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Max Verstappen navigated his way through a chaotic and dramatic rain-hit Dutch Grand Prix to equal Sebastian Vettel’s record of nine victories in a row. Pole-sitter Verstappen found himself down in 13th place after seven drivers – including Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez – took advantage of a sudden first-lap downpour to move on to wet tyres. The Dutchman regained the lead on lap 13 of 72 only for the race to be red-flagged with just eight laps to run after Zhou Guanyu crashed out following a second heavy shower. A 43-minute suspension followed as the tyre barrier at the opening corner was repaired. But Verstappen beat Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in a six-lap dash to the chequered flag to match Vettel’s streak, set in 2013. Perez finished third but was demoted a place after he was hit with a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane, allowing Pierre Gasly to take the final spot on the podium. Carlos Sainz finished fifth, holding off Lewis Hamilton, with Lando Norris seventh. George Russell was forced to retire his Mercedes following a late duel with Norris. Verstappen, whose Red Bull team remain unbeaten this season, extended his championship lead from 125 points to 138 ahead of next weekend’s Italian Grand Prix in Monza. Dark clouds gathered in the minutes ahead of Sunday’s round in Zandvoort, 30 miles outside of Amsterdam, and just a handful of corners into the start, the heavens opened. While Verstappen and the leading pack tiptoed their way round the 2.65-mile circuit, Perez – who started in seventh – was called in by his quick-thinking Red Bull team for the intermediate tyres. With the rain still falling, Verstappen sensibly stopped the next time round but McLaren’s Lando Norris and the Mercedes of Russell stayed out on the slick rubber despite the worsening conditions. Hamilton, who started 13th, was also sent round for another lap despite the seven-time world champion’s obvious concerns. “We should have come in, man,” he said over the radio. “It is very wet.” “Copy, Lewis,” said his race engineer Peter Bonnington. “We’re going to stay out. We’re going to have to brave this.” But at the end of the third lap, Hamilton was in for wet tyres. He rejoined the track in last place. Russell was still sliding around on slicks before he was changed on to the wet rubber at the end of lap four. When the dust settled, Hamilton and Russell occupied 16th and 18th places. “I was forecast a podium,” said Russell on the radio. “F***, how did we mess this up?” By now the rain had relented and dry line was already starting to emerge, and, despite his early handicap, the all-conquering Verstappen was, predictably, on the march. On lap six he raced past Gasly for third before moving up to second a lap later as he blasted ahead of Zhou. Perez was seven seconds up the road. Verstappen was taking chunks out of Perez – on one lap as many as four seconds – before he reverted to slicks on lap 11. Perez stopped the next time round but emerged three seconds behind the flying Dutchman, who was now back in the lead, and back in control. On lap 15, Logan Sargeant was back in the wall a day after crashing out in qualifying. The American was unharmed but the safety car was deployed to retrieve his machine. Mercedes called Russell in for his third stop of the afternoon, putting him on the hardest, durable tyre in the hope it would see him through to the end of the race. With Sargeant’s wounded Williams out of the way, the race resumed on lap 21. Verstappen controlled the restart to leave team-mate Perez trailing. Verstappen raced off into the distance with Hamilton and Russell beginning their fightback through the pack. The Mercedes men were back in the top 10 but with only a dozen laps remaining, the rain returned with vengeance. The drivers were back in the pits for intermediate tyres before Perez spun his Red Bull at the opening corner and lost second to Alonso. As the downpour intensified, Alfa Romeo’s Zhou aquaplaned at the first corner and thudded into the tyre wall. Hamilton also ran off at the opening bend but managed to keep his Mercedes out of the barriers and rejoined the track. Race director Niels Wittich red-flagged the race. After a lengthy suspension the event was back under way at 5.14pm local time with two laps behind the safety car and a rolling start. Alonso sensed his first win in a decade but despite the tricky conditions, Verstappen kept Alonso behind, crossing the line 3.7 seconds clear of the Spaniard. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Max Verstappen reveals Sebastian Vettel prediction as he closes on GP record run Max Verstappen is one of the best drivers in F1 history – Lando Norris Daniel Ricciardo ruled out of Dutch Grand Prix after breaking wrist in practice

