Following the month-long international break in the Formula One season, it was Lando Norris who came on top to secure his second F1 victory with a dominant performance at the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix ahead of Max Verstappen at his home race.
After losing the lead into the first corner, it took Norris almost a quarter of the race to recover and pass Verstappen. Immediately, he started to build a gap over the Dutchman to ensure he had a considerable cushion over him as he crossed the line with a 22.9-second lead, thus reducing, with the fastest lap, Verstappen’s Championship lead to 70 points.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc completed the top three after shrugging off a lengthy spell of pressure from McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, having undercut both him and George Russell during the pitstops. The Monégasque swiftly dealt with traffic around him after his stop to break free of Russell and, despite Piastri’s best efforts, retained enough top speed into the first corner to keep Piastri at bay.
Carlos Sainz, meanwhile, recovered from his disappointing Q2 exit to finish fifth with a series of well-judged overtakes, crucially putting a move on Sergio Pérez despite the latter’s robust defence to move up to sixth.
Russell of Mercedes was initially ahead of both Sainz and Pérez, but he pitted for a soft-tyre gamble towards the end of the race. This did not entirely work out as Russell ran out of time and lacked the pace to catch both Sainz and Pérez.
Russell’s teammate, Lewis Hamilton, also put in a solid recovery drive to finish eighth after dropping out in Q2 and taking a grid penalty for impeding Pérez.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso completed the top 10, the latter relegating outgoing Haas driver Nico Hülkenberg from the points.
Following the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix, Lando Norris now sits 70 points behind Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship, while McLaren have cut their deficit to defending champions Red Bull in the Constrictors’ battle to just 30 points, with Ferrari also keeping close tabs on the proceedings.
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