Dutch Grand Prix LIVE: Max Verstappen wins home race to leapfrog Lewis Hamilton in championship

Sergio Perez is up another spot in his damage limitation mission, sliding down the outside of Nicholas Latifi into the turn 11 chicane.

That’s the same spot where he made it past Mazepin earlier, and it seems like the best spot on the track to make a move.

Of course, it’s Perez’s own fault that he is near the back and having to do so...

George Russell is still holding onto P11, his starting position, with Lance Stroll and Lando Norris stuck behind the Kings Lynn-native in faster machinery.

There just aren’t the spaces to overtake on the track anywhere, even with Stroll within DRS range of the Williams car.

The Aston Martin and McLaren men might need to pit soon in order to avoid wasting too much time.

Sergio Perez’s race strategy might be in disarray after that unexpected early stop, but he is the fastest man on track right now on the medium tyres.

The Mexican set the fastest lap a few minutes ago and has just overtaken Nikita Mazepin to move up to 17th. He still has plenty to do to salvage some points here.

Lewis Hamilton has been given the hurry-up by his engineer as Mercedes switch the world champions from a one-stop to a two.

Hamilton had been on the radio complaining that his soft tyres wouldn’t last long enough to make just one switch work, and the team seems to agree.

There’s no sign of the stop happening just yet but he’s picking up the pace to try and build a gap behind to slot into.

You know what I said earlier about Perez going long on the hard tyres? Well, his race looks ruined already as he has had to make an unplanned early stop to switch wheels.

The Mexican managed to flat-spot his hards and was told by his engineer that the vibrations were too strong.

Verstappen might well catch and lap Perez in the not-too-distant future...

Max Verstappen is controlling this race with plenty of composure already, having built up a lead of over three seconds to Lewis Hamilton just the opening nine laps.

Bottas is a further four seconds back on his team-mate, with Gasly another nine down the road.

Esteban Ocon has been on the radio to complain about his team-mate’s pace impeding him.

“Fernando is extremely slow in front”, declares the Frenchman. Both cars have lost ground to the Ferraris in fifth and sixth, but whether Ocon is actually any faster isn’t quite clear.

I’ve just seen a replay of Fernando Alonso’s overtake on Antonio Giovinazzi into turn three and it’s an absolute belter.

The Spaniard jinked passed his team-mate Esteban Ocon on entry to the corner, narrowly avoiding George Russell in the process, before sliding all the way around the outside of the Italian at the top of the banking and making the move stick.

Gorgeous.

George Russell has been onto the radio to his Williams engineers to report that Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren is spilling oil all over the track, and TV images seem to show the Australian’s car is smoking slightly too.

They’ll need to find a fix for that somehow or it won’t last much longer.

Further back from the front, Daniel Ricciardo is also up one place after passing Giovinazzi, while Nikita Mazepin has passed team-mate Mick Schumacher into 17th and Sergio Perez has overtaken pitlane buddy Nicholas Latifi for 19th spot.