Lando Norris won the Dutch Grand Prix with a dominant run for McLaren at Zandvoort, having held his nerve to bounce back after losing the lead from pole position at the start. He beat Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to move into second place after taking the lead from the Dutchman, before showing pace and control to take his second F1 victory by 22.8 seconds.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was third, with team-mate Carlos Sainz in fifth. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was fourth, but Mercedes struggled. Lewis Hamilton did well to recover from 14th to claim eighth, but George Russell dropped from fourth to seventh.

After what seemed an all-too-familiar mistake from Norris as the lights went out and he was passed by Verstappen after a slow start, the 24-year-old remained calm, kept his head down and let his tyres slowly get into the race before unleashing the McLaren’s extraordinary pace advantage. After flying past Verstappen, he was untouchable, putting on a relentless show that neither Verstappen nor Red Bull had an answer for and which team boss Christian Horner described as “damage limitation”.

It was the result Norris needed to keep the title fight alive, closing the gap to Verstappen to 70 points with nine races to go. Red Bull will retreat to lick their wounds and consider the task ahead. Verstappen has not won since the Spanish GP and McLaren certainly have an advantage over their rivals.

Norris was critical of himself for not capitalising on his previous two pole positions this season in Spain and Hungary after poor starts. He said he had worked on his starts during the summer break, but after being beaten again at the opening corner, questions remain as to why he is struggling.

Despite this, he did well to keep his balance and play the long game to get back to Verstappen. This is his first win here and the first time Verstappen has been denied victory at his home race. For McLaren, it is no small moment, the team’s first win at Zandvoort since Niki Lauda took the flag here in 1985, when the race was last held before returning to the calendar in 2021.

Shortly after McLaren’s one-two in Hungary, it was another demonstration of how strong their car is on different tracks. They had brought their first major series of upgrades here since the Miami GP and, just as they had proven superior in Florida, the latest developments were another step forward. No mean feat considering other teams have implemented upgrades that have proven ineffective or even detrimental.

Norris got going just as quickly as Verstappen, but got going more slowly and was immediately overtaken by the Dutchman in the short run to the first corner. Russell also moved up a place and was now third, past Piastri.

Verstappen took advantage and built a 1-second lead, out of DRS range within three laps, while Norris tried to manage his tyres in the opening stages. By lap nine, Norris was just over a second behind Verstappen.

The British driver increased his pace on lap 13, closing in on Verstappen, while the McLaren showed the pace it had set in qualifying. On lap 14 he was within DRS range by closing in hard, and on lap 17 he was on top of Verstappen.

Verstappen complained about a lack of grip, while Norris put in a very fast lap and flew past with DRS on the start-finish straight on lap 18 to take the lead. The McLaren was well on the tyres and was comfortably on top when Norris opened up a gap to a 4-second lead over Verstappen by lap 25.

Verstappen pitted on lap 28 to take the hard tyre and McLaren covered him by pitting Norris a lap later and he re-entered ahead of Verstappen, completing their only stops of the race. McLaren sidelined Piastri for long periods as they looked for a tyre advantage late in the race.

Piastri completed the leader’s stops on lap 34 and emerged fifth, but Norris was in control. His lead on lap 36 was 7 seconds over Verstappen, as the Briton completed a series of metronomic laps, often half a second faster than his opponents.

Piastri also found the pace, passing Russell for fourth on lap 40, while Norris extended the lead to 15 seconds on lap 54.

He completed the race and crossed the finish line with such confidence that he set the fastest lap of the race on his last circuit. He rode almost flawlessly after the setback at the opening and thus achieved his most convincing victory and reconfirmed his qualities as a title contender.

Sergio Perez was sixth for Red Bull, Pierre Gasly ninth for Alpine and Fernando Alonso tenth for Aston Martin.