Lando Norris wins Dutch Grand Prix for second career victory

(Patria) - Lando Norris convincingly celebrated today at the Dutch Grand Prix after overtaking Max Verstappen on the track, who led at the start of the race, and Charles Leclerc had a brilliant race, finishing third.

Norris again had a poor start, although he had the same reaction time as Verstappen (0.28 s), but too much wheelspin in first gear allowed Verstappen to take the lead long before the first corner, writes MAXF1.net.

Norris decided to wait for tire degradation to start making a difference, and when Verstappen began to complain about his tires, the Brit unleashed the full potential of his McLaren and took the lead at the start of the 18th lap before braking for the first corner.

Although Verstappen managed to stay close to Norris for one lap, the McLaren driver soon started building a lead and by the pit stops, he was leading by about six seconds, enough for McLaren to wait for Red Bull to pit Verstappen and then pit Norris a lap later.

Leclerc did a great job at the start of the race when he overtook Perez, and he managed to overtake Russell in the pits, laying the foundation for a podium finish.

Piastri stayed on the medium tires he started the race with for a full 30 laps, to create the biggest possible tire age difference for the second stint of the race, but despite having tires nine laps newer than Leclerc's and a faster car, he couldn't threaten for third place.



Sainz finished fifth behind Piastri, having started only tenth after a poor qualifying, and sixth was Perez, who couldn't defend against Sainz in the last third of the race.

Mercedes tried different strategies for Russell and Hamilton – Hamilton, due to poor qualifying and a penalty, started 14th on soft tires and therefore pitted twice, while Russell started on mediums and planned one stop, but due to a large lead, he also pitted a second time, also for softs.

The different strategies brought Mercedes very similar results, as Russell and Hamilton finished seventh and eighth, and Gasly had an excellent race for Alpine with a lot of on-track battles, which he crowned with ninth place and two points.

Alonso took the last point in today's race after a late overtake on Hulkenberg, and all drivers finished the race, with only the Sauber drivers being two laps behind the winner.

The next race will be held in seven days in Monza.