Lando Norris Cruises To Dutch Grand Prix Victory

Lando Norris took maximum points in the Dutch Grand Prix, building on yesterday’s pole position by taking the race win as well as setting the race fastest lap on the very last lap. It means the McLaren driver becomes the 48th driver to do the triple in a Grand Prix. With a great start from second, Max Verstappen kept the home crowd’s hopes of another win for their local lad alive. In what was his 200th Grand Prix appearance, his second place finish was nevertheless important in terms of the championship, as he still has a 70 point lead over Norris with nine races remaining. Charles Leclerc was third, thus securing Ferrari’s twelfth podium finish of the season.

This was McLaren’s 186th win, the third this season. In fourth place, Oscar Piastri is the only driver to have completed all 917 laps of this season’s races so far.

16 drivers chose to line up on the grid on the Medium, while three – Hamilton, Tsunoda and Bottas – opted for the Soft and Magnussen started from pit lane on the Hard. Three quarters of the drivers ran a one-stop race, fitting the Hard as their second set (Magnussen switched to the Medium). The Mercedes drivers made two stops, with Hamilton using two sets of C3 and Russell one, while Tsunoda, Bottas and Zhou used all three available compounds and Albon used to sets of C2 split by one stint on the Hard.

Hulkenberg produced the longest stint of the race, doing 57 laps on the Hard. The prize on the Medium goes to Piastri (33 laps), while Hamilton did 24 on the Soft.

Lando Norris – 1st

“This feels amazing! The pace was very strong, and the car was unbelievable today. I could get comfortable, I could push and get past Max Verstappen, and just go from there. Honestly, it was quite a straightforward race. It was still tough but very enjoyable.

“Thank you to everyone at the factory for delivering such a strong car, and the whole team here for executing the weekend flawlessly. Win number two in the bag, let’s get some more.”

Max Verstappen – 2nd

“Today the start was good and we got a lead in front, which was a positive start. However, once I was overtaken it became about managing my own race as I know I didn’t have the pace to catch Lando. The car balance has been difficult this weekend, we just didn’t have the pace and we struggled with our tyres. I tried my best but it just didn’t work today and we had quite a big gap to Lando. We didn’t have our best weekend and we will go back and analyse what we can do better. It is my 200th race and it was nice to drive in front of my home crowd. Those races have gone by quickly and when I grew up this was something I thought about; I imagine I will look back and be proud of this moment. It was great to be here in front of home Grand Prix and in front of fans, but it is a shame as you always want to win for them.”

Charles Leclerc – 3rd

“It’s not often that I would say I am happy with a P3, but today, I am extremely happy with the job the team has done on such a difficult weekend. We struggled in all sessions since FP1, and managed to put it all together when it matters most. We found the pace we needed, executed a perfect strategy, undercut our competitors and kept them behind. It feels great to start the second half of the season like this. Next up is Monza, our home race. We will give it our all to make our tifosi proud there.”

Mario Isola – Pirelli Director of Motorsport

“A very intense race, where we witnessed one driver and one team – Lando Norris and McLaren – demonstrate clear superiority over his rivals and team-mate. Behind him, there was a great battle within the two groups of teams which have emerged this season: the leading group, made up of McLaren, Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes and the rest of the field, all fighting for the remaining points.

“In terms of strategy, we had our predictions going into the race confirmed, namely that the one-stop was the quickest option. From the small amount of data acquired during free practice and based on earlier simulations, we expected to see more cars run the Soft to benefit from its performance advantage over the Medium, but probably, the majority of teams decided to tackle the first stint more cautiously given there was not much information available to them. In fact, the Soft proved to be up to the task, as was evident with Hamilton, as he was the driver who made up the most places from his grid position, starting on the C3 and then opting to use it again for his third stint.”

F1 Academy – Round 4

Abbie Pulling leaves Zandvoort with a points haul of 43, more than any of the other F1 Academy drivers competing in this the fourth of seven rounds of the second season of this series. The Alpine-Rodin driver took pole for Race 1 which she then went on to win and she finished third in Race 2. The English girl thus extends her lead in the championship on 190 points, 71 more than Doriane Pin. The French Mercedes-Prema driver won Race 2, having started from pole. She had crossed the line in second place in the first race, but was then relegated to fifth with a penalty for a jumped start. The Ferrari-Prema driver, Maya Weug, twice finished on the podium, third in Race 1 and second in Race 2. It should be noted that both races were run this morning as yesterday’s race had to be postponed because of the bad weather.

The next round of the F1 Academy takes place in Singapore from 20 to 22 September, on the same card as the 18th Grand Prix of 2024.