Lando Norris thrashes Max Verstappen to win Dutch GP and silence ‘Oranje army’

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By Phil Duncan, at Zandvoort
Lando Norris beat Max Verstappen in the Dutch driver’s backyard to ignite his hopes of winning the Formula One world championship. Norris might have feared the worst after he allowed Verstappen to blast ahead of him following another poor start for the Briton here in Zandvoort.
But Norris silenced 105,000 orange-clad fans when he slipstreamed his way back past their hero on lap 18 of 72 before delivering an emphatic win to cross the line 22.8 seconds clear of Verstappen.
Norris’s triumph marked just the second of his career – arriving 112 days after his maiden victory in Miami – to reduce the championship deficit from 78 points to 70 with nine rounds remaining and 258 points still to play for.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished third, one place ahead of McLaren driver Oscar Piastri. George Russell finished seventh, while Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton drove through the field from 14th to eighth.
An unwanted statistic lingered over Norris as he headed into Sunday’s race. Despite claiming three previous career poles, he had never led after the opening corner. And history repeated itself on the short blast to the Tarzan bend,when Norris looked as though he was treading through treacle as Verstappen breezed clear.
Norris’ reaction time was the same as his rival – 0.28 seconds – but the second phase of his getaway cost the McLaren man dearly, and Norris was suddenly staring at the back of Verstappen’s Red Bull gearbox.
Verstappen has dominated every edition of this race since F1 returned to the Netherlands in 2021, and the very early stages of Sunday’s affair suggested he might claim his fourth triumph in as many appearances on home soil.
There were confusing messages coming out of McLaren, too. Norris was asked by race engineer Will Joseph who he thought he was racing. The answer appeared obvious: Verstappen – the man he beat to pole by more than three tenths – and Norris agreed. “The car ahead,” he roared. Yet Joseph’s question seemed to cast doubt over whether McLaren truly believed they had the speed to match Verstappen.
But McLaren have provided Norris with a rocket ship, while Red Bull are simply no longer the dominant force they once were. And, as the lap count ticked down, Norris, who at one stage was almost two seconds behind Verstappen, was occupying the Dutchman’s Red Bull mirrors.
By the start of lap 15, Norris was less than a second behind and in DRS range. Two laps later and the gap was half a second with Verstappen reporting that his tyres felt “numb”. The TV feed cut to Christian Horner, who wore a pained expression on the Red Bull pit-wall as he perhaps sensed the inevitable and, on lap 18, Norris struck.
The British driver latched on to Verstappen’s tow before jinking to his right at 200mph and making the move stick at the first bend. Verstappen had no answer and six laps later, Norris was two seconds clear. “I can’t go any faster,” a downbeat Verstappen said.
Lando Norris OVERTAKES Max Verstappen to retake the LEAD of the Dutch Grand Prix! ⚡🟠 pic.twitter.com/wDptODmuko
At the start of lap 26, Norris was five seconds ahead, and when Verstappen pulled in for his first stop, Norris’s advantage stood at nearly seven seconds.
In the past, McLaren have been accused of fluffing their strategy lines, but they wasted no time in bringing Norris in to cover off Verstappen.
It was not the speediest stop – half a second slower than Verstappen’s – but Norris emerged ahead of the Red Bull. On lap 40 his lead stood at 10 seconds. This was turning into an exhibition.
McLaren’s first major upgrade since Norris won in Miami had delivered the goods and, with Red Bull stuttering, a championship challenge could yet be on the cards. Who would have thought that when Verstappen won five of the opening seven races? However, this marked the triple world champion’s fifth consecutive appearance without a win.
Norris admitted before Sunday’s race that he has not been driving at the level required to win the world title. But following a string of missed opportunities, his commanding victory will provide him – and fans of the sport craving a title contest – with proof that this championship is still very much alive.
He says the team have learned a lot of lessons this weekend and that it was a “solid” drive from Perez. 
