This season had been a trying old slog for Lewis Hamilton at best and his frustration and disappointment at the Sisyphean task of repeatedly wrangling a recalcitrant Mercedes has been palpable. At the Dutch Grand Prix his boulder, his burden became just too heavy as his team left him floundering, impotent and indeed furious as his race fell apart.
Max Verstappen won in Zandvoort and this much at least had been expected — certainly by the 105,000 orange-clad fans who roared their approval at every lap. Yet it had not quite been the celebratory jaunt from pole to flag they had anticipated and for the first time this season it had been Mercedes and Hamilton who had been in with a genuine shot of their first win of the season.
