Brown and Stella heap praise on Norris after Dutch GP win

Andrea Stella and Zak Brown had nothing but praise for Lando Norris after he stormed to take his second win of the season in a remarkably dominant fashion, crossing the line more than 20 seconds ahead of rival Max Verstappen.

The British driver lost the advantage of qualifying on pole as Verstappen swept past him at the race start, but he overtook the Dutchman later on track and built up an insurmountable lead that saw him take an assertive win.

With team mate Oscar Piastri narrowly missing out on the podium in P4, McLaren have now cut their deficit to Red Bull in the constructors’ standings down to just 30 points with nine races still to go.

The Woking outfit brought a package of upgrades to Zandvoort which significantly helped their performance, especially in clean air, but it is as yet unclear whether they can replicate that dominance at other tracks.

ZANDVOORT, NETHERLANDS - AUGUST 25: Lando Norris of McLaren and Great Britain celebrates finishing in first position during the F1 Grand Prix of Netherlands at Circuit Zandvoort. (Photo by Peter Fox - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images) — Norris dominated to take the second F1 win of his career

Speaking after the race, McLaren Team Principal Stella said that Norris’s win was “positively unexpected”.

“We would have never thought that coming to Zandvoort, which has been a difficult venue for us in the past, we could put together such a strong performance in qualifying and then confirm this in the race,” he explained. “I’m just very happy for the team, very happy for Lando himself.

FACTS AND STATS: Zandvoort top ten all previous race winners – for the second race in a row!

“I think he has just proven the level of competitiveness he can pull off. We know that, we’ve always known that.

“He’s been absolutely faultless this weekend, and a little bit of a shame for Oscar because he had the performance to be definitely part of the podium, and I think he had the performance to put Max under some pressure. Unfortunately, he got stuck behind Leclerc and he couldn’t overtake.”

ZANDVOORT, NETHERLANDS - AUGUST 25: Lando Norris of Great Britain driving the (4) McLaren MCL38 Mercedes takes the chequered flag during the F1 Grand Prix of Netherlands. (Photo by Mario Renzi - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images) — McLaren have had at least one of their drivers finish on the podium at each of the last 11 races

Norris’s victory marked the largest winning margin for any race this season as no one could find a way to close down the gap to the 24-year-old, ending Verstappen’s streak of home race wins.

“[The margin] was pretty awesome,” McLaren CEO Brown told Sky Sports F1. “Lando drove perfectly and the team did a great job, the strategy was great. We were close to getting both on the podium, but that was a big win with fastest lap at the end.

“We knew we were fast all weekend so I’m not shocked, but I guess I’m pleasantly surprised at the size of the gap. Once Lando got in clean air he controlled it pretty easily, so that was great to see.

“It was pretty clear he was faster, so it was nice to see him pass on the track because around then we were starting to think about pit stop strategy and undercut/overcut, but next thing we know he flew past him and pulled away. He definitely was able to control this race, and we’ll see what happens in Monza.”