The timing could not have been more piercing for Lando Norris. Just as the crestfallen McLaren driver trudged back to the Zandvoort pit-lane, Oscar Piastri was introduced onto the top step of the podium as the winner of the Dutch Grand Prix. The Brit was not hanging around for the national anthems; emotions and those papaya colours could not have been more juxtaposed.
Norris’s cruel retirement from second in the field on Sunday with eight laps to go, the result of an oil leak due to a suspected chassis issue, has changed the whole complexion of this season’s F1 championship race. A gap to teammate Piastri, which was at nine points pre-race – and was set to increase to 16 – now stands at 34 points. In a campaign of fine margins between the McLaren duo, it is a game-changing moment.