The weather gods did their best on the coast of the North Sea. Twice in fact: once at the start, once at the end. But as has been the case in Formula 1 in the last 18 months, Max Verstappen and his imperious Red Bull team had all the answers again. The inevitability of the Dutch national anthem being bellowed out on the podium – this time in front of 100,000 drenched home supporters – has become as customary as the podium ceremony itself. However, unlike many of this year’s processions for the three-time champion-in-waiting this year, this race was enthralling from start-to-finish. Unusually, team Verstappen were a step behind Sergio Perez’s strategists in the pit stop stakes early on, as rain forced a rethink for the whole pack. Once Red Bull, seemingly aware of the post-mortem should the Dutchman not win in his homeland, undercut Perez for their championship leader, the rest seemed entirely predictable. Until another heavy downpour – and Zhou Guanyu’s hefty shunt – forced a red flag eight laps from the end. Yet upon the race resumption, 45 minutes later, Verstappen maintained his lead from Fernando Alonso, who recorded an impressive finish in second for Aston Martin. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly finished third, after Perez was penalised with five seconds for inexplicably speeding in the pit lane. The Mexican ended up fourth. It is a ninth consecutive victory for Verstappen; his 11th this season and 46th grand prix win overall. A third-straight victory at Zandvoort, too, basking to the tune of the orange-clad contingent in the stands. A victory next week at Monza will see him overtake fellow record-holder Vettel, becoming the first man to reach double figures in consecutive wins. On this trajectory, who would possibly bet against him? Carlos Sainz came home fifth but it was a tumultuous afternoon for Mercedes. George Russell, who started in third, retired late on after a tangle with Lando Norris for seventh, while Lewis Hamilton could only manage sixth. Norris will be disappointed with P7, having started the race on the front row alongside Verstappen. What will hurt more is that the leading contenders had glimmers of hop here, straight off the bat. Just as Verstappen rolled his Red Bull into his grid box after the formation lap, flickers of rain were visible and the drama began. Whilst the hometown hero kept the lead from Lando Norris at the start – unlike at Silverstone last month – a miscalculation in the forecast set him back. But for Perez, with little to lose starting in seventh, it was a route to the front. The Mexican pitted straight away onto the intermediate tyre; a decision which proved inspired. By the time the rest of the pack, amidst pit-lane carnage in the first few laps, realised a change was a necessity Perez had an 11-second lead out in front. Alfa Romeo’s Zhou and Alpine’s Gasly, who also boldly dived into the pits after lap one, completed a helter-skelter top-three early on. Verstappen, to the bemusement of the Dutchies in the stands, had dropped down to eighth. But his ascent was inevitably rapid, passing Zhou within five laps and soon on the cusp of his team-mate. Perez had sparred with Verstappen in the early races of the season before losing his way, impressive staving off the challenge in Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan. Could he follow suit here? He was given no choice in the matter. By lap 11, it was time to switch back to slick tyres. The track dried out quickly and Red Bull, in full control of their bullets, opted to pit Verstappen first. By the time Perez was out of the pits himself a lap later, the Dutchman was back ahead. Normal order restored. TOP-10 - DUTCH GRAND PRIX 1. Max Verstappen 2. Fernando Alonso 3. Pierre Gasly 4. Sergio Perez 5. Carlos Sainz 6. Lewis Hamilton 7. Lando Norris 8. Alex Albon 9. Oscar Piastri 10. Esteban Ocon “Did Max undercut us?” Perez asked. “Yes, he undercut us,” came the response. You can imagine the look on the Mexican’s red-hot face underneath his helmet. The early shenanigans moved the British contingent out of contention, too. Badly timed pit stops saw Norris drop from second to outside the top-10, while an aghast Russell slumped from third to third-last. “I was forecast for a podium… f***, how did we mess this up?!” he questioned. Hamilton fared little better; a weekend to forget for the Silver Arrows. But within a matter of minutes, light rain had returned. It was too much for Williams rookie Logan Sargeant to handle, dumping his car into the wall to bring out a safety car on lap 17. The order bunched. The race then set forth a familiar tone: Verstappen gradually extended his lead, while those who’d benefited from the early downpour were slowly caught by their superior rivals. Charles Leclerc retired on lap 42; his season with Ferrari going from bad to worse. By the time heavy downpours returned with 12 laps to go, Red Bull had had their dress rehearsal. No panic stations this time – or so they thought. Perez’s spin at turn 1 in the wet allowed Alonso to take second, before Zhou’s crash triggered a red flag. Order reset in the pits, a rolling start plateaued any potential of a late shakeup right at the front. Come the chequered flag, bobbing heads in the crowd showed they were undeterred by the conditions. A victory for their man once more; no rain will stop their celebrations long into the night. Read More F1 Dutch Grand Prix LIVE: Race updates and times as Max Verstappen reclaims lead F1 returns with the now inevitable question: can anyone beat Max Verstappen? Daniel Ricciardo ruled out of Dutch Grand Prix F1 Dutch Grand Prix LIVE: Race updates and times from Zandvoort Daniel Ricciardo ruled out of Dutch Grand Prix F1 returns with the now inevitable question: can anyone beat Max Verstappen?

