Norris recovers from poor start to hammer Verstappen on home turf; Leclerc holds off Piastri for P3

In the halcyon days of Red Bull’s dominance, a bobble like the one McLaren’s pole-sitting Lando Norris made to start Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix would have relegated the young Briton to a second place start once Max Verstappen pounced to take the lead amidst the rolling dunes of Zandvoort. But such are the strides that McLaren and their young duo of drivers have made that Norris not only kept his cool after ceding the lead but then set himself to relentlessly closing down the race leading Red Bull in rather astonishingly rapid fashion. Proving that the pace advantage in Formula 1 no longer rests with Red Bull, McLaren’s main man hunted down Verstappen and re-passed the Dutchman in front of his home crowd with relative ease on Lap 18 of this 72-lap contest. Norris almost immediately scampered away out of DRS range and built enough of an advantage to withstand Verstappen’s attempt at an undercut on Lap 27, emerging from his only out stop of the race a lap later just under five-seconds ahead of the Flying Dutchman. After that, it was clear that the McLaren in Norris’s hands had the legs on Verstappen’s Red Bull, and Norris never faced a real challenge for the rest of the race. He subsequently earned his second F1 victory and second this season after breaking his duck in Miami, taking the checkered flag nearly 23-seconds ahead of the Red Bull runner-up.

Norris makes his move, takes the lead… and never looked back 💪#F1 #DutchGP pic.twitter.com/8eQNr2fRhJ

— Formula 1 (@F1) August 25, 2024

Ferrari’s Chalres Leclerc exceeded expectations by making a very good getaway of his own to start the race and then undercutting the field on Lap 25 to get track position on the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri and the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez. Lecerc was then able to hold off Piastri in the final stanza of the race to claim P3 and earn the last step on the podium. But with Piastri still coming home a solid P4 while Perez drifted to a rather desultory P6 finish, and combined with Norris’s maximum 26-points haul for not only winning but setting the fastest lap of the day, McLaren closed ground on Red Bull in the all-important Constructors’ Standings to the tune of a mere thirty-point deficit. Norris also sliced into Verstappen’s lead in the Drivers’ points, closing to within seventy with nine races remaining on the calendar. In a twist few would have predicted after the opening rounds of the 2024 season, Red Bull are now the ones chasing McLaren and hoping they can do just enough to hold off the papaya orange menace filling up their rearview mirrors in both title hunts.

Leclerc’s Scuderia teammate Carlos Sainz did well to come home ahead of Perez in P5 after being hampered by limited running in practice and starting down in P10. Mercedes had a step back here after their strong run of results heading into the summer break, leaving the team scratching their heads over their relative lack of pace that saw George Russell only finish P7 after starting from fourth on the grid. Teammate Lewis Hamilton at least recovered somewhat from his lowly P14 starting position and came home in P8, cold if any comfort for driver and team. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly had another solid drive to take valuable points in P9 and Fernando Alonso was the lone Aston Martin to score in P10.

Top 10 finishers of the Dutch GP:

Complete race results available via Formula.com.

The next tilt is in but a week’s time — the Italian Grand Prix from the Temple of Speed, Monza. While Ferrari would dearly like to take the honors for that race weekend, it’s now looking like a two team race between Red Bull and surging McLaren. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out on the fastest circuit in Formula 1!