Lando Norris secured a dominant win at Zandvoort to deny Max Verstappen a fourth straight triumph on home soil. The McLaren driver’s victory margin of 22.896 secs is the largest of the season so far.
- Norris wins, finishing 22.896 seconds ahead of Verstappen
- Ferrari’s Leclerc and Sainz finish P3 and P5, respectively
Norris defeats Verstappen at Dutch GP
Verstappen jumped ahead of Norris at the start to take the lead. However, he struggled with tyre grip as the race progressed. By Lap 16, Norris had already closed the gap to Verstappen, and on Lap 18, he pulled off a DRS-assisted pass down the main straight.
Leclerc on podium; Mercedes struggle for pace
Both Ferrari drivers had downplayed the team’s prospects at Zandvoort after a difficult Friday and Saturday. They endured a poor qualifying, too, with Sainz out in Q2 and Leclerc qualifying sixth, nearly a second off polesitter Norris.
However, the team collected a healthy tally of points in the race – Leclerc landed the final spot on the podium and Sainz recovered from P10 to P5. Oscar Piastri lost track position as he extended his opening stint, and had to settle for P4.
Sergio Perez finished sixth, ahead of the Mercedes duo of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. Given Mercedes’ recent strong results, Russell (who started from P4 on the grid) admitted that he was “surprised by the lack of pace” at Zandvoort. Hamilton recovered well after being handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding Perez in qualifying. The Briton made his way up from 14th on the grid to finish P8, but he echoed Russell, saying, “The car really didn’t feel as strong as the last race – we need to look into that. Whether our upgrade is delivering or not, we have to wait and see.”
Pierre Gasly finished P9 for Alpine, with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso rounding out the top 10.
2024 F1 standings
Verstappen’s championship lead over Norris has now been slashed to 70 points. Leclerc remains third overall, 33 points behind Norris.
F1 will now head to Monza for the Italian GP from August 30-September 1.
2024 Dutch GP results
Suraj Viswanathan
