Lando Norris claimed a commanding victory at the Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix on Sunday and used Max Verstappen’s catchphrase on team radio.
Verstappen has taken pole position and won all three of his previous visits to Zandvoort since Formula 1 returned to racing in 2021, but Norris ended that run in dramatic fashion.
Lando Norris uses Max Verstappen’s ‘simply lovely’ catchphrase after Dutch GP win
Verstappen got off to the better start of the front two, passing McLaren’s Norris at the first corner and taking the lead at Zandvoort.
But Norris stayed close to the world championship leader, keeping the Red Bull driver in DRS territory and overtaking him on lap 18 with a drive to the inside of Lap 1, opening up a gap and eventually winning by 22.8 seconds when the chequered flag was raised.
While celebrating Verstappen’s home win, race engineer Will Joseph praised Norris: “Well done, well done – driving the supercar.”
Norris then responded using the famous phrase used by the Dutchman after his own victory: “Was it great?
“Thanks, well done, boys. Great job, the car is unbelievable, thank you very much. Keep it up.”
Speaking at parc fermé shortly afterwards, the McLaren driver, who has closed the gap on Verstappen at the top of the World Championship to 70 points, added that despite not making the start he had hoped for, he was delighted with the rest of the race.
“It felt great,” he said.
“Again, I can’t say it was a perfect race, because it was lap 1. But after that, it was great. The pace was strong – the car was unbelievable today, so I could relax, I could push and overtake Max, that was the main thing, and I could only take it from there.
“To be honest, [it] was a pretty straightforward race, still difficult, but very exciting.”
Norris added that, while the majority of fans were there to support Verstappen, he also had a strong domestic following, thanking those who had supported him this weekend.
“I have a lot of Dutch fans and supporters, so I’m very grateful to them,” he said.
“I mean, I’m sure some people are a bit sad, but I hope it’s a good race. There’s a lot of people supporting me, so I really appreciate that.”
Asked when he believed he could have won the race, despite being beaten off the start line by the Red Bull driver, he added: “I think it was quite early, actually lap five, six, seven.
“I expected Max to start pushing and then get a little gap, but he never did. So from that point on, I knew we were going to have a good fight, but he seemed to be dropping back, and then my pace got better.
“Like I said, it feels great in the car, and especially when I pass, I can relax. I can push, I have fresh air, and that always helps a lot.”
