Max Verstappen fails to win the Dutch Grand Prix for the first time in four years
Max Verstappen didn’t win the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort on Sunday for the first time in four years. The reigning champion came second to Lando Norris of McLaren, who won the race with a lead of 20 seconds over Verstappen.
Verstappen had won the last three races in Zandvoort and would have been able to become the fourth driver to win four races in a row in their home country with a victory. A victory would also equal Jim Clark's Zandvoort record of four victories on the circuit.
The Red Bull driver finished in the same spot that he started the race in. Norris had also taken pole position in the qualifying position a day earlier when it was proved again that the McLaren car was quicker than the Red Bull vehicle.
Despite this, Verstappen started the race better, taking first place on the first turn. He was still top after ten laps with a 1.4-second lead.
But then it all started to fall apart for the Dutch driver. Norris was clearly quicker, and it began to show with Verstappen also mentioning issues with his car, including tire issues.
This led to Norris going past him on the 18th lap. His lead was 1.5 seconds three laps later as Verstappen told his team that he could not go quicker than this as the car was not responding to his input.
He changed his tires on the 28th lap, coming out in fifth position. He was back up to second by the 34th lap, as most cars went into the pits, but the gap to Norris was seven seconds.
The gap just kept increasing for Verstappen, who even had to watch out for Charles Leclerc, in third position, who was catching up to Verstappen in his Ferrari.
The loss does not significantly dent Verstappen's title challenge, as he is still 70 points ahead of Norris in the rankings. However, the constructors championship is swinging McLaren's way. The gap between the two teams is now just 30 points, with Red Bull in first position.