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Max Verstappen delighted his home crowd by taking pole position for Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix. In an incident-packed wet-dry session, the unstoppable double world champion delivered a crushing lap to finish half-a-second clear of Lando Norris, who qualified second for McLaren. George Russell will start from third place for Mercedes with the impressive Alex Albon fourth. Lewis Hamilton was eliminated in Q2 and will line up from only 13th spot in Zandvoort. Follow live race updates with The Independent Read More F1 grid: Starting positions for Dutch Grand Prix Max Verstappen claims pole position at home Dutch GP as Lewis Hamilton falters Daniel Ricciardo ruled out of Dutch Grand Prix

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Max Verstappen delighted his home crowd by taking pole position for Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix. In an incident-packed wet-dry session, the unstoppable double world champion delivered a crushing lap to finish half-a-second clear of Lando Norris, who qualified second for McLaren. George Russell will start from third place for Mercedes with the impressive Alex Albon fourth. Lewis Hamilton was eliminated in Q2 and will line up from only 13th spot in Zandvoort. Follow live race updates with The Independent Read More F1 grid: Starting positions for Dutch Grand Prix Max Verstappen claims pole position at home Dutch GP as Lewis Hamilton falters Daniel Ricciardo ruled out of Dutch Grand Prix

As I sit in the dark of Screen 2 at Oxford’s Curzon cinema, a woman a few seats away from me does something I’ve not seen before: she orders pizza. Specifically, she orders £64.85 worth of pizzas and chips for her and her family. A few minutes later – after the film has started, in fact – the food is brought to her, as though she was sitting in any regular restaurant and not in a cinema. Eating at the pictures is becoming ever more sophisticated, with ushers bringing you food as fancy as sushi without you having to move a muscle. Is it getting a bit silly? It’s no secret that cinemas have endured a range of crises over the past few years, partly thanks to the rise of streaming and then the pandemic and even more streaming. Cinemas across the country have shut down and forecasters predict that screens won’t be as full as they were pre-Covid until 2025. Some of the cinemas that survived, like AMC, are saddled with billions of pounds worth of debt. Just showing people films may not cut it in this difficult new era. As they fight to survive, cinemas are having to up their game. They have to offer “experiences”. Christina Flourentzou, operations manager at Curzon, says they learned that customers wanted more food and drink with their film thanks to their feedback service, Feed It Back. This happened before Covid struck, she points out, but post-pandemic the company rolled their restaurants out on a bigger scale. “What we’re trying to do is elevate the guest experience,” she says. “For us it’s about giving the guest the best possible experience; so anything that they want, we can give them, essentially.” At my local Curzon this includes padron peppers, mushroom and truffle croquettes, and vegan hot dogs. What Curzon has discovered, according to Flourentzou, is that when at-seat food and drink service is offered, the spend per customer goes up – often by as much as £2 per person. There is a different mindset when ordering at your seat compared with ordering at the till: “You take your coat off, your hands are free, you look at a menu, suddenly someone comes to you and says, ‘What would you like?’ Your mentality changes.” On any new site Curzon will now endeavour to install tables at seats, in order to allow for this in-screen service. Eating entire meals in your cinema seat is becoming more and more popular but it isn’t a brand-new phenomenon. Studio Movie Grill, born in Texas but with sites in states including California, Florida and Georgia, has been offering at-seat food and drink since 2000. Tearlach Hutcheson, the company’s vice president for film, calls this kind of operation a “cinema eatery”. He agrees that it isn’t just the pandemic that has caused a shift in customer priorities; it’s been happening over the past 20 years as home entertainment systems have become increasingly more sophisticated and cinemas have had to compete. “I think that people are looking for a different experience when they go to the theatres,” he says. “We have to provide a more luxurious catering experience to the guest.” I think the immersion is only going to get more and more. I