F1 came back after the summer break with a superb Dutch Grand Prix where Lando Norris got his second win with a massive 22.9-second gap over his championship rival, Max Verstappen. However, McLaren CEO, Zak Brown is not getting too comfortable with the performance advantage the team now has over Red Bull.
Brown is well aware of the fact that Red Bull in the hands of Verstappen can surely challenge for a win at any point of the remaining season, especially at the temple of speed — Monza — a track that could well suit the characteristics of the RB20.
However, he also revealed that McLaren is bringing another upgrade to Monza. This would make it back-to-back weekends of upgrades to the MCL38, which should make the Woking team’s life much easier.
“The upgrades clearly worked but we need to keep our feet on the ground with how competitive Formula 1 is and not assume that is going to be repeated every weekend,” Brown told Sky Sports F1 after the race. “We clearly have a fast car and have some fun stuff coming for Monza, so I think we will be ready. But I think Red Bull will be quick there.”, he added.
Simply unstoppable #F1 #DutchGP @LandoNorris pic.twitter.com/WwB1nY8R1f
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 25, 2024
What is remarkable is the fact that McLaren has been the only team that has seen an uptick in performance every time they have upgraded their car and it was on full display in Zandvoort. However, Norris still had his moment of disarray at the race start.
Norris had to recover from a poor race start again
The upgraded MCL38 gave the Briton a healthy advantage over Red Bull and it was evident in his pole lap time that was three and a half tenths quicker than Verstappen.
However, like on previous occasions in Barcelona and Hungary, Norris once again fumbled when the lights went out and gave away the lead to the Dutchman at the start of the race into Turn 1.
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⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️LIGHTS OUT AT ZANDVOORT!!!
Max Verstappen storms off the line and leads into Turn 1#F1 #DutchGP pic.twitter.com/pPTmrqqV8W
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 25, 2024
Fortunately, it didn’t cost him the race as he came charging back to retake the lead on lap 18 and never looked back after that. He had plenty of overtaking opportunities to try and reverse his mistake at the start — which is uncharacteristic of the narrow nature of the Zandvoort track. Although, the better performance of McLaren’s car also helped Norris’ cause.
