S Poddar
It was at the Dutch Grand Prix that young star Lando Norris cemented a dominant race win as representing McLaren’s resurgence in Formula One. His grand prix experience contrasted with the troubles of Max Verstappen, and that has sent serious shockwaves through the paddock.
Norris has been constant in the challenge against Verstappen and Red Bull, so he really gave a masterclass at Zandvoort. He lost the lead off the start line but, with great patience in his young head, the Briton watched for opportunities before uncapping the full potential of the upgraded McLaren since the Miami GP. That car was an absolute force for him to cruise to a very comfortable win as he breezed past Verstappen.
The win was the second of the season for McLaren, and what a turnaround. Full of beans, Norris claimed his car is now the fastest on the grid, saying: “Today, this whole weekend, I think we’ve had the best car. We know more information than people do on the outside, so we can comment in much more factual ways than people who are just watching on TV and taking their picks and guesses.”
However, for Norris, it would be acceptable to achieve more if McLaren was able to work better and perform as a team. “We’ve had, on average, the best car. We probably should have won two, three more races as a team, but we didn’t and it’s because we’ve not done a good enough job. I didn’t do a good enough job,” he conceded.
Norris’ win has brought him right into contention with Verstappen in the world championship, too, and the continued development of the team—it brought even more upgrades to Zandvoort—has made its position stronger and stronger. For Verstappen, though, he has been wrestling with problems that have restricted him from doing so ever since.
The Red Bull driver, who has dominated F1 over the last couple of years, was concerned about the balance and performance of his car. “We don’t have the fastest car. We have some issues that we have to solve and we are working on that,” he said. “This weekend was just a bad weekend in general. So we need to understand that. But the last few races, they haven’t really been fantastic. So that in a sense, was already a bit alarming.”
Verstappen’s woes have people dropping hints galore: the balance of power might change in F1. After all, while Red Bull is Red Bull, McLaren’s jump back into contention has put a new twist on the championship.
It has been quite the season for Norris, who probably has had the biggest headache of all in trying to make up for his bad luck after scoring pole positions. He explained that he had to be patient at the right amount and drive right. Even after he got shuffled down on it, he was patient. He took advantage of his car’s greater pace to regain the lead and then secure his second F1 win.
Already, the Dutch Grand Prix represented a breakthrough moment for McLaren, the point by which their championship challenge prospects became credible. Going forward this season, the rivalry that seems to have been formed between Norris and Verstappen could definitely be one of the most exciting storylines in Formula 1.
