It could have been a repeat of the past races for Lando Norris at the Dutch GP after he lost the lead at the first corner. However, the Briton roared back to re-take the lead and beat Max Verstappen by 22.8 seconds. After this dominant showing in Zandvoort, F1 presenter Ariana Bravo asked McLaren team principal Andrea Stella to share his thoughts.
He explained that Zandvoort had been a difficult track for McLaren in the past. That is why, he was not expecting such a big win margin over Verstappen’s Red Bull. “I would say unexpected, like positively unexpected“, Stella said in F1’s post-race show.
“You know, we would have never thought that coming to Zandvoort, which has been a difficult venue for us in the past, we could put together such a strong performance in qualifying and then confirming this in the race…”, he added.
Stella also rued Oscar Piastri not being able to get past Charles Leclerc for P3. However, the Italian was happy about the team’s overall performance and the effect of their dominant showing is also evident in the championship standings.
“Amazing pace in the car all weekend.” #DutchGP pic.twitter.com/5HvLOf8R9S
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) August 25, 2024
Now, McLaren has had a very strong car since the Miami GP. But, they could never dominate Verstappen like this before. With their upgrades at the Dutch GP, the Woking team clearly has the outright fastest car on the grid.
No one would have expected this even after their dramatic turnaround in 2023. Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko even deemed the gap with McLaren as alarming for Red Bull. However, Verstappen is still pushing his team hard to defend his championship.
Verstappen is not flustered by the sudden jump in McLaren’s pace
It was already clear that Red Bull could lose the constructors’ championship to McLaren in 2024 because of the handicap they faced with Sergio Perez. However, after Verstappen’s crushing defeat with a 22-second gap to Norris, Marko now thinks that even the drivers’ championship is not safe.
Even Verstappen agreed that the situation was worrying when asked about it during the post-race press conference. “I think this weekend was just a bad weekend in general. So we need to understand that. But in the last few races already, they haven’t really been fantastic. So that, I think in a sense, was already a bit alarming”, the Dutchman remarked.
However, he maintains that they still do not need to panic because the team is working tirelessly to improve the RB20. Even Norris himself snubbed the idea of suddenly being the favorite for the championship because he believes that a 70-point gap is still very big to overcome.
