Formula 1 | Lando Norris completely superior in Holland – Valtteri Bottas’ race is a complete disaster

McLaren’s Lando Norris won Sunday’s Dutch GP overwhelmingly. Norris drove to the finish well ahead of the home crowd’s favorite Max Verstappen.

McLaren has been on a roll since the team’s update in Miami, and has emerged as Red Bull’s main challenger. In Holland, the team brought yet another new, large upgrade package. Its momentum was immediately apparent.

Norris started the race from the pole, but like earlier in the season, lost the lead in the opening corner. Verstappen drove ahead, but the lead did not last long. On lap 18, Norris pushed irresistibly past the Dutchman.

After this, there was no hard fight for the victory. Norris’ McLaren was so much faster that Verstappen had to focus on securing second place.

The race proved true the estimates made during the summer, that McLaren’s car is now faster than the previously superior Red Bull.

“It feels incredible. The car was incredible, there was a lot of speed. I was able to drive in peace and I got past Max, that was the most important thing. We have a lot of fans here, I have a lot of Dutch supporters. Thanks to them, although some are certainly also upset”, Norris mused after the race.

“I pretty much knew from round 5-7 that we would win. I expected him to pick up the pace, but he didn’t. At the same time, we were able to pick up the pace.”

The victory was the second of the season and career for Norris.

Norris was more than 20 seconds ahead of Verstappen at the finish line and drove the fastest lap of the race on the last lap. At the same time, the Englishman’s margin of victory was the biggest difference between the first and second place of the entire season.

Verstappen was gloomy at the finish and admitted the truth about the situation between the teams.

“Of course, we always want to be faster, but today it was not possible. We’re not fast enough,” Verstappen lamented after the race.

“I tried to run my own race, and that’s the result.”

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished third and Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri was fourth. Piastri pressured the Monaco throughout the second half of the race, but to no avail.

“I was very surprised. I’m not very often happy with third place, but this was a really tough weekend. We found a good pace for the race and the tactics worked really well. A strong race from the team. It’s nice to start the second half of the season like this”, Leclerc assessed his neck-and-neck victory over Piastr.

Sauber’s the race was miserable again. Valtteri Bottas finished second last. Only the team mate was left behind Guanyu Zhou.

Bottas had a good start to the race and fought for better positions before the first pit stops. However, Bottas had to visit the pits twice, as the top teams managed to make it through one stop.