“We need to understand where the deficit is, you can see the pace they had a this track was outstanding.”
“The pace that they had today, nothing is secure. We still have a comfortable lead in the drivers’ but the constructors’, another chunk of points has come off today. We’ve got to respond and I’m confident we have the strength and depth [to do that].”
That was pretty awesome. Lando drove perfectly, the team did a great job, the strategy was great. I think Oscar had enough pace to get Charles but Charles drove great. Some celebrating tonight and then get ready for Monza. It was a big gap. We knew we were fast all weekend but I’m not shocked but pleasantly surprised at the size of the gap. 
It’s going to be an exciting nine races to go. I think the upgrades clearly worked, I think we need to keep our feet on the ground… and not assume that’s not going to be a repeat every weekend but I hope we can do it a few more times. 
186 in total. They were on 182 for nearly a decade, won in 2021 in Italy but, many podiums later, have taken multiple wins in a season for the first time since 2012. 
Crossing the line as the #DutchGP WINNER! 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/J3jiECayYT
How many more can they win? Looking at the competitive picture with nine rounds left you’d say there’s more than half a chance of them winning a fair few of them if they can string it together. 
It feels amazing. Once again, I wouldn’t say a perfect race because of lap one again but afterwards it was beautiful. The car was unbelievable today. I could push and get past Max which was the main thing. Honestly, quite a straightforward race but still tough. I have a lot of Dutch fans and Dutch supporters so I think you very much. I am sure some are a little upset, but I hope it was a good race. 
From quite early on, probably lap five, six or seven, I expected Max to start pushing and get a little bit of a gap but he never did… he just seemed to keep dropping off and my pace got better. 
Yeah, very, very surprised [to get on the podium]. I am not very often happy with a P3 but I think with today’s race we can be extremely happy with the job we have done. In the race we found some more pace, executed a perfect strategy, undercut our competitors and managed to keep them behind. 
That’s five races in a row without a win now. 
Well, you always try to do better. We had a good start. We tried everything we could today but throughout the race it was quite clear we were not quick enough. I know that we have good starts, I was quite confident we would have another one. Luckily it was like that. 
Very much making it clear that it was damage limitation here this weekend. I am not sure they would have expected to lose by more than 22 seconds, though. With the fastest lap point Norris takes eight points out of Verstappen’s championship lead, cutting it to 70 points. Still significant but I think Red Bull will be rightly concerned about the direction of both championships. 
“We got what we thought we would today” 😞Christian Horner reflects on Max Verstappen’s P2 finish 👇 pic.twitter.com/JgqRSdoI5D
Sergio Perez did an OK job to claim sixth. Red Bull will just about be content with that. Ahead of the two Mercedes cars at least. 
“Simply lovely, huh,” he says parroting Verstappen’s catchphrase. “Let’s keep pushing,” he adds. 
He ends the run of Verstappen victories and does so with the fastest lap of the race on the final lap! His winning margin of 22.896sec also beats the 22.457sec that Verstappen beat Perez by in Bahrain at the start of the season. 
Fireworks greet Norris as he crosses the line 20 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen in second place. Charles Leclerc takes the final podium spot 🎇#F1 #DutchGP pic.twitter.com/OmMcDP6g2d
Verstappen second, Leclerc third and Piastri fourth. 
Norris with just a handful of corners left to take the most commanding win. What a statement after the summer break this will be. Looks like he might win by more than Verstappen’s Bahrain winning margin, too…
Both Saubers, a team having a rotten season, have been lapped twice. Ouch. 
Piastri has dropped back so I think is settling for 1.5sec. Perez’s sixth place looks safe from the two Mercedes cars behin. 
1.3sec the gap to Leclerc. Needs a perfect final few laps, though. I can’t see it happening. A disappointing day for him but I am not sure his strategy was optimised. 
Verstappen won by 22.457 at the start of the year in Bahrain. Probably too much for Norris to get that far ahead with so few laps left but still, this is quite a turnaround. 
