturity beyond his years in front of the sea of orange on what he described as a day he would not forget.

"The expectations were very high going into the weekend and it's never easy to fulfil that," he said.

"So happy to win here, to take the lead as well in the championship, it's just an amazing day."

Verstappen got a great start and led Hamilton into the first corner.

Spurred on by the crowd, the Dutchman had a 1.7-second lead at the end of the opening lap and continued to extend it in the opening stages.

Verstappen was able to hold his lead at three seconds from his championship rival through the opening 20 laps, looking calm and comfortable at the front.

Max Verstappen leading the field in front of thousands of Dutch fans. (AP: Peter Dejong)

It was Mercedes who made the first strategic move, pitting Hamilton at the end of lap 20 to put on a new set of medium tyres.

Verstappen responded one lap later, with his lead being cut in half by the time he came out of the pits.

Hamilton was able to reduce the gap to less than a second momentarily when Bottas, who inherited the lead when the other two pitted, held up the Dutchman as he tried to retake the lead.

With Verstappen and Hamilton in the top two positions again, the Red Bull driver established a lead of more than two seconds.

Mercedes again tried to outmanoeuvre Red Bull by bringing Hamilton in for another set of new medium tyres at the end of lap 39.

Without a set of new medium tyres for their race leader, Red Bull brought Verstappen in one lap later for a set of the slower but more durable hard tyres for the final 32 laps.

Despite having the faster tyre and lapping quicker than Verstappen, Hamilton never got within a second of the leader.

Eventually the medium tyres on the Mercedes degraded too quickly and Verstappen pushed out to a four-second lead. 

Hamilton pitted late to put on new soft tyres to secure the fastest lap, scoring an extra championship point.

Ricciardo finishes 11th

Daniel Ricciardo had a tough day in the Netherlands. (Reuters: Benoit Tessier)

Daniel Ricciardo nearly missed the start as he struggled with getting his car into gear.

Starting 10th, the Australian McLaren driver could be seen waving to marshals to try and alert them he had a problem while the final cars lined up on the grid. 

Ricciardo was able to find first just before the lights went out, but he lost a few positions after the first corner.

The Australian then seemed to have issues, with smoke seen coming from his engine.

The smoke continued during the opening laps, with Williams driver George Russell telling his team Ricciardo's car was also spilling oil.

But any issue Ricciardo may have had subsided quickly and did not force a retirement.

The compact Zandvoort track, hosting an F1 race for the first time in more than 30 years, made overtaking difficult, which led to a frustrating day for Ricciardo.

His McLaren teammate Lando Norris fared slightly better, climbing from 14th on the grid to finish 10th.

Norris stayed out on his first set of tyres beyond lap 35 when most pitted by lap 25, which allowed the young British driver to race in clean air, climbing up the grid to take the final point on offer.

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