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Formula 1 driver Lando Norris celebrates his victory in Zandvoort. © AFP
Lando Norris triumphs with dominance and in Max Verstappen style at the world champion’s home race in Zandvoort. In the World Championship, the McLaren driver reduces the gap to the world champion.
After a dominant gala in Max Verstappen style, even the Dutch fans cheered the high-flyer in the orange McLaren with great appreciation – and Lando Norris enjoyed his impressive triumph in Zandvoort to the fullest. “That was incredible work, let’s keep pushing,” said the Briton about his second win of the season at the Dutch Grand Prix. And McLaren boss Zak Brown shouted a clear “Let’s go!” into the Sky microphone with a view to the title fight.
“It feels incredible, it was an almost perfect race – after the first lap,” said Norris, who only had to let world champion Verstappen overtake him at the start of his home race. After that, he didn’t give him the slightest chance and relegated him to second place. In the World Championship, Norris is still 70 points behind the Dutchman after 15 of 24 races – but the balance of power has clearly shifted in favor of the Briton.
“We gave it our all, we had a good start, but then it was very clear that we weren’t fast enough,” said the ailing Verstappen, who has now been waiting for a win for five races. The 26-year-old last experienced such a streak in 2020, when he last failed to become world champion. “Coming second nine times won’t be enough,” said Red Bull’s motorsport advisor Helmut Marko, looking ahead to the coming months.
Verstappen ended up being more than 22 seconds behind the Briton. He relegated Charles Leclerc (Monaco) in the Ferrari to third place, with the more strongly rated Oscar Piastri (Australia) coming in behind him.
The Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton (both Great Britain) clearly missed the podium this time.
Nico Hülkenberg narrowly missed out on the points, the Haas driver from Emmerich finished eleventh. Verstappen’s recently weak teammate Sergio Perez, whose retirement during the summer break had been speculated upon, finished sixth.
There had been a lot of discussion beforehand. Would Norris keep his nerve this time and make a good start? After all, the Briton had already started a race from pole position three times – but he had not yet been able to win from the best starting position.
And Norris did not get off to a good start in Zandvoort, even in the sunshine. The fans on the Dutch North Sea coast cheered loudly when Verstappen was the first to turn into the long right-hand bend after the start. In the Red Bull, Verstappen initially managed to build up a small lead over Norris – but he was unable to pull away decisively.
