Lando Norris says he is not thinking about world championship victory

Lando Norris said it is stupid to start dreaming about the Formula One world championship – despite a crushing victory over Max Verstappen in the Dutch driver’s own back yard.

Norris might have feared the worst after he allowed Verstappen to move ahead of him following another poor start here in Zandvoort .

But the McLaren man silenced 105,000 orange-clad fans when he slipstreamed his way past their hero on lap 18 of 72 before crossing the line an emphatic 22.8 seconds clear.

Norris’ statement 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.

However, Norris said: “I have been fighting for the championship since the first race of the year and there is no sudden decision that now I need to do better.

“I am still 70 points behind Max so it is pretty stupid to think of that (the championship). There is no point to think ahead. I am focussed on one race at a time. It is not a question I need to be asked every single weekend.”

A catalogue of mistakes by driver and team led Norris to admit earlier this week that he has not performed at the level required to win the title – and an unwanted statistic lingered over him as he headed into Sunday’s 72-lap affair.

Despite claiming three previous career poles, he had never led after a meaningful corner. And history repeated itself on the short blast to the Tarzan bend when Norris appeared to be treading through treacle as Verstappen breezed clear.

Norris’ reaction time was the same as his rival – 0.28 seconds – but too much wheelspin then cost the Briton dearly. Norris was suddenly staring at the back of Verstappen’s Red Bull gearbox.

Verstappen has dominated every edition of this race since F1 returned to the Netherlands in 2021 and the very early stages suggested he might claim his fourth triumph in as many appearances.

There were confusing messages coming out of McLaren, too. Norris was asked by his race engineer, Will Joseph, who he thought he was racing against.

The answer appeared obvious: Verstappen – the man he beat to pole by more than three tenths – and Norris agreed. “The car ahead,” he roared.

Yet, Joseph’s question seemed to cast doubt over whether McLaren truly believed they had the speed to match Verstappen.

But McLaren have provided Norris with a rocket ship, Red Bull are no longer the dominant force they once were, and, as the lap count ticked down, Norris, who at one stage was almost two seconds behind Verstappen, was soon occupying his rival’s Red Bull mirrors.

By the start of lap 15 Norris was less than a second behind and in DRS range. Two laps later, the gap was half a second.

The TV feed cut to Christian Horner who wore a pained expression on the Red Bull pit-wall. Perhaps he sensed the inevitable?

Then, on lap 18, Norris struck. The British driver latched on to Verstappen’s tow before jinking to his right at 200mph and making the move stick at the first bend.

Verstappen had no answer. At the start of lap 26, Norris was five seconds ahead, and when Verstappen pulled in for his first stop, Norris’ advantage stood at nearly seven seconds.

In the past, McLaren have been accused of fluffing their strategy lines, but they wasted no time in pitting Norris to cover off Verstappen.

It was not the speediest stop – half a second slower than Verstappen’s – but Norris emerged ahead of the Red Bull. On lap 40 his lead stood at 10 seconds. This was turning into an exhibition.

“I didn’t expect it to go as well as it did, but after getting done off the line and into turn one I was surprisingly calm,” added Norris, who completed a perfect weekend by landing a bonus point for setting the fastest lap of the race.

“Maybe it because I am used to going backwards at the start and I am prepared for those kind of scenarios,” he added with a smile.

“I looked after my tyres, and I was like ‘what could I do now?’ By lap 13 I managed to catch Max and gain optimism that I could pass him on track. I had two opportunities. The first time I wasn’t close enough and the next lap I did it. And I got my head down from there.”

McLaren’s first major upgrade since Norris won in Miami had delivered the goods and, with Red Bull stuttering, a championship challenge could yet be on the cards. Who would have thought that when Verstappen won five of the opening seven races?

Charles Leclerc finished third for Ferrari, with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton only seventh and eighth following a sub-par event for Mercedes.