McLaren star Lando Norris initially lost the lead at the Zandvoort Grand Prix, but he eventually crossed the finish line ahead of world championship leader Max Verstappen. The Briton achieved his second career GP victory.
Lando Norris was allowed to start the Formula 1 race at Zandvoort from pole position, but the McLaren star relinquished the lead in the first few meters – he had previously won five times, twice in a sprint and three times in the GP. The Briton made amends and regained the lead on the 18th lap.
From then on, the 24-year-old controlled the race and took his second GP win after winning in Miami. After the checkered flag fell, he explained: “It feels great. But I would say it wasn’t a perfect race because of what happened again on the first lap.”
“But it was still a good GP. Our pace was strong and the car was simply incredible,” enthused the current world championship runner-up. “I was able to push and get past Max. It was a very soft competition, it was tough, but it was also fun.”
He knew early on that victory was within reach. “I was expecting Max to increase the lead in the sixth or seventh lap, but it didn’t happen. That’s when I knew I had a chance to win. He lost the pace and my pace got better and better,” Norris said.
The race went like this:
There were two penalties after qualifying at Zandvoort that affected the opening phase: on the one hand, Lewis Hamilton was dropped three places after getting in the way of Sergio Perez in Q1. On the other hand, Alex Alban was disqualified after the technical inspection of his Williams racer revealed that it did not meet its bottom line specifications. This sent him back to the field. Kevin Magnussen started from the pits as his racer’s control unit and battery were replaced.
On the front end of the starting grid, Lando Norris managed to line up on the pole. Local hero Max Verstappen lined up next to him. Behind them, Oscar Piastre and Jorge Russell took the second row ahead of Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc. Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll shared the fourth row of the grid. Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz completed the top 10 in the opening stages.
Yuki Tsunoda, Nico Hulkenberg, Daniel Ricciardo, Lewis Hamilton, Esteban Ocon, Valtteri Bottas, Guanyu Cho, Logan Sargent and Alban lined up in other positions. American Alban’s team-mate was unable to take part in qualifying after his violent crash in the third practice session, but was cleared to start as he had shown the necessary pace in earlier sessions.
Verstappen took the lead at the start. Russell also managed to gain a place, he overtook Piastre and thus took third place. Behind the top four was Leclerc, who passed Perez. Gasly, Alonso, Sainz and Stroll rounded out the top 10. Behind them were Hulkenberg, Tsunoda, Hamilton, Bottas, Ricciardo, Ogun, Alban, Sergeant, Chow and Magnussen. After leaving the pits, the Haas driver had to brake in the first few meters and go through the gravel.
Hamilton didn’t hesitate long and passed Tsunoda on the second lap, which put him in 12th place. Meanwhile, Verstappen extended his lead to over 1.5 seconds and closed the gap to 1.1 seconds before Verstappen picked up the pace again. Magnussen passed Chow in the first 10 laps to make him the new bottom man. Further ahead, Sainz held off his team-mate Alonso to be eighth fastest. Moments later, the Spaniard was tied for 7th with Gasly.
Penalty to Lance Stroll
After 16 laps it became exciting at the front, with Norris closing the gap on leader Verstappen and closing in on the back of the three-time champion. On lap 18 he overtook the Red Bull Racing star on the start-finish straight. On lap 24, Hamilton pitted and had to wait 2.7 seconds for new hard tires to be fitted, meaning he dropped back to 16th.
A lap later, Leclerc also got fresh rubber and dropped back to ninth. Mercedes reacted and the younger of the two Mercedes drivers had to wait 3.4 seconds, losing five positions to ninth.
Ocon did not have a good phase of the race, having to concede defeat first to Hulkenberg and then to Hamilton. By lap 28, the championship leader had been dispatched by 2.5 seconds and was fifth. McLaren overtook Norris on the following lap. His stop took 3.1 seconds longer, but he still managed to finish fourth, ahead of Verstappen.
