Lando Norris dominates the dutch grand prix

McLaren were back on top today, as Lando Norris cruised home to just his second win in Formula 1, with Max Verstappen coming home in second albeit a long way behind the dominant McLaren.

Finlay McSporran
Published: 17:32, 25th August 2024

It wasn’t the lights to flag victory that he might have hoped for however, as he lost out to Verstappen at the start and had to overtake him on track for the win.

Race Report

Race starts have never been one of Lando’s strong points, and that was evident today as he crawled of the line allowing Verstappen to take the race lead, much to the support of the Dutch crowd.

His teammate Oscar Piastry also had a poor start, being passed by George Russel in the Mercedes which demoted him to 4th.

Most drivers opted to start on the medium tyres and go for the 1-stop strategy, unlike the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton who started on the soft tyre, allowing him to gain a few places in the opening stages after starting 14th.

Verstappen’s lead wouldn’t last very long however, as the pace of the McLaren was proving to be to much for the Redbull, with Norris re-gaining the lead on lap 18 of the grand prix.

The other McLaren of Piastry wasn’t fairing so well however, as he was still stuck behind George Russel’s Mercedes, with Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari breathing down his neck.

Ferrari would go for the undercut on Piastry, pitting Leclerc on lap 25 as Norris increased his lead over Verstappen who was getting ready for his stop.

Verstappen would be the first of the leaders to pit, coming in on lap 27 with Norris pitting the lap after. When he emerged back out onto the track the gap to Verstappen was now 5 seconds, which only grew as the race went on, the McLaren seemingly better at taking care of it’s tyres long into the race.

Whilst everyone else on the mediums came int to pit, Oscar Piastry stayed out in an attempt to overcut Leclerc and Russel by going longer in the first stint, and taking advantage of the fresher tyres towards the end.

This seemed like it was working, as Oscar pitted from the race lead on lap 33 to chase after George Russel who was now in 4th having been passed by Charles Leclerc for P3.

Nico Hulkenberg finished P11 after stopping on lap 14 and making the hards last 58 laps

By lap 40 Piastry had cruised right up to the back of Russel, passing him with ease as he now looked to chase down Leclerc for a spot on the podium.

It wasn’t long before he was in DRS range of the Ferrari, however he couldn’t find a way past the red machine despite the tyre advantage that he had.

Meanwhile, Sainz had now passed Perez for P6 while Lewis Hamilton had now made his way up to P8 in the order having started 14th.

With nothing to loose the Mercedes driver came in for the softs with 22 laps left, with his teammate coming a few laps later, as they looked to make a late charge on the soft rubber.

Another driver on the charge was Lando Norris, the race leader crossed the line with the fastest lap to win by an astonishing 22 seconds! That’s the largest winning margin all season, even when Redbull were winning races which shows how far McLaren have came in just a few months.

Max Verstappen came home a distant 2nd for another podium in front of his home crowd, while a great drive from Charles Leclerc saw him hold off Piastry to take 3rd.

Sainz finished 5th in the other Ferrari with Perez 6th ahead of the two Mercedes, while a great drive from Pierre Gasly saw him pick up 2 points for Alpine with a P9 finish ahead of Fernando Alonso in 10th.

Full Race Classification (Subject to change)

#	DRIVER	TEAM	TIME
1	Lando NORRIS	McLaren	LAP 72
2	Max VERSTAPPEN	Red Bull	+22.896
3	Charles LECLERC	Ferrari	+25.439
4	Oscar PIASTRI	McLaren	+27.337
5	Carlos SAINZ	Ferrari	+32.137
6	Sergio PÉREZ	Red Bull	+39.542
7	George RUSSELL	Mercedes	+44.617
8	Lewis HAMILTON	Mercedes	+49.599
9	Pierre GASLY	Alpine	1L
10	Fernando ALONSO	Aston Martin	1L
11	Nico HULKENBERG	Haas	1L
12	Daniel RICCIARDO	VCARB	1L
13	Lance STROLL	Aston Martin	1L
14	Alexander ALBON	Williams	1L
15	Esteban OCON	Alpine	1L
16	Logan SARGEANT	Williams	1L
17	Yuki TSUNODA	VCARB	1L
18	Kevin MAGNUSSEN	Haas	1L
19	Valtteri BOTTAS	Stake	2L
20	Guanyu ZHOU	Stake	2L