Lando Norris dominated the Dutch Grand Prix to lead home local hero Max Verstappen to claim his second GP victory in Formula 1.
It was the first time Norris has converted pole into a win in his F1 career, though it came after the Briton lost the lead to a fast-starting Verstappen immediately off the line. It was the fifth time in a row he’s failed to hold top spot at the end of the first lap after starting from P1, but the Briton was undeterred in an upgraded McLaren he knew had the pace to fight for victory.
Norris bided his time for the first 15 laps before unleashing ferocious pace to reel in Verstappen, closing the gap to nothing on the front straight at the beginning of lap 17.
“My tires are just numb,” Verstappen radioed. “They don’t grip.”
Norris took advantage of the Dutchman’s problems on the following tour, when a superior launch out of the last corner easily blasted him past Verstappen with the assistance of DRS, propelling him into the lead.
Verstappen attempted to fight back with DRS on the next lap, but Norris was too quick. The gap blew out by more than three seconds after just five laps as Norris stamped his authority on the race.
“I can’t go faster,” Verstappen radioed. “The car doesn’t respond to my inputs.
Red Bull Racing wasted little time heeding the complaints, hauling Verstappen in for his sole pit stop at the end of lap 27. Norris, by then with a lead of more than five seconds, covered on the next lap and rejoined with that advantage barely diminished.
It was the race won for Norris, who even on fresh hard tires continued to wield a decisive performance advantage over Verstappen, allowing him to cruise to the checkered flag. His gap grew to an imperious 22.9s at the flag, with Norris setting the fastest lap of the race on the final tour to underscore his domination.
“It feels amazing,” he said. “I wouldn’t say a perfect race, because of lap 1 again, but afterwards it was beautiful.
“From probably lap 5, 6, 7 I expected Max to start pushing and get a bit of a gap, and he never did, so from that point I knew we were in for a good fight.
“He seemed to keep dropping off and my pace was getting better. It’s a nice feeling inside the car, and especially when I got past. The pace was very strong. The car was unbelievable today.”
Verstappen was sanguine about losing his home race for the first time since it returned to the calendar in 2021, conceding his car didn’t have the pace to compete.
“We had a good start, so we tried everything we could today, but throughout the race I think it was quite clear we’re not quick enough, so I tried to be second today,” he said. “I just tried to do my own race… and that was second today.”
Charles Leclerc held off a fast-finishing Oscar Piastri in the battle for the final podium place in a well-executed race by team and driver.
Leclerc moved up to fifth on the first lap behind George Russell and Piastri, the former snatching third form the latter at the first turn. The Mercedes was markedly less competitive than Norris and Verstappen in the lead but was quick enough in a straight line to make it difficult to pass, bottling both Piastri and Leclerc behind as the top two broke away, cementing this as a battle for third.
The Ferrari pit wall was alive to the challenge and astutely called in Leclerc for fresh tires on lap 24. Dramatically faster on fresh hards, Russell had no hope of covering the undercut when he stopped on the following tour, earning Leclerc the place.
Rather than commit to a losing fight, McLaren extended Piastri’s stint to lap 33, allowing him to take advantage of the clean air ahead of him. Immediately he demonstrated similarly devastating pace as Norris had shown in overcoming Verstappen.
Piastri dropped to fifth behind Leclerc and Russell but easily reeled in and passed the Mercedes in just seven laps. He was on Leclerc’s tail within another 10 laps, but by now the best of his tires had been used, making the Ferrari a far harder proposition to pass.
Leclerc, typically disciplined despite his uncompetitive Ferrari, didn’t put a foot wrong, executing a perfect defensive drive to hold onto the podium.
“Very, very surprised,” he said. “I’m not very often happy with P3, but I think with today’s race we can be extremely happy with the job we’ve done on a difficult weekend for the team. I’m really happy to start the second half like this.”
Piastri finished fourth ahead of Carlos Sainz, the Spaniard finishing fifth thanks to a rapid final stint highlighted by a long duel with Sergio Perez, who he overcame with a late-braking move into the first turn on lap 47. The pass had him set his sights on Russell, who he looked certain to get by easily before Mercedes pitted the Briton for a set of softs.
It was a curious strategy from Mercedes, dropping Russell behind Perez and forcing him to pass the Mexican just to retake sixth. Russell started the stint with formidable speed that had him on track to get ahead of the Red Bull, but his red-walled tires ran out of puff long before he caught Perez, leaving him 5s adrift after the bungled call.
Sixth for Perez was a decent return despite losing a place to Sainz, the Mexican having demonstrated similar pace to Verstappen but with the additional handicap of being bottled behind the Russell-led train in the opening stint.
Lewis Hamilton recovered six places to eighth with an aggressive two-stop strategy that started and ended with sets of the soft tire, doing most of his passing in the opening stint.
Pierre Gasly held his grid spot to finish ninth ahead of Fernando Alonso, who collected the final point of the race for Aston Martin.
Nico Hulkenberg finished 11th ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Lance Stroll, who battled for the final point in the final stint.
Alex Albon led home Esteban Ocon, Logan Sargeant, Yuki Tsunoda, Kevin Magnussen, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu.
