Norris’s reaction time was the same as his rival – 0.28sec – but the second phase of his getaway cost the McLaren man dear, and he 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 of Sunday’s affair suggested he might claim his fourth triumph in as many appearances on home soil.
There were confusing messages coming out of McLaren, too. Norris was asked by race engineer Will Joseph who he thought he was racing. 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, while Red Bull are simply 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 occupying the Dutchman’s Red Bull mirrors.
By the start of lap 15, Norris was less than a second behind and in DRS range. Two laps later and the gap was half a second with Verstappen reporting that his tyres felt “numb”. The TV feed cut to Christian Horner, who wore a pained expression on the Red Bull pit-wall as he perhaps sensed the inevitable and, 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 and six laps later, Norris was two seconds clear. “I can’t go any faster,” a downbeat Verstappen said.
