Lando Norris carried on his dominant Dutch GP weekend on Sunday to pull clear of Max Verstappen and secure his second career win. After overtaking the Dutchman on lap 18, Norris unlocked the improved pace of his MCL38 and built a huge gap, eventually winning the race by 22.9 seconds! Martin Brundle has explained why this race win is so important for the Briton.
Per Sky Sports F1, Brundle said, “Why I said it was so important this win. For Lando now, the whole stigma of the starts and not winning from pole falls away. That’s a massive win for him for the rest of this season.”
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Norris had been developing an uncanny trend of not winning from pole. The McLaren driver had not even retained his pole advantage at any of the sprints or Grands Prix in five previous instances. The Dutch GP became the sixth race where Norris couldn’t stay ahead into turn 1 as Verstappen took the lead at his home race.
However, the three-time champion couldn’t keep the Briton behind with McLaren’s pace getting better as the race unfolded. The MCL38 has the characteristic of its tires getting better at performance toward the end of each stint relative to its rivals.
Moreover, Verstappen was struggling with understeer issues on his car and the RB20 was clearly slower relative to Norris‘ McLaren. Eventually, the #4 driver brought the car home to claim his second Grand Prix win — which puts a pause on the narrative about his poor race starts, as Brundle said.
Norris’ Dutch GP triumph bodes well for his championship fight
The importance of Norris’ win at Zandvoort is evident in the championship standings as well. The Briton has reduced Verstappen’s drivers’ championship lead to 70 points. Besides taking the win, Norris also took the fastest lap of the race on the last lap to take the additional one point.
It highlights the #4 driver’s mentality of wanting to win the championship and his Dutch GP performance certainly places him better in the championship battle. Norris reflected on his performance after the race at Zandvoort and felt grateful for how McLaren are turning the tables against Red Bull.
He also asserted confidence about being in the title fight. The Briton said, “I have been [in the title fight] all year, it’s not like I have decided just do it now! I have had the car for a while, that is obvious. It has been phenomenal. I wouldn’t say we have been the best since Miami but on average we have been.”
Norris admitted that he and his team had squandered opportunities to beat Verstappen in the first half of the season. However, the Woking team have put efforts into improving different aspects including strategy and he stated that their Dutch GP showing is evidence of the same.
