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McLaren's Lando Norris fought back to take a dominant victory in the Dutch Grand Prix despite losing the lead to Max Verstappen's Red Bull at the start.

Norris, for whom starts and first laps have been a weakness in recent races, was passed almost immediately when he had too much wheel spin off the line.

But such was the pace in his McLaren that he re-passed Verstappen on lap 18, before the pit stops, and romped away into the distance.

Charles Leclerc took the final podium position, belying his pre-race pessimism, fending off the McLaren of Oscar Piastri for the final 27 laps.

Verstappen appeared to sense the way the race was going even while he was still leading.

The Dutchman, who has monopolised this event since it returned to the calendar in 2021, was complaining about a lack of grip from very early in the race.

His defence of the lead when Norris caught him was half-hearted, especially in the context of his normally ultra-robust defensive tactics, and the McLaren swept into the lead down the inside line at the first corner, Tarzan.

Once in front, Norris pulled away at about half a second a lap and there was nothing Verstappen could do to prevent losing his home race for the first time since its return after a 36-year absence.

Notable in this race was how clean the whole thing was. Nobody retired, no safety cars, and no red flags. Only one in race penalty going to Stroll for speeding in the pit lane but an unsafe release was also noted for Gasly.

That said, the Porche Supercup race also ran at Zandvoort today was full of elbows out bumping action.

45,000 fans biked to the track!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buddahaid (Post 2923805)

45,000 fans biked to the track!

Brings back memories of when I was living in Holland...more bikes than cars :)

Charles Leclerc pulled off an extraordinary home win for Ferrari at the Italian Grand Prix, ahead of the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

Ferrari chose a daring one-stop strategy for Leclerc, improvising mid-race, to vault him in front of the McLarens - who chose the conventional two-stop approach.

That left Leclerc hanging on in the closing laps from the rapidly closing McLarens and he just managed to resist them, winning by 2.6 seconds to send the tifosi in the grandstands wild.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen could finish only sixth, and Norris cut his championship lead by eight points to 62 with eight races to go, thanks to Norris grabbing the fastest lap before the chequered flag.

McLaren are now just eight points behind Red Bull in the constructors' championship.

Lando Norris drove an extraordinary race to catch and pass title rival Max Verstappen as his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri won an engrossing Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The race ended under a virtual safety car after a crash between Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who collided while disputing third place with two laps to go.

Piastri pulled off an audacious pass on Charles Leclerc, who had led from pole position, to take the lead shortly after both had made their only pit stop for fresh tyres and held on for the rest of the race under immense pressure from the Ferrari.

And Norris fought back after his late pit stop, having started from 15th place on the hard tyre while the leaders chose mediums, to pass Verstappen with three laps to go.

He took fourth place, promoted from sixth by the Perez-Sainz crash, one ahead of Verstappen, who had started nine places ahead of the McLaren driver.

The result means Norris, who also scored the point for fastest lap, reduced Verstappen’s championship lead by three points on a day he would have started expecting to lose ground.

Norris is 59 points behind Verstappen with seven races to go and a maximum of 206 still available.

And McLaren have taken the lead in the constructors’ championship from Red Bull, taking a 20-point lead.

Norris wins in Singapore and is now only 52 points behind Verstappen. It's possible this year could be the biggest come from behind ever and remarkable there were no yellow flags during this street track race which may be the first time in the fifteen-race history.

Sadly my money would still be on Verstappen.

Ferrari dominate the US Grand Prix in Austin with a 1-2 finish with Verstappen taking third after the FIA give Norris a penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage challenging Verstappen near the end. I absolutely disagree about that penalty! Max dives inside carrying too much speed to stay inbounds forcing Norris off the track to avoid a collision and Norris gets the penalty while Max gets awarded for dirty driving. I hope this gets protested and reversed.

Lando Norris given five-second penalty for pass on Verstappen

Dutchman takes third with Norris fourth

Charles Leclerc wins with Sainz second in Ferrari one-two

Hamilton goes off and out of race on lap two

Verstappen extends lead over Norris to 57 points in drivers' championship

Lando Norris likes Max Verstappen as a person, and the McLaren driver respects his title rival’s ability on track. So Norris was trying not to criticise the Dutchman too much after the Mexico City Grand Prix. But in the end he felt he had no choice.

“It was not fair, clean racing,” Norris said of Verstappen’s driving, which earned the three-time world champion two 10-second penalties for two separate incidents within four corners of each other early in the race. “And therefore I think he got what he had coming to him.

“I felt like I just had to avoid collisions, and that's not what you feel like you want to do in a race. He's in a very powerful position in the championship. He's a long way ahead. He has nothing to lose.

“It's not my job to control him. He knows how to drive. And I'm sure he knows that today was probably a bit over the limit."

Verstappen, for his part, was not interested in getting into a public debate.

“Twenty seconds is a lot,” he said. “But I am not going to cry about it and I am also not going to share my opinion. The biggest problem I had is that it was a bad day in terms of race pace.”

Verstappen still managed to finish sixth despite the penalties and an uncompetitive car. Norris took second, behind a dominant Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari, which might not have been so dominant had Norris not been delayed behind Verstappen for much of the first stint.

That means Verstappen’s championship lead is down to 47 points with 120 still available over the remaining four races. Norris still needs to close in by nearly 12 points a race to become the world champion.

“It doesn't feel like I'm much closer than what I was,” Norris said. “But every point helps.”