Qatar tribune DPA Zandvoort (Netherlands) Lando Norris of McLaren recovered from an awful start to beat home favourite Max Verstappen of Red Bull and win the Formula One Dutch Grand Prix on Sunday. Polesitter Norris had a very slow reaction after the lights were out and three-time defending world champion Verstappen took the lead before even reaching Turn 1. But from lap 14, the Dutchman, who was aiming to claim a fourth consecutive victory at his home race, started complaining that he was having trouble to make the turns.
Norris closed the gap and eventually made a move to take the lead in lap 18 and retained it after the first round of pitstops. For Norris, it was his second win of the season and of his career, the first one coming at the Miami Grand Prix in May. “It feels amazing, I wouldn’t say a perfect race because of lap one again, but afterwards it was beautiful.
The pace was very strong and the car was unbelievable today,” Norris said. “I could get comfortable, I could push and I could get by Max which was the main thing and go from there. Obviously still tough but very enjoyable.
” Verstappen and Red Bull not as dominant as before Verstappen and his Red Bull team have dominated F1 in the past two years, but that hasn’t been the case in the 2024 season. The Dutchman had to settle for second in his 200th F1 Grand Prix - finishing almost 23 seconds behind Norris and extending his winless run to five consecutive races - while Charles Leclerc of Ferrari completed the podium in third. At his home race, Verstappen claimed his first podium since the British Grand Prix in July.
While he still tops the drivers’ championship with 70 points ahead of Norris, he sees the McLaren man as a real threat to his bid to a fourth consecutive title. “We had a good start, so we tried everything we could today but it’s quite clear we were not quick enough. I just tried to do my own race, and that was second today,” the defending champion said after the race.
Leclerc”verysurprised” with third place Ferrari have been struggling to find their good pace after wins at the Australian GP and Leclerc’s home Monaco GP, as they saw Mercedes and McLaren bring in updates and improve. But Leclerc claimed a podium at the Belgian GP before the summer break and repeated the positive result in the Netherlands, despite being “very, very surprised.” “I’m not often happy with a P3 but with today’s race I think we can be extremely happy with the job that we have done on a difficult weekend for the team.
“We’ve been struggling from Friday until the race, in the race we found some more pace, executed a perfect strategy, undercutting two of our competitors and then we managed to keep them behind,” he said. Leclerc started in sixth, but his good pace and strong strategy saw him third after the first round of pitstops. He was attacked throughout the race by Oscar Piastri in the other McLaren, but the Australian failed to get close enough to make a move.
Piastri finished fifth, followed by Carlos Sainz in the other Ferrari and Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull. Mercedes were seventh and eighth with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton respectively. Russell’s plans were messed up by a sloppy pitstop, while Hamilton made a recovery race, starting 14th but finishing in the points.
F1 next week heads to the iconic Monza circuit for the Italian GP on September 1. Copy 26/08/2024 10.
