Formula 1 is still red hot. After stopping for a couple of weeks, the British Lando Norris This Sunday he achieved a victory of credentials in the Dutch Grand Prix and revived the drivers’ World Championship. He had to redeem himself against the multiple Dutch champion Max Verstappen (Red Bull), because a bad start made him lose the privileged place, but he made amends 18 laps later by imposing the pace of his McLaren.
Norris added the second victory of his career and extended Verstappen’s drought that he has already accumulated. five great prizes without winningalthough, with the Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) as an ‘ally’, once again minimized its losses and left the Zandvoort racetrack with 70 points ahead of the Britishdespite finishing 23 seconds behind. The Englishman set the fastest lap on the last lap and added an extra point.
For its part, the Spanish Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) made a great comeback, going from tenth to fifth position, overtaking the Spanish Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) on the track, overtaken at the start by the Frenchman Pierre Gasly (Alpine) and who finished tenth, and also the Mexican ‘Checo’ Pérez (Red Bull), who lost one position and finished sixth.
The Australian Oscar Piastri (McLaren), who lost a position at the start and immediately entered into a fight for third place with Leclerc and the British George Russell, was not able to overtake the Ferrari driver, who with an unexpected pace avoided giving ‘clean air’ to Piastri to pounce on Verstappen, finishing third.
Norris corrected in time
All of McLaren’s plans were dismantled at the start. Both Norris and Piastri went absolutely wrong and while Norris lost the lead to the detriment of Verstappen, Piastri did the same with the Briton. George Russell (Mercedes), which placed third virtually.
Likewise, Sainz, who started tenth, overtook the Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), also surpassed by the Frenchman Pierre Gasly (Alpine), who with a great start placed seventh by also passing Alonso. The Asturian fell back to ninth position in the first laps, overtaken by Sainz who aspired much more than eighth position.
Ahead, Norris’ more than three-tenths advantage in the classification over Verstappen did not come to light in the race pace, since during the first ten laps the Dutchman kept the Briton at bay, unable to reduce the second and a half of distance between both.
However, from lap eleven, with Verstappen in the lead, the three-time world champion began to look in the rearview mirror at a Norris that was barely degrading with its medium tires and that already appeared on lap thirteen at ‘Mad Max’. ‘.
While Hamilton, who changed the dynamics of the top ten and started with soft tires instead of medium ones, overtook Alonso, Norris stalked Verstappen who could not do anything to avoid being overtaken on the main straight of lap 18 without too many complications. .
He endured several laps with the help of DRS, but the Dutchman disengaged from Norris after lap 21. It was then that the Bristol driver began to impose an ‘iron fist’ pace, being the only one to make the turn to Zandvoort in minute and fifteen seconds, which made the difference with Verstappen increase.
The Austrian’s car did not respond “to the stimuli,” Verstappen assured over the radio, and for this reason he was forced to enter the pits, but all that difference that Norris was gaining, he was losing meters behind his teammate Piastri.
Instead of fighting with Russell for third position, the Australian tried to avoid losing fourth to the Monegasque Leclerc, who impressed with a pace that the Ferraris had not shown throughout the weekend.
He threw an undercut to achieve in the pits what he could not achieve on the track and it went so well that he not only passed Leclerc but also Russell due to the Briton’s poor stop, although Piastri took advantage of the clean air to fly, although It was not enough for him to go for the Monegasque.
Norris continued ‘walking’ around the Dutch circuit and his only concern was that Piastri could reach second place from Verstappen, who was six seconds away with just over twenty laps remaining.
However, while Sainz overtook Pérez, taking advantage of having stopped later, he took fifth place after a commendable comeback.
The turns went by and there was no way. The Australian tried everything, aware that if it happened to him he could threaten Verstappen for second position, but he could not get past fourth place in a race in which Russell and the British Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) tried something different from the rest: they stopped a second time, while the others only made a stop, but even then they did not stalk Pérez and Sainz.
Thus, Norris continues trying to revive a drivers’ World Championship that just a few months ago seemed clear for Verstappen, who, however, has already gone too many grand prizes without winning, partly because of a car that is no longer the best and that is why he is now looking out of the corner of his eye, and not from the rearview mirror, to Norris, who will seek to get even closer in Monza.