Seventh and eighth after winning three of the last four. Surprised they have been slower than Ferrari here today but Russell was undercut at the first stops and then never recovered. Hamilton was always on the back foot after being eliminated in Q2 and then handed a three-place penalty. 
None of that today. They lost the lead at the start but then just waited until the right moment and have not looked back there. Piastri has struggled to get himself into the game in the second stint after being left out long but credit to Ferrari and Leclerc for a strong performance after a poor qualifying. 
Norris lock up slightly at the final chicane. Nothing to be too concerned about, though. 
Lando fans, how you feeling? 👀 pic.twitter.com/sScnaq4C0p
Barring a Verstappen DNF or scoring very few points, I still think a genuine title challenge from Norris is out of the question. 
He is currently eighth and is closing in on team-mate George Russell for seventh.  Fernando Alonso gets into the points at Hulkenberg’s expense. 
He has dropped to about 1.4sec behind. 
He overtakes Hulkenberg, who is on 47-lap old hard tyres. Alonso is nearly within a second of him. Not sure the Haas will have the pace to take the final point…
And 26 for Red Bull, depending on fastest laps etc.
This is going to be McLaren’s biggest winning margin since… well, quite some time, I would imagine. McLaren are going to be making up ground on Red Bull today. 
What has he got this time?
Imperious. 
Russell the fastest man on the track on fresh tyres. Perez is 14 seconds ahead of him with that number of laps remaining give or take a couple. 
Sainz now within DRS range of Russell for fifth an Leclerc has seen off Piastri’s attack. 
Home race next week at Monza, remember. Russell stops from fifth…
Not sure what McLaren do with him? Settle for fourth. Would be a bit disappointing but stopping again isn’t going to get him anywhere with just 18 laps to go. 
But Piastri does not appear to be any closer to Leclerc and is now, indeed, out of DRS range as Norris laps Stroll in 12th. 
LAP 52/72 Leclerc is doing a great job of holding Piastri at bay 💪But there’s a long way to go…#F1 #DutchGP pic.twitter.com/L6hr3lNPwl
In case you were wondering what was happening at the front. 
About 0.3sec the last time around. He needs to get the move done quickly if he wants to make it a McLaren 1-2. 
Even with DRS. There are some backmarkers coming up in the next couple of laps for the pair but that could help one driver or another. Red Bull mechanics out in the pit lane with soft tyres… and then they march back into the garage with the Pirelli-labelled rubber. 
But that is only because he is right on Leclerc’s rear wing and that will help Verstappen in his hunt for second place. Mercedes mechanics out in the pit lane for Hamilton, who is in no man’s land in eighth. 
LAP 46/72 Snaking through the dunes! Piastri is within striking distance of Leclerc, and the podium 🥉#F1 #DutchGP pic.twitter.com/gFxHcbUUPm
The Red Bull driver down in seventh now with just Hamilton, who started down the field, behind of the top four teams. 
He is now lapping half a second faster than Leclerc and also Verstappen. Norris is pretty much on Piastri’s pace showing us definitively that the McLaren is the class of the field today. 
When the time comes I cannot see it being a tricky overtake. Perez and Sainz duelling for sixth with Perez keeping the place as it stands. 
 
Verstappen not happy with the state of his tyres. 
Hamilton is in eighth and Carlos Sainz is the next man in his sights but with much older hard tyres. 
He is 1.8sec behind Leclerc and now only 8.5sec behind Verstappen…
He goes around the outside of Russell at turn one to take fourth. 3.8sec to make up to reach Leclerc in third. Hmmm. With 30-odd laps to go I am not sure that a McLaren 1-2 is out of the question. 
Lando Norris OVERTAKES Max Verstappen to retake the LEAD of the Dutch Grand Prix! ⚡🟠 pic.twitter.com/wDptODmuko
Norris now leads by more than 10 seconds, by the way. We haven’t seen much of him on our TV screens recently. Cake walk for him at the moment. 
