Wherever the car doesn’t reach Max Verstappen The Dutchman is not far behind, an impression that was once again evident this Sunday on a Zandvoort circuit painted orange by the shirts of the fans, who were devoted to the local idol. The current champion went on holiday with his head spinning after having confirmed that the technical superiority that his Red Bull had been offering him in the last two years had evaporated. That concern did not disappear in the first test after the summer break, in which McLaren once again made it clear that its MCL38 is the sharpest car of all. If we were to find a weak point, the papaya-coloured car may not be the most efficient of all at the start if we look at the positions lost at that specific and very important moment. In Holland, Lando Norris once again lost the advantage offered by the ‘pole position’ that he clearly took on Saturday, with an impeccable turn, three tenths faster than Verstappen’s.
With the best position of all, the Briton and his teammate Oscar Piastri were stuck, skidding, in what was one of those sweet treats that you can’t offer to ‘Mad Max’. The Red Bull driver didn’t even have to brake too hard to get to the front of the group, in one of the easiest overtaking moves he can probably remember making. Despite this, reality prevailed again and once again showed the sweetness of the moment that the McLaren duo is going through and especially Norris, who is chasing the three-time world champion in the general points table, and the only one who at the moment seems to have enough drive to challenge the fourth crown that the boy from Hasselt would take home.
Before this race, which restarted the championship, Red Bull had already warned of the reality that the Red Buffalo team had to face, forced to play counterattack in the successive stops of the calendar. “Nobody should expect a new car after the break; this is the level we will see for now,” warned Helmut Marko, one of the most important executives within the Milton Keynes (Great Britain) structure. The statement of the former Austrian driver was perfectly contrasted in Zandvoort, where Verstappen had no choice but to give in on the 18th lap, the moment chosen by Norris to launch an attack supported by the effect of the mobile rear wing (DRS), which left his rival without a response. There the fight for victory ended, the first one that has slipped away in front of his people for the leader of the World Championship, who until now counted his visits (three) as victories.
On this occasion, the cornerstone of the energy team crossed the finish line second, without any weapons with which to fight his colleague, who added his second victory of the season and also of his record, this one, much clearer than the previous one, in Miami. In fact, the 20-second cushion in his favour at the time of crossing under the checkered flag makes him the first driver, other than Verstappen, to win a race with a margin of more than ten seconds since Charles Leclerc completed the Australian Grand Prix two and a half years ago (2022) 20 and a half seconds before Checo Pérez, who finished second. A statement of intent from McLaren and from someone who seems willing to lead the role of an alternative to the Red Bull empire. A feeling supported, moreover, by the fastest lap that Norris set on the last lap, in a further demonstration of the pace that still remained in his prototype. “I wouldn’t say it was the perfect race because I remember the start, but after that everything was wonderful. The car behaved very well and I was able to overtake Max, which was the key moment,” summed up the winner, aware of his chances, even after losing the lead of the pack at the start. “From lap five or six I already realised my chances of winning. I was expecting Max to open a gap, something he never did,” added the McLaren driver.
Leclerc completed the podium after defending himself in a more than worthy manner from Piastri, while Carlos Sainz finished sixth. The Ferrari pair gained the most positions (eight in total), precisely the opposite of the Aston Martin pair: they lost seven. The Spaniard, who started seventh, finished tenth in the fourth round of the year and without a single retirement, the highest number in the history of the series.
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