F1 2022: What do the Driver Standings look like after the Dutch  GP?

In a dramatic 2022 F1 Dutch Grand Prix, home hero Max Verstappen further extended his lead in the world championship standings after securing yet another win on his home soil this weekend in Zandvoort. In a Mercedes that showed particularly impressive pace all weekend, George Russell came second to secure his fifth podium finish of the season, while Ferrari's Charles Leclerc returned to the podium after quite some time with a decent third-place finish.

The race saw two DNFs and one safety car that was brought out by the AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda, who seemed to have quite a bizarre day in Zandvoort. With the way things stood up until Tsunoda faced seatbelt issues in his car, it was likely that Max Verstappen would have to overtake both Mercedes over the course of the race.

Instead, the AlphaTauri driver was brought back to the pits, only to be sent out and then told to retire from the race. This brought out the virtual safety car, which in turn, allowed Max Verstappen to pit for fresh tires without losing the usual amount of time taken in a pitstop. This gave Red Bull quite an advantage over Mercedes and could be largely credited for the Dutchman's win this weekend.

Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton, in particular, were looking to finally take their first race win of the season this weekend in Zandvoort. The race, however, came to a rather frustrating end for the Briton, who found himself losing out to his teammate and Leclerc in the finishing stages of the race after Mercedes decided to pit him for the medium compound tires rather than the softs.

With the majority of the grid running on soft tires, the seven-time F1 world champion was simply unable to hold his position at the front of the pack to challenge his 2022 F1 championship rival Max Verstappen. He only managed to secure a disappointing fourth-place finish, ahead of Sergio Perez.

Although Lewis Hamilton could have certainly hoped for a better result this weekend, he is quickly starting to close the gap to Carlos Sainz, who holds a mere 12-point advantage over the Mercedes driver in the drivers' standings.

Sainz had a particularly difficult race this weekend, thanks to a shockingly long pit stop of twelve seconds by Ferrari. If this wasn't enough, later on in the race, the Spaniard was given a five-second penalty for an unsafe pit release and fell to eighth in the race. He remains fifth in the F1 drivers' standings but faces quite a threat from Lewis Hamilton.

Further down the grid, Lance Stroll finished the race P10, pushing him up to 18th in the drivers' standings, ahead of Alex Albon, who now stands 19th.

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Here are the 2022 F1 Driver Standings after the Dutch GP

Pos	Driver	Nationality	Car	PTS
1	Max Verstappen	NED	Red Bull Racing RBPT	310
2	Charles Leclerc	MON	Ferrari	201
3	Sergio Perez	MEX	Red Bull Racing RBPT	201
4	George Russell	GBR	Mercedes	188
5	Carlos Sainz	ESP	Ferrari	175
6	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes	158
7	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren Mercedes	82
8	Esteban Ocon	FRA	Alpine Renault	66
9	Fernando Alonso	ESP	Alpine Renault	59
10	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Alfa Romeo Ferrari	46
11	Kevin Magnussen	DEN	Haas Ferrari	22
12	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	20
13	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	McLaren Mercedes	19
14	Pierre Gasly	FRA	AlphaTauri RBPT	18
15	Mick Schumacher	GER	Haas Ferrari	12
16	Yuki Tsunoda	JPN	AlphaTauri RBPT	11
17	Zhou Guanyu	CHN	Alfa Romeo Ferrari	5
18	Lance Stroll	CAN	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	5
19	Alexander Albon	THA	Williams Mercedes	4
20	Nicholas Latifi	CAN	Williams Mercedes	0
21	Nico Hulkenberg	GER	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	0