For speeding in the pit lane. 
He has a six-lap tyre advantage or so over those ahead. Russell is just 1.4sec ahead, Leclerc in third is 5.1sec ahead and Verstappen about 11.1sec. Second might be hard, a podium is certainly possible. But can Piastri get even close to what Norris is getting out of the car?
Lando Norris OVERTAKES Max Verstappen to retake the LEAD of the Dutch Grand Prix! ⚡🟠 pic.twitter.com/wDptODmuko
McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes. Repeat that from fifth down to eighth in the same manner. 
Magnussen the only driver yet to stop. 
If anyone could challenge Red Bull then it would not last long. Once Verstappen took the lead his advantage just extended and extended. 
The McLaren is rapid today. Verstappen has no answer for this pace. 
He will have lost a significant amount of time in that last phase but the hope is that the tyre advantage will help him charge through the field for a podium. 
Box, box. 🛞Oscar boxes for Hard tyres. ⚪️Lap 33/72 | #DutchGP 🇳🇱 pic.twitter.com/Sc990rl2Ms
He is out in fifth, but 3.8sec behind Russell with Leclerc in third a further four seconds up the road. 
Piastri and Gasly are the only drivers in that who have yet to stop. Verstappen now 6.3sec behind Norris if you needed another reminder of the pace in the lead McLaren. 
Piastri told to pit at the end of the lap. 
Piastri has yet to stop, remember. Alonso pits at the end of the lap for the first time. 
Lap 31/72: @Carlossainz55 pits from P2! He rejoins the race P9 right on the tail of PER 🤏 #DutchGP 🇳🇱 #F1 pic.twitter.com/Am1bGDAKjr
Piastri stays out, so it seems they are staggering the strategies slightly. Or they are running him longer to give him a tyre advantage later on in the race as they hope he will be able to close in on Verstappen for second. Norris is back on his rocket-ship pace now, edging 5.5sec ahead of Verstappen. 
He has not stopped, nor has Sainz. A slow stop for Perez. 4.4sec, which is far from ideal. Hamilton gets Magnussen for 11th. 
He goes onto the hard tyres. Norris does the same at the end of this lap and maintains a five-second advantage over the Dutchman. 
His lead is nearly six seconds now ahead of Verstappen. He only overtook on lap 18!
He is also in danger of being undercut by Leclerc. 
Will be interesting to see what Verstappen’s pace is like on hard tyres because it has dropped off rapidly at the end of this stint. I think Verstappen should still be a comfortable second but there is still a long way to go in this race. 
It’s a bit of a slow stop for Russell but he is undercut by the Ferrari of Leclerc. 
Leclerc comes in, Norris’s lead is nearly five seconds now. Russell still 6.1sec adrift. 
He was 0.8sec faster than Verstappen that last time, increasing his lead to 3.5sec. 
Hamilton pits from ninth having recently failed to overtake Gasly at turn one. 
LAP 22/72Meanwhile a few places back, Leclerc is in DRS range of Piastri and hunting down P4 #F1 #DutchGP pic.twitter.com/ad00M6kzde
Impressive. Russell isn’t really closing in on Verstappen so this is just Norris’s inherent pace in the McLaren doing the trick. 
But perhaps there is more wind all of a sudden, he says. He has not quite been able to get out of DRS range until the end of this lap and he has broken that as they enter the pit straight to start lap 21, that is crucial. 
Russell not really in this fight as it stands, five seconds behind Verstappen but doing a good job of holding off Piastri behind. 
The team asks about the tyres, which he says are fine and then the plan is plan A. They think Verstappen might try the undercut but “that is cool”, Norris is told. Sure. He isn’t yet a second ahead of Verstappen, but is trying to get that gap and get out of DRS range. 
With DRS down the pit straight he puts his McLaren down the inside and gets the move down cleanly and fairly. Verstappen tried to resist but not especially robustly. I think he knew his number was up there but at least gave it a perfunctory attempt to hang it around the outside. 
