F1 – Norris takes dominant Dutch Grand Prix win ahead of Verstappen and Leclerc

Lando Norris ended Max Verstappen’s home dominance with a crushing Dutch Grand Prix victory that saw the McLaren driver beat the Red Bull Racing by almost 23 seconds, as Charles Leclerc claimed a seventh podium finish of the season with third place.

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For a brief period after the start Norris’ second win of the season looked in doubt. Verstappen reacted quickest to the lights going out and on the short run to Turn 1 he passed the Briton to steal an early lead and a potential fourth successive win at his home grand prix.

However, Verstappen was unable to carve out a lead and on lap 18 Norris closed in under DRS on the pit straight to reclaim the lead. And with clean air ahead the McLaren driver stretched his legs to eventually take the chequered flag with 22.8 seconds in hand over his title rival.

“It feels amazing, yeah, once again,” said Norris afterwards. “I wouldn’t say a perfect race, because of lap one again, but afterwards it was beautiful. The pace was very strong. The car was unbelievable today, so I could get comfortable, I could push and get past Max, which was the main thing, and just go from there.”

Behind the top two at the start, Mercedes’ George Russell beat McLaren’s Oscar Piastri to the punch to steal third place, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc also gained a place, blasting around the outside of Sergio Pérez in the second Red Bull to take fifth place.

At the front Verstappen succeeded in breaking the DRS gap to Norris and over the first handful of laps eked out an 1.2s advantage over the McLaren man.

However, after dropping back from the dirty air behind Verstapen, Norris began to close in, and on lap 15 the McLaren driver was suddenly back in DRS range. Verstappen, meanwhile, was reporting that his tyres were “numb, they don’t grip” and that handed Norris the opportunity he required and on lap 18, with the aid of DRS, he powered past the Red Bull driver to reclaim the lead and with pace in abundance he quickly built up an almost six-second gap to the Dutchman.

Behind the leading pair, Russell was now over six seconds adrift in third, with fourth-placed Piastri coming under increasing pressure from Leclerc and with Pérez still locked in sixth place.

With Verstappen steadily losing ground, Red Bull pulled the trigger on his sole pit stop at the end of lap 27. With new Hard tyres on board he rejoined in fifth place, behind Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. McLaren reacted immediately and Norris headed into the pit lane at the end of the following lap. And after his switch to the C1 compound he emerged in P4, five seconds ahead of the Red Bull driver.

Piastri was the last of the frontrunners to pit, at the end  of lap 33. And after fitting a set of C1 Hard tyres, the Australian rejoined in fifth, just behind Russell. He soon dismissed the Mercedes driver but though he closed in on Leclerc, he couldn’t find a way past the Ferrari man.

Pérez was now coming under pressure from the increasingly pacy Sainz and on lap 45 the Ferrari driver attacked. The Spaniard was twice frustrated by the Mexican’s robust defending, but at the third time of asking Sainz used DRS and a late-braking lunge to get past the Mexican into Tarzan on lap 48.

At the front, Norris was pulling away from Verstappen and with 20 laps left the Red Bull man was 14.5s off the lead. Behind him Leclerc’s battle with Piastri was helping, however, and the Ferrari and McLaren drivers were now over six seconds adrift in third and fourth respectively.

On lap 55, Mercedes pitted Russell for a set of used Soft tyres, with the Mercedes driver charged with using the pace of the C3 tyres to haul his way back past Pérez, who had been boosted to sixth again. The gamble failed to pay off, however, and both two-stopping Mercedes drivers soon found their Soft tyres going off.

At the front, Norris was in cruise control and after 72 largely smooth and comfortable laps the Briton powered past the chequered flag to take the second win of his career. The victory and the point for the fastest lap he set on the final tour, mean that Norris now has 225 points, 70 behind championship leader Verstappen.

Behind the top two, Leclerc kept Piastri at bay to take his seventh podium finish of 2024. Sainz took fifth for Ferrari and Pérez held firm in sixth to Red Bull’s overall  points tally to 434, 30 clear of McLaren with Ferrari a further 34 points back in third. Behind Pérez, Russell led home team-mate Hamilton, Pierre Gasly secured ninth for Alpine and the final point went to Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.

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