DUTCH GP – Lando Norris puts in dominant performance taking twenty-two twenty-two-second win ahead of Max Verstappen
Lando Norris put in a dominant performance after fending of Max Verstappen to win the Dutch Grand Prix by twenty-two seconds. The McLaren driver lost out to the Red Bull after being bogged down at the start allowing Verstappen into the lead, but the lead never grew to over a second during the opening stint, allowing him to catch Verstappen by lap seventeen before overtaking into Tarzan at the start of the following lap.
Norris struggled to convert pole this time didn’t appear to knock his confidence despite Verstappen’s early lead breaking the DRS range, he fought back once the gap levelled out in the opening stint at around a second and a half. Norris then chipped away at the Red Bull over the following laps, before overcutting him taking the lead.
One of Norris’ focuses over the summer has been trying to improve his starts, but despite losing out he fought back to take his second career win, perhaps a key one in his attempt to challenge Verstappen for the championship. Verstappen was beaten at his home race for the first time since it returned in 2021.
From then on, the Englishman never looked back increasing his lead steady over the remainder of the race, giving him the overcut for the remainder of the race, delivering one of the most dominant wins of the season.
McLaren’s upgrades once again working and looking as if they have certainly caught Red Bull going into the second half of the season. McLaren trend over the last year has been every upgrade delivers them another step forwards, like in Miami Norris used them to great effect. Perhaps justifying those who dismissed his self-criticism on Thursday where he said he ‘didn’t deserve the title after letting opportunities slip.’
Verstappen looked all weekend to beat McLaren with their upgrades, which Norris once again used to convert into his second career win. Charles Leclerc brought his Ferrari home third finishing two and a half seconds behind Verstappen; the Ferrari driver made a good start gaining places at the start before the first round of stops saw him pass both George Russell and Oscar Piastri.
Once passing Piastri using the undercut, Leclerc had to fend off the second McLaren following the first stops with him finishing two seconds ahead. But while the Australian couldn’t pass Leclerc it covered off Russell with the Mercedes driver then dropped to seventh.
Norris said, “It feels amazing. I wouldn’t say a perfect race because of lap one again but it was beautiful, the car was very strong, I could push and get past Max and just go from there. Still tough but enjoyable.”
Verstappen said: “We had a good start so we tried everything we could today but throughout the race it was quite clear we were not quick enough so I tried to be second today. I know we have good starts and I was quite confident we would have another one. That was my race.”
Verstappen still has a seventy-point lead over Norris with nine races to go, that looks a hard advantage to overturn but there is still a long way to go with nine races to go. If Norris can win the next three races over the next four weeks before the autumn break, in the closing five races it could be game on for the championship.
Ferrari had been Red Bull’s closest challenger until May when they were overtaken in the development battle by McLaren. That looked to continue until a poor stop by Russell and McLaren’s decision to put Piastri on an off-set strategy, in an attempt to pass Leclerc.
However, the Ferrari was able to hold on to his position under pressure, before pulling away in the closing stages. While Russell’s poor strategy allowed the Australian back through as his tyres fell away, he lost out also to both Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez, the Ferrari driver bouncing back from his tough weekend and being knocked out in Q2 with a series of overtakes.
Including on Perez despite his robust defence and Russell, who had gambled on softs at the end of the race to try and pass the Mexican but ended the race almost five seconds behind. But while it was Perez’s best result since Miami, questions remain about his long-term future as he still struggles to match Verstappen, thus making Red Bull vulnerable to McLaren in the constructors.
But what will happen in Baku and Singapore will be fascinating as the high-speed circuits favour Red Bull. While Monza could again swing towards McLaren, predictability all but gone this season.
Lewis Hamilton recovered from his Q2 knockout and a three-place grid penalty for impeding Perez in qualifying to finish eighth, just over five seconds behind his teammate Russell. Mercedes has struggled this weekend to make an impact despite winning three of the last four races before the summer break.
Pierre Gasly led the lapped cars in ninth as he finished almost five seconds ahead of Fernando Alonso, completing the top ten. Alonso had passed the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg in the closing stages to claim the final point, on the track the German spilt the two Aston Martin’s.
However, Daniel Ricciardo was prompted to twelfth as Lance Stroll’s penalty for speeding in the pit lane was converted into a five-second penalty. Alex Albon was fourteenth, after fighting back to at one stage being in the points after being disqualified for an illegal floor from qualifying, using a two-stop strategy.
Esteban Ocon spilt the Williams, he was fifteenth and a half seconds ahead of Logan Sargeant. Yuki Tsunoda was seventeenth, Kevin Magnussen eighteenth, with both Sauber’s two laps down, Valtteri Bottas just over half a second ahead of teammate Guanyu Zhou.
Related
- Dutch GP – Qualifying Result
- DUTCH GP – Lando Norris dominates qualifying beating Max Verstappen by three and a half seconds to pole
- DUTCH GP – Pierre Gasly fastest in a heavily interrupted third practice by nearly a tenth and a half
- DUTCH GP – George Russell six hundredths ahead of Oscar Piastri in second practice
- Welcome to the Dutch Grand Prix – 2024
- PRIXVIEW – Dutch Grand Prix