LAP 18/72 Norris applies even more pressure and Verstappen has to yieldLando dives down the inside around Turn 1 and now leads!! #F1 #DutchGP pic.twitter.com/nontaRfqWv
Before the final sector Norris is already nearly a second ahead…
Probably only a few metres between them at the tuirn-in zone. Norris took half a second out of the leader there. Verstappen says his tyres are “numb” and that they do not grip. 
I think Norris is just biding his time here until the pit window opens. Being the man behind works in his favour with the undercut once he gets some clean air to go into. Hamilton coming up to the rear wing of Fernando Alonso, and will get DRS on the pit straight. 
Does Norris just need to be patient here? Possibly. The leading pair are 3.8sec ahead of Russell in third who is 1.3sec ahead of Piastri with Leclerc close behind. 
He is told “probably plan A” but Plan B “might be a way to beat Max”. He says the “pace is strong” which certainly seems to be the case as he gets within DRS range, having taken a tenth out of the Dutchman on the last lap. 
Hamilton into the points with a move on Stroll at turn one. 
He is now within 1.1sec of Verstappen at the start of this lap. I think that is just down to the natural variation in lap times within a window. Oscar Piastri says he thinks Plan A is the way to go, whatever that is. 
By the end of the lap Norris is nearly within a second of Verstappen. The McLaren does tend to be a bit easier on its tyres as the stints and races go on so maube we are seeing that here. 
And they get very close but the Ferrari prevails and moves up into seventh. Norris takes a tenth or so out of Verstappen every now and then but there are not really any signs of Verstappen’s pace dropping off or Norris’s rapidly improving. 
He has moved up to 11th with a neat move on Nico Hulkenberg. Lance Stroll the next man up the road but he is now 14.2sec behind Verstappen in the lead. 
Has he been told to put the hammer down? He needs it in fairness. Piastri has now dropped back out of DRS range behind Russell, perhaps to save his tyres. 
A strange message from the McLaren pit wall to Norris. They ask who they think he’s racing. Isn’t that their job to tell him with all the data they have?
Nothing major in the last few laps but his lead has increased to 1.6sec over Norris. Magnussen runs into the gravel at the first corner attempting an overtake. 
Not close enough to try a move, though. Here’s the race start, where Norris lost the lead (again):
IT’S LIGHTS OUT, AND AWAY WE GO! 🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴Max takes the lead from Lando – can he do it for fourth year straight? 🇳🇱 pic.twitter.com/Ba1UPYwr8i
But the gap looks fairly stable at 1.2sec so far. Russell still holding off Piastri for third, with Leclerc and Perez joining the back of that battle. 
Hamilton in 12th, charging down Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas. 
1.3sec the gap to Norris behind. Russell about the same distance behind Norris but has Piastri all over his rear wing. McLaren could do with being 2nd and 3rd rather than 2nd and 4th, strategically. 
It’s about 1.1sec as they start the second lap but Norris starts to reel that in. Were this at the start of the season you would say that Verstappen would have this race wrapped up but the Red Bull is not necessarily the fastest car over a race distance. Hamilton takes 12th from Yuki Tsunoda at the chicane towards the end of the lap, on the soft tyres is the Mercedes driver. 
It’s a much better start for Verstappen who takes the lead before they even get to the braking zone of turn one! Russell gets ahead of Piastri too so both McLarens are down a place each. Piastri on theback foot here and is under pressure from Leclerc as they head through the fast section in turn four and five. 
LAP 1/72 Verstappen opens up a gap to Norris and Russell is up to third ahead of Piastri 👀#F1 #DutchGP pic.twitter.com/1kVFVj1U6a
Verstappen is already a second ahead of Norris after two sectors…
Verstappen lights up his tyres and zooms ahead of Norris into turn one but then drops back at the braking zone. Mind games, or just a better practice start?
