Lando Norris achieves Dutch GP feat that hasn’t been repeated since Lewis Hamilton in 2021

Follow us on Google Discover

Lando Norris cruised to his second victory in Formula 1 in dominant fashion at the Dutch Grand Prix.

After grabbing his fourth career pole position in qualifying, Norris lost his lead before the first corner to Max Verstappen. The McLaren driver fought back to pass the Red Bull on lap 18 and was unchallenged for the rest of the race.

The Brit showed blistering pace across the weekend as he secured maximum points for the Woking-based squad with victory and the fastest lap of the race on the final lap.

Norris’ win marks the first time hometown hero Verstappen has failed to secure victory since Zandvoort returned to the calendar in 2022 after a 36-year hiatus.

Lando Norris has achieved something by a Formula 1 driver for the first time since Lewis Hamilton in 2021

In a post on X from Autosport, Norris’ achievement at the Dutch Grand Prix set a feat not achieved by another F1 driver other than Verstappen since 2021.

The Dutchman has enjoyed great dominance over the sport in the last two seasons. Verstappen won 15 races in 2022 and 19 out of 22 in 2023 on his way to two of his three consecutive world titles.

It was incredibly common to see the Red Bull disappear into the distance and win races by an overwhelming margin. This weekend, it was McLaren’s turn to show their new found dominance.

Norris won the race by 22.896 seconds, making it the largest winning margin by a driver besides Verstappen since Lewis Hamilton back in 2021.

During Hamilton’s dramatic title fight with Verstappen, the seven-time champion put in a sublime display at the inaugural race in Jeddah, beating Verstappen by a margin of 21.852 seconds.

Can Lando Norris catch Max Verstappen?

With Norris’ win at Zandvoort, the Brit has closed the gap to 70 points in the drivers’ championship. Oscar Piastri’s fourth place finish has allowed McLaren to come within 30 points of Red Bull in the constructors’ standings.

McLaren have built a clear gap over Red Bull in recent races as the defending champions look to not have the package to secure victory convincingly or at all.

While Norris has dropped points to Verstappen on numerous occasions in 2024, the Brit has displayed solid performance from the MCL38 in qualifying and the race. Verstappen has not secured pole since Austria and has not won a race since Spain.

As Verstappen struggles to maintain dominance and Norris edges closes with his incredible form, it is setting up a dramatic end to the season.