Lando Norris faced ‘insulting’ reaction to Dutch Grand Prix retirement from grandstands, ‘jumping for joy’

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McLaren driver Lando Norris saw his world championship chances take a serious hit at the Dutch Grand Prix.

Across the race weekend, Lando Norris and his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri could barely be separated.

Piastri took pole position in qualifying by the tiniest margins, with Norris lamenting that his luck ran out on his final run, with a change in wind direction preventing both drivers from improving their times.

The Australian got a marginally better start on Sunday, which allowed Max Verstappen to swoop around the outside of his teammate on the opening lap.

Norris regained second place relatively quickly, but couldn’t ever get close enough to Piastri to attempt an overtaking move.

It looked like Piastri was going to increase his lead in the drivers’ championship to 16 points, before disaster struck for Norris.

A late mechanical failure, which McLaren have since taken responsibility for, saw Norris’ race go up in smoke.

Isack Hadjar scored a memorable first F1 podium as a result, but it also allowed Piastri to increase his lead in the standings to 34 points, putting the British driver on the back foot for the final nine race weekends of the season.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Lando Norris’ life outside F1 from parents to celebration

Abbi Pulling recalls ‘insulting’ reaction from Dutch Grand Prix crowd to Lando Norris retirement

Pulling was commentating for BBC Sport at Zandvoort and appeared on the Chequered Flag Podcast afterwards.

Speaking about Norris’ retirement, she said: “I mean, for Max being in front of the home crowd, it is so nice to be able to finish on that podium, and at times he was really dropping off the back of the McLarens.

“He doesn’t want to inherit races, but it’s a similar situation to Oscar; he’ll take it where he can, and he wants the extra points for the drivers’ championship as well.

“I mean, it was almost a bit insulting to Norris when he had his mechanical issue and pulled off.

“You could see the grandstands; they had their arms in the air, and they were absolutely jumping for joy when McLaren pulled off.”

The crowd at Zandvoort were almost exclusively wearing orange, with many supporting Verstappen, and the others dressed in a similar shade of papaya rooting for McLaren.

However, after Norris comprehensively beat Verstappen last season, fans were always going to react well to his demise, especially as it promoted the Dutchman up to second in front of his home crowd.

READ MORE: All you need to know about McLaren F1 Team from team principal to engine

McLaren star Lando Norris laments ‘out of my control’ Dutch Grand Prix retirement

Norris was frustrated after the race, but not as dejected as some people might have expected.

Verstappen has told Norris how to approach his title fight from now on, and talking about his DNF, the British driver said: “It’s a shame to have ended the race like that today, but it was out of my control and there’s nothing I could have done differently.

“I was having a good race until that point. To have been that close to the car ahead throughout the race isn’t easy at Zandvoort, so I’m pleased with my performance. My focus switches straight to Monza.

“Congrats to Oscar and the team on the win, and congratulations to Isack [Hadjar] on his first podium.”

Andrea Stella revealed what Norris said about the championship after the Dutch Grand Prix, suggesting that he’s far from giving up on his chances of catching Oscar Piastri.

On this occasion, Norris losing out to Piastri was completely out of his control, and he’ll be hoping that the Australian suffers a similar level of misfortune before the campaign ends.