Our pole sitter Lando Norris and Max Verstappen lead off the pack on the formation lap 👉#F1 #DutchGP pic.twitter.com/oorJfgMDkZ
Everyone on the top 10 on mediums. In fact only Tsunoda, Hamilton, Bottas on the softs and Magnussen (who is now starting from the pit lane) on the hards. 
National anthem done 👊 Time to go racing! #F1 #DutchGP pic.twitter.com/NrhdgL2ASx
10 years ago a Dutch Grand Prix would have seem fanciful in the extreme. One man changed all of that, though. 
“Get my head down and crack on, as simple as that,” he says. 
1. NOR 2. VER
3. PIA 4. RUS
5. PER 6. LEC
7. ALO 8 STR
9. GAS 10. SAI
11. TSU 12. HUL
13. MAG 14. HAM
15. RIC 16. OCO
17. BOT 18. ZHO
19. SAR 20. ALB
This season has not exactly been a write-off for them but it has been difficult. After finishing fifth last year with 280 points they will be lucky to make 100, having fallen into the no-man’s land ahead of the midfield pack (mostly) but well behind the leaders. 
Eight podiums last year but only a best finish of fifth (once) this year. They start seventh and eighth today. 
Ready for action. #DutchGP pic.twitter.com/9fPzVJ57Cc
Full starting grid incoming…
He will line up alongside Pierre Gasly for Alpine next year and is the son of motorcycle grand prix champion Mick Doohan. 
It’s amazing, something that me and my father have been working towards for a long time. I know I am in a very lucky position, so grateful for it. We’re both very relieved and very happy. I am so grateful for him and everything he gave me to be able to get here. 
Assuming he takes to the grid, that is. He has won 61 of his 199 starts so far and that is a win percentage only bettered by Jim Clark who won 25 of 73 entries. Here is the top five of that over all time: 
In Hungary he got slightly bogged down from pole and that really put him on the back foot. In Belgium last time out he dropped from fourth to seventh after running wide at turn one. Will he make a better job of it here? It’s a short run to the first corner…
As well he might. 
“I do wish it was raining!” 😂Lewis missing home comforts already ☔️ pic.twitter.com/ygS8gF2hpM
Red Bull definitely under threat and need Perez to start delivering hefty points hauls. 
Despite not winning in the last four rounds, Max Verstappen has managed to increase his lead in the standings to 78 points from 69 points in that time. A big part of that probably comes down to Norris not finishing at the Austrian GP when they clashed. 
Ride on board Lando Norris’ IMPRESSIVE lap that secured him POLE in Zanvoordt 😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/AvYnpOKswK
There are penalties for Albon and Hamilton, so the final grid will look different to this. 
Welcome to our coverage for the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix from Zandvoort. It is the first race after the summer break. What we saw in qualifying yesterday was largely a continuation of what we saw in the last six or so races before the seasonal hiatus. In other words: the two McLarens and the one Red Bull of Max Verstappen closely matched with Mercedes a little further behind and Ferrari rearwards still. 
Lando Norris took his fourth pole in F1 and his third of the season with arguably his best and most dominant qualifying lap of 2024. In the end he was around three and a half tenths ahead of Verstappen with Oscar Piastri a little further behind. George Russell put in a good lap to claim fourth for Mercedes but he was never truly in the fight for pole. 
Russell’s team-mate Lewis Hamilton had a much tougher session. Not only was he eliminated in Q2, he also took a three place grid penalty for impeding Sergio Perez earlier on in the session. He almost wrote off his weekend with that session and that is probably about right in normal circumstances. 
Still, it could be worse. Alexander Albon thought he had qualified eighth but an irregularity with the size of his Williams’ floor meant he was disqualified. That makes a bad weekend even worse for Williams, after Logan Sargent’s costly crash in FP3 yesterday. 
We have had a fair amount of rain in the last few days at Zandvoort but today looks to be the driest and clearest of them all, though the wind could still play a factor. 
The race begins at 2pm BST and we will be here for all of the build up, live updates and reaction from the race.