Dutch GP : Lando Dominates

Lando Norris absolutely dominated the Dutch GP with a 22 second victory over home boy Max Verstappen who had no answer to Lando’s pace.

Lando domination at Dutch GP

2024 season started with absolute domination by Max Verstappen and Red Bull. However after 16 races into the season things that turned around quite dramatically. Specifically, it is the McLaren which has completely turned things around. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have scored more points in the last 8 or the 9 races as compared to the Red Bulls. While Max still leads the championship by a healthy margin, the gap is closing in quickly. More importantly the gap between Red Bull and McLaren is only 30 points. There are still 9 races left and McLaren can quite comfortably win the championship if they continue their form.

Lando Norris did not have the start he wanted. Too much wheel spin and Max took the lead. It then seemed like Max will fly away into the distance and win his home race. However that was not the case to be. Lando reeled him in slowly and eventually overtook him by lap 18. From then on there was no looking back. Lando kept on increasing the gap to Max and finally finished the race with a 22 second margin and the fastest lap. Oscar did not have that great a race. Starting P3 went back at the race start and eventually was stuck in the dirty air of Charles LeClerc to finish P4. He needs to be in the top form too if McLaren wants to win the championship.

Red Bull in a hot sauce at the Dutch GP

Max would have loved to win the home race. However he knew well that Red Bull did not have the race pace to fight with McLaren. Starting P2, he overtook Lando but soon found out the lacking pace and then managed to finish the race in P2. Sergio Perez did a decent job but still below par, finishing in at P6.

Mercedes missing pace at the Dutch GP

Mercedes were quite dominant in the last few races before the summer break but that was not be found at the Dutch GP. Hamilton had a bad Quali session and the race was all about recovery. Even George Russell struggled against the McLarens and the Ferraris. Mercedes needs to put their head together to find the lacking pace.

Ferrari on the other hand were positively surprised with their race pace. They were expecting to be around P7, P8 but eventually found themselves at P3 and P5. Charles had a good race and managed to keep the McLaren of Oscar behind him. Carlos had a solid race too, overtaking a Mercedes and a Red Bull and finishing P5. Gasly drove well to get his Alpine at P9 and Alonso got the final points position.

Dutch GP : Lando wins in front of the orange crowd.