Race Recap: Norris defeats Verstappen at home, Leclerc pulls off 'miracle' and more driver signings at Zandvoort

With the long summer break well and truly over, Formula 1 was back with a bang in Zandvoort as Brit Lando Norris topped the podium with a sensational win against Max Verstappen on his home turf. As for the Dutchman, he finished runner-up, leading Ferrari's Charles Leclerc who pulled off a 'miracle' third place. Further down the pack, both of Mercedes' drivers remained in the points, Russell 7th and Hamilton 8th while more driver signing dominos continued to fall after Jack Doohan secured a seat at Alpine for 2025. Here are all the highlights and what we learned from the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix. 

Lando launches back into championship contention 

Landing Pole once again, McLaren's Lando Norris was no doubt feeling the pressure to perform in Zandvoort. He'd done the same in Hungary and Barcelona but failed to convert the advantage to a win. This time, however, was different. 

Despite being beaten off the line by home hero Max Verstappen, with the British driver behind on the 0-200km/h run, Norris kept the Dutchman close, never letting the lead exceed two seconds. Building up to challenge Verstappen, Norris started to turn the screw and eventually made a move out of the banked Turn 14, lunging down the straight and down the inside of Turn 1, overtaking Max on home soil. 

From there, the McLaren driver started to pull away, extending his lead to more than 20 seconds on Verstappen by the end. With such a convincing victory in the bag, Norris becomes the first driver other than Red Bull's Max Verstappen to win by over 10 seconds in almost two and a half years. 

"I wouldn't say a perfect race because of Lap 1 again, but afterwards the pace was very strong, the car was unbelievable today," said Norris after the race. 

"I could get comfortable, I could push and get past Max which was the main thing and just go from there. Honestly quite a straightforward race, still tough but very enjoyable." 

With another win to his name - as well as setting the fastest lap - Norris continues to chip away at Verstappen's advantage, reducing the Dutchman's lead in the standings to 70 points. As for the McLaren team, Norris's win and Piastri's fourth-place finish sees the British team reduce Red Bull's advantage in the constructors' championship to just 30 points. 

SEE ALSO: CAN NORRIS TAKE THE FORMULA 1 TITLE IN 2024?

Verstappen feels the pressure at home

In Zandvoort, Verstappen was the only one who ended up on the wrong side of a 22.9-second lead - something the Dutchman would have preferred to avoid in front of stands packed with his fans. 

Admitting after the race that, "it was quite clear that we're not quick enough", Verstappen sounded more defeated than angry as the drama of the Dutch Grand Prix came to a close. "It just seems like we are too slow, but also quite bad on degradation at the moment," Verstappen said after the race. 

"That's a bit weird because I think the last few years normally we've been quite good on that. Something has been going wrong lately with the car that we need to understand and we need to quickly try to improve. It's just not a connected balance, front and rear." 

Red Bull's grip on Formula 1 has continued to slip in the 2024 season, with the team seemingly unable to replicate its former track record of keeping its car's development bubbling away. Team advisor Helmut Marko labelled the result "alarming", while Christian Horner blamed a higher-downforce setup direction, which was intended to counter tyre degradation. Either way, the reigning champion's lead continues to melt away. 

This was the first time Verstappen has failed to win his home race, with the Dutchman now going five races without a win. 

Leclerc pulls off 'miracle' P3 finish 

Despite qualifying sixth, Ferrari's frontman saw his fortunes transform overnight in the Netherlands, which ended with him securing the final spot on the podium. 

"Yesterday, I was asked if the podium was possible, and I had said that it would be a miracle for us to stand on the podium today," said a surprised Leclerc after the race. "Well, it happened, so it's a really good surprise. I'm really happy - I'm never really satisfied with a P3, but I think starting from P6, and with the very low expectations we had coming into the race, we should be satisfied." 

After a cracking start in Zandvoort, taking a position from Red Bull's Sergio Perez, Leclerc went on to pressure Oscar Piastri in the battle for fourth. From there, Leclerc held strong, eventually getting in front of the McLaren before crossing the line in a solid - and somewhat surprising - P3.  

"We've been struggling from Friday until the race. In the race we found some more pace, executed a perfect strategy, we undercut two of our competitors and then we managed to keep them behind. So a really strong race for the team - [I'm] really happy to start the second half [of the season] like this." 

The third was Leclerc's second consecutive P3 finish, with the Monegasque driver picking up exactly where he left off before the summer break. With that, the Ferrari driver holds onto his third place in the Drivers' Championship, with Oscar Piastri 13 points behind. 

Doohan steps up for 2025 

With Carlos Sainz finally signing to Williams for the 2025 season, more dominoes continued to fall after the summer break. Mercedes is still expected to elevate Andrea Kimi Antonelli to Lewis Hamilton's empty seat in 2025, and Alpine revelaed it had signed six-time F2 race winner, Jack Doohan on the Friday before the Dutch Grand Prix. 

Over at Mercedes, Andrea Kimi Antonelli will get is first taste of a Formula 1 weekend at Monza, as he steps into the W15 for Fp1, having turned 18 on Sunday. "We're going to do FP1 with Kimi in Monza, which is going to be a really emotional moment," said Team Principal Toto Wolff. "Because we followed him since he was 11 and a baby, go-kart driver, and a Mercedes kid proud to be int he garage. To see him drive out on Friday in FP1 in Monza, in front of the Tifosi, having an Italian kid in a competitive car, I think that will be something everybody in Italy can be very proud of. And then we take it from there."