A broken hand and a return to the podium: 3 things we learned from the Dutch GP

Max Verstappen equalled Sebastian Vettel's record of nine wins in a row at the Dutch Grand Prix on Sunday.

The Dutchman kept cool and calm in a chaotic race in front of his home fans to extend Red Bull's remarkable unbeaten season to 13 races.

Verstappen can own the winning sequence benchmark if he serves up more of the same at Monza next weekend.

AFP Sport takes a look at three other storylines to emerge from a stormy weekend on the North Sea coast at Zandvoort.

1. Alonso and Aston 'flying'

Verstappen wasn't the only driver to leave the seaside resort with a significant milestone in his pocket.

Evergreen Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin began the second half of the season in hugely encouraging fashion.

The Spaniard's race craft was underlined with a superb drive to take second, bagging the fastest lap and even presenting a real threat to Verstappen after the race restarted due to a deluge for a frantic seven-lap dash to the line.

After their season's brilliant beginning had tailed off before the summer break, this was Alonso's first podium since Canada two months ago. It augurs well for the ambitious team in their battle for the best of the also-rans behind the all-dominant Verstappen/Red Bull combination.

His 11th top-three finish of the season also broke Michael Schumacher's record between his first and last career podium.

Alonso's first podium came in Malaysia, 2003. He put the result down to his car.

"It was flying, very competitive, very easy to drive. In these conditions you need a car that you can trust, and I did trust the car a lot [on Sunday]."

2. Cruel blow for Ricciardo

On Thursday Daniel Ricciardo was like a kid in a sweet shop, with his pleasure in looking forward to the next ten races after his return from