Martin Brundle on the outcome of the Dutch Grand Prix

Former Formula 1 driver and Sky Sports F1 commentator Martin Brundle summarised the results of the Dutch Grand Prix.

Thanks to the Zandvoort stage, Lando Norris was able to progress to the next step in the ranking of the best Formula 1 drivers.

His pole position in qualifying was one of those moments when you can’t help but hear the phrase: “Where did he get that lap time from?”

Max Verstappen also drove a great lap, separating the McLaren drivers at the start. We already know how good Piastri is, and Norris’ fantastic time shows how comfortable he feels in the new McLaren.

We were told that these updates added about 30% of the updates that came out in Miami and turned the tide. And these weren’t changes for the sake of change, like some teams, but fixes that actually work.

Heavy rain and strong winds wreaked havoc on the race preparations. Many riders and teams wondered why their pace was picking up and dropping. And if they caught a gust of wind in the wrong corner or changed the balance of the car too much, the results could be completely different.

On the grid we saw a big gap between the teammates, with Sainz and Hamilton losing a lot by not making it to the final.

Early in Saturday’s practice Sargent wrecked his car in the most costly way. This bizarre accident cost everyone else valuable track time due to the long red flags to repair the barriers.

Alex Albon in the updated Williams posted the eighth fastest time, but the new parts were three millimetres wider, he was disqualified and sent to the last row, and the mechanics got out an angle grinder and sandpaper.

Walking behind the Sky Sports F1 barriers during the second practice session, I was surprised by how dated the track was.

I know this circuit well from racing in the 80s, but today’s heavy and fast cars can seriously damage these barriers in an accident, and the lack of service lanes in some places makes it difficult to recover cars. This is usually typical for city roads.

On the morning of the race, everyone was wondering if Norris could hold the lead on the first lap and use his pace to win. The answer came almost immediately as both McLaren cars lost a position at the start.

Verstappen led the race and immediately pulled away by over a second, denying Norris the chance to attack with DRS. At Zandvoort, the teams have set up their cars for a high level of downforce, so DRS is particularly effective here.

On Friday it seemed that McLaren cars wear out tyres less than Red Bull in long runs, and this was confirmed in the race. As soon as Verstappen let the team know that the car was struggling to take corners and had no grip, Norris started to overtake him.

They chased each other for a while, but Lando passed Max with relative ease. How different things look now than they have over the past two and a half years.

Tyre wear turned out to be less than many thought, so Hamilton, starting on Soft to gain a few places at the start, did 23 laps on this set, when 15-18 laps were expected, and Alex Albon put on a new set. Already on the 12th lap difficult – the tyres were working well that day.

Verstappen pitted on lap 27 and received a new Hard kit. Norris, who was 5.6 seconds ahead, also changed tyres on the next lap and maintained his lead over Verstappen. He was blazing fast and underlined this with the fastest lap of the race on the last lap, which gave him an extra point in the championship standings and won by a huge margin of 22.9 seconds.

On the way back to the pits, Lando imitated his mate Max and said: “Just amazing.” If he can keep this up, he’ll need his own jokes.

Realizing he had nothing to say, Max, presumably on purpose, slowed the pace to let the team know that hard work awaited them.

Behind him, Charles Leclerc drove a great race to secure a podium finish for Ferrari. They struggled for most of the weekend but recovered on race day, which was also evident when Carlos Sainz returned to fifth.

Between the two Ferraris was Piastri in the second McLaren. He spent a lot of time behind other cars and waited until the 33rd lap for his only pit stop, which didn’t help either. He was quick on the open track but will be concerned that he finished 27 seconds behind his team-mate.

Mercedes had a bad day. George Russell was third, but after two pit stops he finished in seventh place. His teammate Hamilton moved up from fourteenth to eighth, just five seconds behind Russell.

One of the most notable performances was Pierre Gasly’s aggressive fight on Alpine, who made some excellent overtaking moves and finished ninth, earning two well-deserved points.

Fernando Alonso secured a point for Aston Martin this weekend when it looked like they were more competitive.

There’s no time for a break, Monza is in a few days.