World champion Max Verstappen has failed to give his compatriots a home victory for the first time since returning to the Dutch Formula 1 Grand Prix three years ago. The Red Bull star had to admit defeat to McLaren man Lando Norris in Zandvoort on Sunday and is now winless in five races after finishing second. Norris landed the second GP victory of his career in a dominant manner at the end, but is still 70 points behind Verstappen in second place in the World Championship.
Norris won the first race after the four-week summer break with a lead of more than 22 seconds. Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc came third. Norris celebrated his only race victory to date in Miami in May. He recently stressed that he is not seriously hoping for the world championship title. He has already made too many mistakes over the course of the season, said the 24-year-old Englishman self-critically. Nine of the 24 races of the season are still to come, the next one is next Sunday in Monza.
Things are looking better for McLaren in the constructors’ championship. There, they are now only 30 points behind Red Bull. Oscar Piastri finished fourth, while Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez could not get past sixth place behind Carlos Sainz in the second Ferrari. Record world champion Lewis Hamilton, who had won two of the last three races, moved up from 15th place on the grid to eighth place, just behind his Mercedes teammate George Russell.
Bad start from Norris
Norris had already left Verstappen far behind in qualifying, but once again made a bad start. Verstappen got off to a much better start and easily overtook his rival by turn one. However, the McLaren driver always remained in the rear-view mirror of the three-time world champion, attacked him for the first time on lap 17 – and passed him one lap later on the start-finish straight.
A wind of over 30 km/h blew in from the North Sea. Verstappen repeatedly complained over the radio about the drivability of his car. Norris countered his early stop after 28 of 72 laps on the following lap and from then on controlled the race on the narrow track with its particularly steep curves. On the last lap, he even got the extra point for the fastest lap on old tires.
Over the entire weekend, 305,000 spectators came to Zandvoort. The Verstappen party that was hoped for did not turn out to be his 200th Grand Prix start. The last Zandvoort winner who was not Max Verstappen was Niki Lauda in 1985. Austria’s three-time world champion celebrated the 25th and final GP victory of his career 39 years ago in what was the last Dutch race until 2021.
