2024 Dutch Grand Prix | 6 talking points

Norris: not “perfect” – but brilliant

In the lead-up to Zandvoort, Norris, in characteristically honest fashion, had said he hasn’t driven like a world champion often enough this year to take on Verstappen. Too many errors, too many minor slips. And yet again on Sunday, it initially appeared he had squandered his own hard work when another poor start from pole position allowed Verstappen to take the lead into Turn 1.

Yet such was McLaren’s astonishing dominance at the circuit on the North Sea coast, Norris was able to keep within range of the world champion, then pick him off with relative comfort into Tarzan on lap 18, at a track that’s supposed to be tough for overtaking. It actually looked easy. From there, he was never threatened and won by 22.8 seconds – the second biggest winning margin of the season – for his second career win.

The start meant this wasn’t a “perfect” performance, according to Norris, but it was certainly a brilliant one, as he added another point for fastest lap on his final time around the track before taking the flag. He’ll need a big helping hand from Verstappen and Red Bull to close down that 70-point gap, and a non-score or two from the Dutchman will likely be required to really put him in the frame. But this was certainly a marker of how the tide has changed in F1 in recent months – in McLaren’s favour.

Norris form “alarming” for Red Bull

That’s the word Helmut Marko used about McLaren’s performance at Zandvoort, with the constructors’ championship gap now reduced to just 30. The world champions are rattled, in a season where if anything the RB20 appears to be going backwards in terms of its development. Verstappen’s recent histrionics were thankfully kept in check in front of his home crowd, as he appeared to accept his fate on this day. He still hasn’t won since the Spanish Grand Prix in June, but will know a cool head should still deliver him a fourth consecutive world championship. Red Bull’s slump is relative, and the shape of the competitive landscape will also likely shift from track to track. Don’t write off Red Bull yet – although how the team responds to its challenges will tell us much about the state of play at a company rocked by so many self-induced tensions this term.

Ferrari better than expected

Charles Leclerc was downcast to qualify only sixth and far off the pace of pole position. But a good start that lifted him past Sergio Pérez and the right pitstop strategy delivered him a fine podium third. As he said, that’s not usually good enough for him. But at Zandvoort, given his assessment of Ferrari’s form ahead of the race, this was cause for optimism. Leclerc successfully held off Oscar Piastri to claim his podium too, the Aussie having lost a place to George Russell at the start. 

Carlos Sainz Jr. also drove a good race, after a gearbox failure on Friday had put him on the back foot. From 11th on the grid he finished ahead of Pérez in fifth. So, there are reasons to be cautiously cheerful for the Tifosi as Ferrari heads to Monza this week.

Pérez still lacklustre

Sixth place and another underwhelming performance from Pérez won’t release the pressure on the Mexican or quell speculation about his future – despite Red Bull choosing to stick with him for now. The signs are McLaren’s duo will continue to outscore the Red Bull pair and perhaps claim that first constructors’ crown since 1998.

But Verstappen’s current struggles – again, relatively speaking – does also offer some indication why Red Bull is sticking with ‘Checo’. Would its other options – Liam Lawson, Daniel Ricciardo or Yuki Tsunoda – really score any better in the tricky RB20? We can take it as read that Verstappen is outperforming his car. That Pérez can’t manage to do the same shouldn’t really be considered an indictment. Perhaps his form is the real measure of where Red Bull is at right now.

Off-weekend for Mercedes

On the back of three victories in the previous four races, Mercedes can only be disappointed by its performance at Zandvoort. George Russell was left scratching his head about how he went from a potential podium finish to just seventh by the end, when a second stop for soft tyres dropped him down the order. This after he ‘won’ the Belgian Grand Prix so impressively on a one-stopper, only to be disqualified for his Mercedes coming in underweight. Let’s see where the team is at Monza – this might just be an off-weekend aberration, with circumstances conspiring against them.

Certainly, Lewis Hamilton was reasonably cheerful after qualifying a disappointing 12^th and the starting even further back because of a penalty for impeding Pérez. He drove a decent race, slicing past cars ahead of him to finish just behind Russell in eighth. Had qualifying gone to plan, he reckoned a top-four finish would have been on.

Alpine scores on Oakes’s team debut

New Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes experienced the F1 ‘Piranha Club’ for the first time at Zandvoort, and witnessed his troubled squad at least come away with a couple of points. That was thanks to a decent performance from Pierre Gasly who made up a place from his tenth spot on the grid to come home ninth, ahead of final point scorer Fernando Alonso in the still-lacklustre Aston Martin.

Alpine’s advisor, Flavio Briatore, reckons Oakes is the ideal fresh blood needed to lead Alpine and the troops in Enstone. There’s plenty of internal unhappiness about the plan for the team to turn its back on Renault’s own engines from Viry, a move Briatore claims hasn’t come from him. But the Italian also added that the Alpine F1 squad is not for sale – which is precisely what Renault’s big cheese Luca de Meo has stated all along. But Oakes has his work cut out in his first role in F1, at a team that remains 14 points adrift of Haas, third from bottom in the table.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.