Despite an early setback, Lando Norris responded in style to inflict a crushing first Dutch Grand Prix defeat upon Max Verstappen. Those pesky race starts came back to haunt Norris again, but after reclaiming the lead from Verstappen on Lap 18, it was smooth sailing from there as Norris went on to win by north of 20 seconds. Statement made for Norris and McLaren! Charles Leclerc completed the podium for Ferrari.
After the mixed conditions so far this race weekend, the sun was shining for what was set to be a dry race, with all drivers in the top 10 starting on the medium compound Pirelli tyres. Yuki Tsunoda, P11 on the grid, along with Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, went for softs, while it was hard tyres for Kevin Magnussen, starting from the pit lane after taking a new Energy Store and Control Electronics. Norris was on pole after a stellar lap to take pole position by north of three-tenths over Verstappen, but through came Verstappen with a great launch, ahead even before the Turn 1 breaking zone, with Mercedes’ George Russell demoting the other McLaren of Oscar Piastri out of the podium places.
Leclerc muscled his way past Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez up to P5, while Hamilton was on the move as he looked to recover from a three-place grid drop for impeding Perez in qualifying, snatching P12 from Tsunoda at the chicane. Lap 5 of 72 and this opening stint was settling down, Verstappen keeping out of DRS range from Norris, who was doing the same ahead of Russell. Piastri, Leclerc and Perez were stuck in a ‘DRS train’ behind the Mercedes.
Magnussen was starting to make progress, but that was all undone with a lock-up and trip into the gravel at Turn 1, returning him to P20 and last. McLaren meanwhile were asking Norris: “Who are we racing? Do you think it’s just Max?” An understandably confused Norris replied: “I think we’re racing whoever we think, the car ahead!” For Piastri, it was Plan A or Plan B talk, as he opted for “Plan A”. Norris was “pretty happy with the tyres” as Plan B got brought up to him as well.
A little further back, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was continuing his push up into and through the top 10, clearing Pierre Gasly at Turn 3 for P7, with Hamilton joining him as he slipped past Lance Stroll at Turn 1. But all eyes soon returned to the front. Lap 14 arrived and Verstappen was reporting turn-in problems at Turn 10.
The Red Bull “doesn’t turn at all” there he claimed, as Norris creeped within a second of the home hero to gain the luxury of DRS. That soon put Norris right on Verstappen’s gearbox as Verstappen claimed that the tyres were “numb”, Norris on Lap 18 taking Verstappen down the inside into Turn 1 as he wrestled away the Dutch Grand Prix lead. With Norris still happy on those mediums, McLaren were happy to stick with “Plan A”, though suspected a Verstappen undercut attempt was on the cards.
Norris though was not happy with the braking, claiming the pedal was going long as McLaren set about checking the data. Crucially, Verstappen had now dropped out of DRS range. As McLaren reported back with “everything is fine from our side”, Norris pointed to a strengthening wind as the likely cause for his concerns.
👉 Lawrence Stroll gives Adrian Newey update after ‘cheeky’ Martin Brundle question 👉 F1 schedule: When is the next F1 race and where is it being held? Hamilton dived into the pits on Lap 24 from P9 to ditch those soft tyres for hards, suggesting a one-stop strategy, while Leclerc was in the next lap for hards and Russell a lap later. Opportunity potentially knocked, with Verstappen now struggling in a major way, over five seconds behind Norris. Leclerc successfully undercut Russell, after a slightly sluggish stop, as McLaren gave Piastri a shot of encouragement to go “plus five” laps on his opening stint.
But Lap 28 arrived and Verstappen bolted for the pit lane for that hard rubber. Could McLaren afford to leave Piastri out? Instead, in came Norris the following lap, a 3.1-second stop not ideal, but nothing that would give Verstappen a sniff of re-claiming the lead.
With Norris adding further seconds to his advantage over Verstappen, Piastri was in on Lap 34 for a 2.4-second stop as he came back out P5, with Russell and Leclerc to clear ahead if he wanted a shot at Verstappen. Leclerc was on for back-to-back podiums if it stayed like this.
Gasly meanwhile was a little too eager to get away after his pit stop, the Alpine mechanic front-right just about getting out of harms way. The stewards took a quick look, but no further action was taken. Stroll was next on their agenda for speeding in the pit lane.
A five-second penalty came his way. Lap 40 and Piastri concluded one of those key overtakes, going around the outside of Russell at Turn 1. Leclerc was three-and-a-half seconds up the road, giving Piastri some precious clean air to work with.
Norris had now extended his lead over Verstappen to 10 seconds. No such gaps between Perez and Sainz who had been treating us to a thrilling multi-lap battle. After several attempts, Sainz at last on Lap 47 got his man, going around the outside of Perez at Turn 1 and up into P6.
Leclerc in the other Ferrari was now coming under serious pressure from Piastri. With a pit-stop-plus gap over Nico Hulkenberg, Hamilton would pit on Lap 49 for a fresh set of softs, boxing from and returning to the race P8, as Mercedes took that free hit. Norris was now 14 seconds clear of Verstappen.
Hamilton pitting created a ‘free stop’ for team-mate Russell, who came in on Lap 55 for some softs, as the Mercedes duo set off trying to hunt down Perez. Piastri’s progress had slowed behind Leclerc as he sat just outside DRS range, McLaren checking in to ask what was going on with the tyres? “Not amazing, but I’ll make it to the end,” he came back with. But the signs are very positive for McLaren as Norris stormed to the chequered flag, claiming his second career victory in dominant fashion and handing Verstappen his first Dutch Grand Prix defeat.
Leclerc held firm to complete the podium. Norris would take the fastest lap on his final tour for good measure, making it a perfect 26-point haul. 2024 Dutch Grand Prix timings 1 Lando Norris McLaren 2 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +22.
896 3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +25.439 4 Oscar Piastri McLaren +27.337 5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +32.
137 6 Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing +39.542 7 George Russell Mercedes +44.617 8 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +49.
599 9 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1L 10 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +1L 11 Nico Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team +1L 12 Daniel Ricciardo RB +1L 13 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1L 14 Alexander Albon Williams +1L 15 Esteban Ocon Alpine +1L 16 Logan Sargeant Williams +1L 17 Yuki Tsunoda RB +1L 18 Kevin Magnussen Haas F1 Team +1L 19 Valtteri Bottas Kick Sauber +2L 20 Zhou Guanyu Kick Sauber +2L Read next: 7am anti-doping agency visit leaves Max Verstappen feeling ‘a bit grumpy’.
