Norris back in title race? World Champ wins back to back to put pressure on Mercedes

By Mark Gero

Lando Norris came back from his summer break after winning the last race in Hungary and improved on it Sunday afternoon by taking the Dutch Grand Prix at the Zandvoort circuit for the second time in three years with an 11.5 second win over series leader Kimi Antonelli with his Mercedes teammate George Russell in third.

Norris took the lead for good on the 52^nd lap when he passed his fellow countryman and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton in his Ferrari and kept the lead for good. The current world champion now trails Antonelli by 80 points in the drivers’ championship.

“Amazing. A tough race,” said Norris. “Yesterday I said we needed to put on a bit of a show for everyone for the final race here, so I made it tough for myself today but [it was] a good race, well-fought. Probably one of my better wins – we had to fight for it well, but the pace was strong. We managed things incredibly well today so over the moon, very happy. Nice to win the final race here in Zandvoort.”

Hamilton finished in fourth, with his teammate Charles Leclerc in fifth. McLaren’s second driver Oscar Piastri took sixth, with Red Bull’s Liam Lawson, back as substituting for the injured Isack Hadjar, seventh. Next three drivers were ones that were not always up near the front, as the Audi of Nico Hulkenberg finished eighth, with Fernando Alonso scoring his first points in the upgraded Aston Martin since Monaco, ninth. Pierre Gasly continued scoring consecutive points in his Alpine by finishing tenth.

Four cars retired from the race, which included the Cadillac of Valtteri Bottas, the Haas pair of Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon, both brought out two virtual safety car periods, the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll, the Williams of Alex Albon, and the big surprise for the Red Bull and home driver Max Verstappen, who crashed at turn 14 on the second lap and brought out the red flag, which lasted for nearly a half an hour before his car was removed and racing could resume again.

Antonelli leads the championship by 59 points ahead of Russell, who now is tied for second with Hamilton, as the drivers go to the famed Monza circuit in Italy for Antonelli’s home race in two weeks, as the season has two more races left in Europe before continuing elsewhere.