There was a definite sense of a chance opening up for the Briton with this triumph on enemy territory in front of a 105,000 crowd, the vast majority of whom were cheering for their own hero, Max Verstappen.
The Dutchman finished in second place and lies 70 points ahead of his emerging rival with nine rounds remaining. Norris would swap his haul for Max’s, of course, but he would no longer trade in his McLaren for the Red Bull that only a few months ago was as impregnable as a nuclear bunker.
All credit to McLaren for their improvement by leaps and bounds. It’s testimony to chief executive Zak Brown’s perception in having found in team principal Andrea Stella a methodical engineer to lead their technical revolution.
The boffins’ hard work allowed Norris to brush aside his woeful start that induced rapturous acclaim from the flag-waving partisans as Verstappen soared into the lead within the opening few yards. And it was a truly awful start. Yes, Norris reacted as fast as Verstappen – 0.28sec – but then it was if he was standing in glue during the second phase of acceleration.
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Lando Norris managed to win the Dutch Grand Prix despite losing the lead on the first lap
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Max Verstappen (left) finished in second place, with Charles Leclerc (right) in third
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Norris recovered and saw off the threat of Max Verstappen as he triumphed in Zandvoort
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Verstappen (right) lies just 70 points ahead of Norris in the drivers’ standings after the race
Sighs in the Norris camp. He has not finished a first lap in front on all four occasions he has started on pole, including yesterday. Indeed, only once has he emerged from the first corner in front, and the exception is a pernickety one: the opening bend in Sochi is a kink, and he was behind by the second corner.
Confusion reigned on the airwaves soon after Verstappen had slipped in front here. Norris’s race engineer Will Joseph asked him: ‘Who are we racing? Do you think it’s just Max?’
What a question. What a time to ask it.
A nonplussed Norris snapped back: ‘The car ahead.’
Quite right. It seemed obvious that they were in a tussle with Verstappen. McLaren’s pace was equally clear: it was supreme over the rest of the field. Combined with Norris’s fine driving it had carried him to pole by more than three-tenths of a second on the Zandvoort lap that took him less than 70sec to complete.
The orange car possessed all the firepower required to gatecrash the world championship party. Beating Verstappen was the only game by the seaside.
With his upgraded McLaren, Norris need not have fretted. He was closing in on Verstappen to within DRS range. ‘The pace is good,’ Norris asserted.
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This was the fifth race in succession in which Verstappen has failed to finish in first place
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Leclerc finished in third place in the Dutch Grand Prix, edging out McLaren’s Oscar Piastri
A Dutch of class from Robbie Williams…
The striking trophy won by Lando Norris was partly designed by pop star Robbie Williams! Made of ceramic in Delft, the home of Dutch pottery, the shape is a nod back to the winner’s trophy from the first Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort in 1939.
The Dutch lion features prominently and –— perhaps appropriately given he comes from the Potteries over here — singer and F1 fan Williams was invited to add a personal touch. His design features messages raising awareness of mental health — including ‘time away from those I love’, ‘giving up comfort foods and treats’, ‘pushing through minor injuries and fatigue’, ‘high levels of stress’ — all designed to reflect the pressures of stardom.
‘The link between my work on mental health and the challenges faced by F1 drivers inspired me deeply,’ said Williams. ‘I wanted to create a trophy that reflects not just victory, but the resilience and strength behind it.’
And so his chance arrived at the beginning of lap 18 of 72. With the help of slipstream and then DRS, he put himself on the tail of his prey. He then swept out to the right and swung through the first corner – Tarzan – on the inside of its banked slope.
Verstappen clung to him for a few minutes, but he convinced nobody, including himself, that he could repass his pal. ‘I can’t go any faster,’ he complained. ‘The car doesn’t respond to my input.’
Within six laps of taking the lead, Norris was four seconds clear. Three laps later, when Verstappen stopped, the margin stood at 6.3sec.
And as Norris came out from his own rebooting a lap later, he maintained an advantage of 5.8sec. He then moved into the distance, coming home nearly 23sec in the distance, managing his tyres adroitly. Admittedly, it was hardly a race for the ages, but it pulled off the trick of relighting rest of the season.
It is never easy for a driver or a team to go through their first taste of world championship pressure. Nobody knows how they will react. The longer and tighter the competition, the more it favours the battle-hardened, which in this case means Verstappen and Red Bull.
But momentum is slipping away from him and them. This was the fifth race in succession he failed to win, dating back to Spain two months and two days earlier. It is his longest barren spell for four years, and to think he won seven of the first 10 rounds of his title defence.
We will find out over the next few weeks if Red Bull, shorn of star designer Adrian Newey, have the wherewithal to conjure the answers.
As for Norris, he needed this fillip. He should have won multiple times since taking his maiden victory in Miami, 112 days before. Silly mistakes undermined his progress at crucial times. So even if he claimed he was ‘not desperate’ to win in Zandvoort, it was hard to believe he did not see this weekend for what it was: make or break.
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George Russell finished seventh, with Lewis Hamilton in eighth on a difficult day for Mercedes
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Verstappen was backed by most of the 105,000 fans in attendance at his home Grand Prix
Won’t they all be from now on? He needs another win in Monza on Sunday to keep his right foot tight on Verstappen’s larynx.
Norris secured victory without the assistance of team-mate Oscar Piastri. The Australian, half-a-second back in qualifying, was passed for third place at the start by Mercedes’ George Russell, and ended the blustery afternoon in fourth place, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in the last of the podium steps by then.
Russell was classified seventh and Lewis Hamilton eighth, not the best return for the Silver Arrows. They are on the right course, but zigzagging their way to the destination.
As for Norris, he signed off with the fastest lap, nicking it from Hamilton, to earn an extra point. One that might yet make all the difference in the final analysis.
