Zandvoort – a venue to which Formula 1 sadly waves goodbye after a quick five-year reintroduction – gave us one more thriller as the sport returned following the summer recess. Lando Norris kept his cool to secure a second consecutive victory, amid one massive first-lap crash for Max Verstappen and various yellow-flag windows of opportunity. Yet the host venue of the Dutch Grand Prix is also a glaring anomaly in the career of Lewis Hamilton: a circuit at which he has failed to win a grand prix.
Things could have been different. Four years ago, Hamilton launched into one of his most infamous tirades (later apologising) stating his Mercedes team had “f***** him” with a strategy call that saw hopes of triumph fade. On Sunday, Hamilton was more measured and nuanced with his words after finishing fourth, missing out on a podium after failing to steer his car past a valiant George Russell. But another underlying sense of ‘what-could-have-been’ remained.