think that everyone is going to adapt because this is what people want. I don’t think the cinema is enough now ... I don’t think it’s ever going to go back to popcorn and drinks Amy Fernando, creator of Taste Film At Studio Movie Grill, food revenue is more than twice that of ticket sales, and its CEO says that business is better for the company than before the pandemic. In cinemas, profit margins have always been higher on food than on tickets – though these margins are far smaller for cooked food than for popcorn and Coke. The kitchen staff at Studio Movie Grill are often dishing out six meals per minute. A recent innovation was a kitchen printer that printed orders faster than ever before. Servers are allowed to bring food and drink to guests at any point (unlike Curzon, where, Flourentzou says, it should strictly happen during the adverts and trailers) but the bulk of orders are placed within the first 30 minutes of arrival. Studio Movie Grill could represent the future of the cinema-going experience: it might soon be completely normal to bundle the film-and-a-meal experience into one. What Hutcheson is confident about is that cinemas will become more of a “destination spot” in order to entice people to leave the comfort of their homes. Flourentzou doesn’t think I’m right to call it “panic” but it does seem like cinemas are urgently fighting to stay alive. One person who knows all about using food and cinema to create an experience is Amy Fernando, creator of Taste Film, an enterprise that shows films to customers while serving them food featured in those films. Watching Goodfellas in 2016, Fernando was inspired by the infamous shaving garlic scene to marry the two things she cared most about. Seven years later, she has swapped teaching for running the business full-time. “I think the beauty of coming to the cinema, or doing an experience like this, is sharing it with like-minded people,” she says. “Post-Covid there is something special in getting dressed up, going out, and sharing the experience with other people.” When I go to watch Taste Film’s version of Mrs Doubtfire, I agree. I didn’t think of the film as one featuring all that much food but at appropriate moments we are served a savoury birthday muffin; chilli salt and pepper chicken wings; a meringue martini; tiger prawn skewers with chips and salad; a pina colada; and a chilli and chocolate mousse. As Fernando says, the frisson of fun is largely to do with two communal experiences: everyone not just watching the film at the same time but eating the same food at the same time. This won’t be replicable in regular cinemas (a Taste Film ticket is £75, for example) but the company is going from strength to strength, partnering with the big streamers, and its growth is indicative of people’s updated expectations around film. “Guests want more,” says Fernando, “and younger people want more.” Ultimately, of course, it will be the quality of films that govern whether or not cinemas stay afloat. This summer has seen an unusual boom in quality and business, with Barbie and Oppenheimer proving critical darlings as well as excellent earners. But where the cinemas can’t control how good the films are, they can control the various offerings they provide around them. “I think the immersion is only going to get more and more,” says Fernando. “I think that everyone is going to adapt because this is what people want. I don’t think the cinema is enough now.” Hutcheson and Flourentzou agree. Hand in hand with this development, Hutcheson says, will be a resurgence in “purer cinematic experiences” – people wanting to experience cinema with as sophisticated a picture and sound experience as possible. He believes that it won’t be long before cinema eateries – at the moment confined to more modest theatres – will also enter the IMAX space. Look at the signs and it certainly seems as though it will be difficult to put the genie back in the bottle – which means cinemagoers may need to brace themselves for an exciting new range of smells. Fernando is probably right when she says: “I don’t think it’s ever going to go back to popcorn and drinks.” Read More Too gay, too weird, too pregnant: The most controversial Barbie dolls in history Doing things alone isn’t ‘self-love’ – we don’t need to make everything empowering Sizzling kitchen drama The Bear is spicing up the dating game for chefs ‘It started with a radish’: Chef Simon Rogan reflects on restaurant L’Enclume at 20 The true story – and murky history – of Portuguese piri piri oil 30-minute summer recipes for all the family to enjoy

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