Norris beats Verstappen on home turf to ignite title race

Briton crosses line 22.8 seconds clear at Dutch Grand Prix

- PHILIP DUNCAN

Lando Norris beat Max Verstappen in the Dutch driver’s backyard to ignite his hopes of winning the Formula One world championship. Norris might have feared the worst after he allowed Verstappen to blast ahead of him following another poor start for the Briton in Zandvoort.

But Norris silenced 105,000 orange-clad fans when he slipstreamed his way back past their hero on lap 18 of 72 before delivering an emphatic win to cross the line 22.8 seconds clear of Verstappen. Norris’s triumph marked just the second of his career – arriving 112 days after his maiden victory in Miami – to reduce the championship deficit from 78 points to 70 with nine rounds remaining and 258 points still to play for.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished third, one place ahead of McLaren driver Oscar Piastri. George Russell finished seventh, while Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton drove through the field from 14th to eighth. An unwanted statistic lingered over Norris as he headed into yesterday’s race. Despite claiming three previous career poles, he had never led after the opening corner. And history repeated itself on the short blast to the Tarzan bend when Norris looked as though he was treading through treacle as Verstappen breezed clear.