Norris and McLaren passed Verstappen at the champion’s home

This time, yes. Lando Norris and McLaren did not disappoint and the British driver achieved victory in the F1 Netherlands GP by taking advantage of his car’s efficiency to beat Max Verstappen, won with a 22-second advantage over the champion. Max Have to settle for being the second in his house, minimizing losses because one McLarenthat of Piastrehe couldn’t beat and he made a mistake and was 4th after Leclerc (3rd). Sainz then 5th with a good comeback and Alonso saved points for Aston Martin.

RACE RESULTS

F1 WORLD CUP GENERAL

In Max’s garden, in front of his people, in front of thousands of fans who filled the Zandvoort circuit with orange to support the local idol, Norris delivered an important moral blow to Verstappen by taking his Grand Prix victory. After wasting so many chances, this Sunday Lando was able to meet expectations and achieve victory, but not without fire at the start due to another bad start.

Lando lost races from pole in Barcelona and Hungary with bad starts. And again, history seems to repeat itself. Suddenly the ground shook due to the huge cheers of the standing crowd as they saw the three-time world champion pass Norris in the first few meters.. There’s something going on with that McLaren on the way out, and that’s it Piastri, who started 3rd in a car to complete the double and take more points from Max, found himself overtaken by Russell and got into trouble at the start.

But the film will be different from the previous ones. On this track, McLaren is far superior to its predecessors. Perhaps it has to do with the type of layout, or more importantly, with the great package of evolutions presented by the orange team at Zandvoort. And every time they put parts on the car, the ones from Woking get better because of the massive work of their factory. Lando didn’t waste the rocket he had. And we should applaud that he did not break down and continued to believe in victory. Even his team comes into doubt with a strange radio where they ask him if his fight is with Max or someone else. Who will it be with the best car on the track?

Lando attack

Norris clung to Max’s wheel and wouldn’t let him escape. And quickly, it became clear that it was a true miracle that Verstappen was leading. Verstappen complained that he was struggling to turn at Turn 10 and his tires failed. Lando is 0″8 and will try it any time. And then he changes the pace. On lap 17 he tries it and Verstappen defends himself well. Will Austria press again? Will Norris fail? in his attack like that time? This time it’s different. His car was faster and he showed it on the next lap. He removed the DRS stickers in the middle of the straight and Max had no choice but to take the interior. Perfect overtaking by Lando, who put things in their place and corrected his mistake.

The race could only change in the pits with Max’s previous stop in search of an ‘undercut’. Norris had to do everything he could to neutralize that attempt. And he did it. When they both stopped, Lando returned to the track with more than 4 seconds to spare. The race is over. Norris increased his margin and issued no more options. He won as he must from now on if he wants to put pressure on Verstappen for the title. On strength and adding the point of the fastest lap in his last turn.

Verstappen minimized his loss

It became clear that no matter how good Max was, no matter how much magic he did in a car that was no longer the best, and no matter how much he always got the maximum and extended the advantage in the World Championship in the previous races because of mistakes , of McLaren, if Norris does everything perfectly, he has a chance to win. More so at Zandvoort where the difference between the two cars is even greater.

Even though he is an animal, an ‘alien’ behind the wheel, Max is really human. It cannot multiply the loaves and fishes.

Without a car to win, he’s doing too much. You can’t ask for more. YesHe still leads the World Championship, but if McLaren and Norris keep pushing like this, they will go a long way. He lost 8 points and the lead over Norris was 70 with 9 races to go. He did most of the work in the first phase of the championship and now he has to continue adding more suffering.

So far, Max has minimized losses. By car, by race speed pure and simple, he could be third overall or worse. But he saved it with his good classification, his good start and an error-free, flawless race.

He took advantage Oscar Piastri He was disappointed at the start and his subsequent pace, where he even gave wings to Leclerc’s Ferrari. From being able to aim to take second place from Max, he was 4th at the start and lost position with Charles at the stop. The Ferrari driver overtook the Australian and George, earning him third place.

Piastri managed to correct some of his mistakes by winning the battle against a Russell with a worse strategy, but not against a Leclerc who ate the young Australian’s toast.

Carlos Sainz, 5th

Carlos Sainz, who started 10th, attacked from the start and showed good race pace to come back. I know that starting far is very difficult and that I am not aiming for a good result because of how difficult it is to catch up in Zandvoort. He went all out in the first few turns. He went to take a walk at the start and in 4 laps he had recovered three positions by overtaking Alonso and gasly fast.

It is the 7th. From there, what follows is Perezwith a car that is more difficult to pass. He tried to stop earlier, but he left some honey on his lips. He barely made it, but he still left his rhythm. Carlos was faster and stuck Czech. And on lap 47, Carlos completed the overtake for 6th place.

Next was Russell, just over 2 seconds behind. george He chose to go two stops and Carlos moved up to 5th place, behind Piastri, but the Australian is far away. He suffered a gearbox failure on Friday, which hurt him in qualifying due to a lack of running-in. He had a car for more but had to settle for 5th place.

Alonso saved the points

Fernando AlonsoAfter a good qualifying, he came out in 7th but knew that due to his car’s poor race pace, he couldn’t look ahead. I know Sainz has more pace and he will come. Just like Hamilton, both out of position And they arrived. Previously, the Asturian had lost position at the start to Gasly.

The man from Oviedo was 10th and then chose to extend his first stop for a long time, something that cost him a position to be 11th when he returned to the asphalt. On slightly fresher tyres, his rival for the points is Nico Hülkenberg. And Fernando went to him. With 8 laps to go, the man from Oviedo overtook the German to finish 10th and salvage a point at Zandvoort.