Photo: Peter Menzel via CC
Lando Norris won the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix on Sunday, and given the comfortable 20-second gap he put over home favorite Max Verstappen, one would be forgiven for forgetting he’d only had a single Formula 1 race victory to his name before then. He drove a confident, controlled race worthy of a seasoned winner.
Just as well, it could be seen as the first time since his maiden win in Miami that Norris maximized results over a race weekend. His McLaren F1 car has been the fastest on the grid for most of the season, but due to a range of reasons, he and the team haven’t successfully capitalized on that advantage.
And for a brief moment yesterday, it seemed that would again be the case. Norris has made a trend of losing the lead at the start of races, and repeated this feat in Zandvoort despite the short run to the first corner. Most people on his side of the grid lost positions, so it probably wasn’t due to driver error as in the past — though Norris fans undoubtedly let out a defeated, “Not again” groan as Verstappen took the lead.
As it happened, Norris’s pace was such that he flew past Verstappen just a few laps later, and built a steadily increasing gap until the checkered flag. It was only his second win, but a commanding one, and one that suggests that Norris and McLaren may finally be realizing their potential. There’s a good chance that F1 2024 is on for several more boring, dominating wins from the young British driver.
Unfortunately for him, it likely won’t be enough to win the title. For that, the wins would have needed to come sooner and with more regularity. The 70-point gap to Verstappen is enormous, and no one has ever overcome such a deficit to win the championship — over any number of races, let alone with only nine to go. McLaren will probably win the constructors’ title, though and with Red Bull having seemingly hit the development ceiling for its car, McLaren also looks like the team most poised to bag a double championship in 2025.
Kurt Verlin was born in France and lives in the United States. Throughout his life he was always told French was the language of romance, but it was English he fell in love with. He likes cats, music, cars, 30 Rock, Formula 1, and pretending to be a race car driver in simulators; but most of all, he just likes to write about it all. See more articles by Kurt.
