Zandvoort (Netherlands), Aug 23 (IANS) McLaren driver Lando Norris claimed his second consecutive victory of the season, finishing ahead of Kimi Antonelli and George Russell in an eventful Dutch Grand Prix at Circuit Zandvoort in North Holland, the Netherlands, on Sunday.

The Briton’s victory came after home favourite Max Verstappen suffered a dramatic crash that resulted in the race being red-flagged.

After Norris initially led away from pole position at the start, the race was halted just one lap later when Verstappen lost the rear of his Red Bull and hit the wall heavily. The Dutchman was reported to be okay later.

When the action resumed, Antonelli made a flying start to overtake Norris and from there stretched out a lead. But as the race entered its final third, Norris made ground and regained the position from the Mercedes driver Antonelli.

A late Virtual Safety Car – called due to Esteban Ocon’s Haas stopping out on track – resulted in several drivers pitting, including Antonelli, setting up for a potential chase to the end as both Norris and George Russell in front of him had not stopped for fresh tyres.

While the Silver Arrows inverted their cars to release Antonelli into second, Norris proved unbeatable at the front and crossed the line with an 11.536s margin over the championship leader. Russell, meanwhile, just sealed the final spot on the podium in third, having fended off the chasing Ferraris to the very end.

The result means Italian Antonelli maintained his top position in the Drivers’ Standings with 242 points, with Mercedes teammate Russell second with 183 points. Lando Norris is placed fourth with 159 points.

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc had to settle for fourth and fifth respectively in the Dutch Grand Prix, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri claiming sixth. Liam Lawson placed seventh as the sole Red Bull to finish, the New Zealander keeping the position despite a 10-second time penalty for a yellow flag infringement.

Off the back of scoring his first points of the season in Hungary, Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg added to his tally in eighth while Fernando Alonso grabbed a valuable P9 for Aston Martin and Pierre Gasly rounded out the top 10 for Alpine.

Racing Bulls stand-in Yuki Tsunoda missed out in 11th, ahead of the other VCARB machine of Arvid Lindblad and Gabriel Bortoleto in the Audi. Alpine’s Franco Colapinto took P14, while Cadillac’s Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz in the Williams completed the classification.

The other Williams, Alex Albon, retired towards the end of the event, joining Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, the Haas pair of Ocon and Ollie Bearman and local hero Verstappen in the list of non-finishers from the race.

The big incident at the start of the race was Verstappen making a dramatic exit.

After completing the formation lap behind the Safety Car, the cars lined up for the start – and when the five lights went out, Norris held the lead, but Antonelli made a better launch than Russell, the Italian taking P2 into the first corner.

Leclerc, meanwhile, moved ahead of Piastri into fourth, while the Red Bulls of Verstappen and Lawson engaged in some wheel-to-wheel racing. The action dramatically came to a halt one lap later, however, when Verstappen dipped a wheel across the white line on the main straight before losing the rear and hitting the wall heavily.

With debris strewn across the track, the Dutchman fortunately reported that he was okay as the red flags were thrown, leading to the rest of the pack heading to the pits. Bortoleto, meanwhile, had suffered a separate 360-degree spin behind Verstappen but managed to keep on going, the Brazilian dropping down to P18 – with Hulkenberg fortunate to avoid contact with his teammate.

There was more drama towards the end before Norris came back and sealed victory.

–IANS

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