Sunday Debrief: Norris doubles his total race wins with over 20 seconds lead from Verstappen

Norris added another win to his name to make it two career wins in Formula One. Norris winning with over 20 seconds between himself and the home driver in front of the Dutch fans.

 

Qualifying

 

Logan Sargeant missed out on qualifying following a big shunt in FP3, which saw the American driver go into the barriers after stepping onto the grass in a wet opening 20 minutes of FP3. Through not competing in qualifying, Albon was found to have technical infringements to his Williams and was set to start Sunday’s race from the back of the grid, promoting his teammate up into P19. Overall, it was a qualifying Williams will wish to forget.

While Mercedes showed promise over the practice sessions this weekend and carried the hope from a promising Belgian GP ahead of the summer break, it was a disappointing one for the previous race winner, Lewis Hamilton exiting quail in Q2, along with the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz. Hamilton was then dropped down a further three places for impeding Perez in Q1, dropping the Brit down to P15, but was bumped up a place following Albons penalty.

 

For George Russell in the other Mercedes, he made it into Q3 to qualify on the second row alongside Oscar Piastri. Norris claimed pole, with home hero Max Verstappen accompanying  him on the front row.

 

Race day

 

Going into turn 1, Verstappen stole the lead of the race from Norris, getting a between start on the McLaren. Piastri in the other McLaren was also passed going into the first corner by George Russell with Leclerc and Perez putting pressure on the young Australian driver from behind.

 

Norris remained close to the leader over the coming laps, before making his move on lap 18 to move back up into the lead of the race as the pair travelled down the start/finish straight.

 

Towards the back of the grid in P14, Hamilton picked off drivers one by one to move back up into the points by lap 15. Meanwhile, ahead Gasly fended against the Aston Martins to move up in the points, fending off Alonso to hold onto P7.

 

Verstappen pitted on lap 27, after reporting that his tyres were ‘numb’, Verstappen re-joined the track in P5. Norris responded to his rivals stop and came in at the end of the next lap to cover off any threats. Norris came back out on track in P4 ahead of Verstappen with a 5 second gap between the pair.

 

Out front, Piastri inherited the lead from his teammate, before he was called to pit on lap 33.

 

Mercedes taking a different approach to the rest of the drivers in the top 10 with both drivers coming in twice to pit. Hamilton was first to come in for a second pit stop on lap 49 for a set of soft tyres. Mercedes looking to take the fastest lap with Lewis Hamilton. Russell followed his teammate and came to pit a few laps later on lap 55, also for a set of softs with his eyes set on catching Perez. Russell joined the track in P7 ahead of his teammate and behind the Bull.

 

Rounding off the final corners it was Norris who took the lead and win with a comfortable lead over Verstappen of over 20 seconds. Norris on an excellent weekend and winning from pole, as well as picking up both the fans driver of the day and snatching the fastest lap from Lewis Hamilton on the final lap of the race. Verstappen finished in P2 in front of home fans with Leclerc concluding the podium.