Lando roars back to cut Max title lead
LANDO Norris beat Max Verstappen in the Dutch driver’s backyard to ignite his hopes of winning the Formula One world championship.
Norris might have feared the worst in Zandvoort after he allowed Verstappen, , who had dominated every edition of this race since F1 returned to the Netherlands in 2021, to blast ahead of him following another poor start for the Briton when he had too much wheel spin off the line.
But Norris silenced 105,000 orange-clad fans when he slipstreamed his way back past their hero on lap 18 of 72 before delivering an emphatic win to cross the line 22.8 seconds clear of Verstappen.
Norris’ triumph marked just the second of his career – arriving 112 days after his maiden victory in Miami – to reduce the championship deficit from 78 points to 70 with nine rounds remaining and 258 points still to play for.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished third, one place ahead of Mclaren driver Oscar Piastri.
George Russell crossed the line in seventh, while Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton drove through the field from 14th to eighth.
“It feels amazing,” said Norris in his post-race interview. “I wouldn’t say a perfect race because of lap one again but it was beautiful, the car was very strong, I could push and get past Max and just go from there. Still tough but enjoyable.”
Verstappen said: “We had a good start so we tried everything we could today but throughout the race it was quite clear we were not quick enough so I tried to be second today.
“I know we have good starts and I was quite confident we would have another one.”