Norris takes dominant win in Zandvoort

Norris takes dominant win in Zandvoort: Analysis of the Dutch Grand Prix, brought to you by Bahrain International Circuit

The back to school vibe was very much present in Zandvoort, as F1 returned for the first race after the summer break. The four-week break included a mandatory factory shutdown of two weeks for every team. So, whilst there was plenty of holiday time, there was also a chance for further car development. McLaren brought further upgrades, mostly focused around aerodynamic improvements, with other teams including Mercedes, Williams and Haas also brought new parts. Red Bull, on the other hand, seemed to have been more focused on tweaking previous upgrades which in recent races seem to have contributed to a performance decline.

In qualifying, it was the McLaren of Lando Norris who delivered a spectacular lap in the final session to take pole by a significant 0.35 second margin from Max Verstappen in second. With Oscar Piastri just behind in third, it was another sign that the team in papaya remain extremely competitive at the front. George Russell qualified fifth, ahead of Perez and Leclerc with the two Aston Martin’s of Alonso and Stroll completing the top eight. Notably, Lewis Hamilton was out of position, not helped by a grid penalty for obstruction during qualifying, leaving him 14th, whist Sainz would have also been disappointed by his 10th place start.

If Norris was going to go ahead and win on a circuit that is challenging to overtake on, as ever the start would be important. Rightly or wrongly, he has been on the end of some criticism about his race starts in recent races. His critics make the point that he has been on pole for three Grands Prix and two sprints and did not lead any of those races at the end of the first lap. Coupled with this new expectation on his shoulders, the pressure was on to deliver on the momentum from Saturday.

As it turned out, both McLaren’s struggled off the line, with Verstappen getting off better into turn 1. Whilst Norris managed to slot in behind the home driver, Russell managed to take Piastri, with the Australian put back to fourth. There was no panic from McLaren however, as whilst Verstappen’s Red Bull began to suffer tyre degradation, Norris pounced on lap 18 for a fairly straightforward overtake. Over the next few laps Norris extended his lead to over four seconds, which would become important with the expected one-stop strategy stop scheduled between laps 27 to 33.

There was a fair spread of timings on pit stops for the frontrunners, with Piastri the last to change tyres on lap 35. All drivers were now on the hard compound, which was expected to last until the end of the race. That later stop for Piastri pushed him back to fifth, with Russell and Leclerc just ahead. Upfront, Norris was doing a solid job in extending the gap over Verstappen. By half distance, that gap had extended to over 8 seconds.

Piastri managed to claw one place back with an impressive overtake on George Russell, who shortly afterwards stopped for a second set of tyres, with the aim of fighting back through the field. Unfortunately, that strategy didn’t work for Russell who finished seventh. Whilst Hamilton managed to gain a few places in the race to eighth, it was a disappointing weekend for the Brackley team.