Perez was less fortunate, his stop lasting 4.4 seconds on lap 30, with all drivers – except Magnussen – starting the race on harder tyres. Order: Norris ahead of Verstappen, Leclerc, Russell, Piastre, Perez, Sainz, Hamilton, Hulkenberg, Magnussen, Albon, Gasley, Alonso, Stroll, Bottas, Ricciardo, Sergeant, Ocon, Tsunoda and Zhu.
There was no good news for Lance Stroll on lap 38, when the Canadian from the Aston Martin team was flagged down by the controllers for driving too fast in the pit lane. It didn’t take long for race officials to issue a 5-second time penalty to the son of race team owner Laurence Stroll.
Delayed pit stops
Hamilton pitted again on lap 49. The Mercedes star has thus not lost any place. and ranked eighth on soft tires. A few laps later his team-mate also took soft tires from the pits. Alban, on the other hand, prepared the medium mixture for him.
With 15 laps to go, Norris was up the order ahead of Verstappen, Leclerc, Piastre, Sainz, Perez, Russell, Hamilton, Hulkenberg, Gasley, Alonso, Stroll, Ricciardo, Ocon, Sergeant, Sunoda, Alphonse, Magnussen, Bottas.
In the closing laps, Hamilton caught up with his teammate, the seven-time world champion, but in the end it wasn’t enough to finish seventh. Norris took the win ahead of local hero Verstappen. Ferrari ace Leclerc completed the podium.
Piastre, Sainz, Perez, Russell, Hamilton, Gasly and Alonso finished the other top 10 to enjoy the points. Hülkenberg, Stroll, Ricciardo, Albon, Ocon, Sargeant, Tsunoda, Magnussen, Bottas and Zhou completed the list of results in other stages, but came away empty-handed.
Netherlands GP, Zandvoort Circuit
01. Lando Norris (GB), McLaren, 1:30:45,519h
02. Max Verstappen (NL), Red Bull Racing, +22,896 sec.
03. Charles Leclerc (MC), Ferrari, +25,439
04. Oscar Piastri (AUS), McLaren, +27.337
05. Carlos Sainz (L), Ferrari, +32,137
06. Sergio Perez (MEX), Red Bull Racing, +39,542
07. George Russell (GB), Mercedes, +44,617
08. Lewis Hamilton (GB), Mercedes, +49,599
09. Pierre Gasly (F), Alpine, +1 Runde
10. Fernando Alonso (E), Aston Martin, +1 runde
11. Nico Hulkenberg (D), Haas, +1 lap
12. Daniel Ricciardo (AUS), Racing Bulls, +1 lap
13. Lance Stroll (CTN), Aston Martin, +1 round
14. Alex Alban (D), Williams, +1 round
15. Esteban Ocon (F), Alpine, +1 Runde
16. Logan Sargent (USA), Williams, +1 round
17. Yuki Tsunoda (J), Racing Bulls, +1 round
18. Kevin Magnussen (DK), Haas, +1 round
19. Valtteri Bottas (FIN), clean, +2 laps
20. Guanyu Zhou (RCH), Sauber, +2 Runden
World Championship positions (after 15 of 24 Grands Prix and 3 of 6 sprints)
Driver
01. Verstappen 295 points
02. Norris 225
03. Leclerc 192
04. Plates 179
05. Signs 172
06. Hamilton 154
07. Perez 139
08. Russell 122
09. Alonso 50
10. Stroll 24
11. Hulkenberg 22
12. Tsunoda 22
13. Ricciardo 12
14. Casely 8
15. Oliver Pearman (GB) 6
16. Magnussen 5
17. Okon 5
18. Alphonse 4
19. So 0
20. Sergeant 0
21. Potas 0
Constructors’ Cup
01. Red Bull Racing 434 Points
02. McLaren 404
03. Ferrari 370
04. Mercedes 276
05. Aston Martin 74
06. Racing bulls 34
07. Haas 27
08. Alpine 13
09. Williams 4
10. Saber 0
