F1 | Norris: “McLaren super, I immediately understood I could win”

Second career win and 26 points for the standings. The Dutch GP race will be one that Lando Norris will remember for a long time, because the victory came in a clear and decisive manner, thanks to a gap on Max Verstappen of almost 23 seconds. One could almost say “finally” because, after several missed chances, now the success he had come close to on several occasions has arrived, giving McLaren its third triumph in the championship.

After taking the lead on the first lap at the start, thanks to a not-so-exceptional start from pole position, the British McLaren driver immediately set off on the hunt for the Dutchman. The three-time world champion had tried to build a safety margin in the first laps, to the point of being able to count on a one-and-a-half second advantage.

However, from that point on the gap stabilized and Norris began to close in, taking advantage of the championship leader’s tire problems. With Verstappen increasingly struggling with his tires, the British driver from the Woking team became more and more threatening until, after a couple of attempts, during the eighteenth lap he made the decisive overtaking move that put him back in the lead of the race.

“I think actually from the start, from lap five or six, I was expecting Max to try to push and open up the gap, but he couldn’t. From that point on I knew I was in the fight, but he just kept dropping away and my pace kept improving. It’s a good feeling in the car, especially when you’re fast. I could push and in clean air that’s a big help,” Norris explained in interviews.

When you have a car capable of fighting for the win, it is essential to be able to push in clean air and so it was. From that passage to the checkered flag, in fact, for Norris and McLaren it was an absolute and virtually unchallenged solo. Lando was lightning fast in immediately building a safety advantage to avoid suffering an undercut, so much so that after his stop he could still count on a comfortable margin of about 5 seconds over Verstappen.

Thanks to a clear superiority, the Englishman continued to extend his lead lap after lap, tenth after tenth, until crossing the finish line with a lead of 23 seconds, one of the largest of the season, demonstrating both the effectiveness of the MCL38 and Norris having a great day over the long distance.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, at the pit stop

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

“Thank you all, it’s a fantastic feeling. It wasn’t a perfect race, because I had some problems again on the first lap at the start, but the pace was great, the car was incredible. I was comfortable, I could push. I could pass Verstappen, which was the main thing, and then it was downhill from there. It was a pretty easy race to be honest, but difficult at the same time, I enjoyed it,” added the Briton, who took his second win of the season.

The icing on the cake was the additional point for the fastest lap, earned at the end by snatching it from Lewis Hamilton, who had previously stopped to fit the soft for the final part of the race. In this way, McLaren is getting ever more dangerously close to Red Bull in the constructors’ championship.