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After 14 closely-contested races, everyone needed some respite for a couple of weeks after Belgium, and Lando used the time to relax and reflect on how the season had gone since his breakthrough victory in Miami.

It had given him a huge confidence boost, of course, but it brought with it the weight of even greater expectation and responsibility. The competitiveness of this year’s field means he’s had to wait a little longer than he’d have liked to secure the expected follow-up victory, but he’s become arguably the most consistent driver on the grid, on current form, with five more podiums and a healthy 167 points since his win in the US.  

Lando has come close to victory in pretty much every race since. He was perhaps one lap away from the lead in Imola, led briefly in Canada, and finished second in Spain, after taking pole. A second win might have come in Austria were it not for a collision with Verstappen, and then he led for large parts of his home Grand Prix in Silverstone and finished directly behind Oscar in Hungary.

All the emotions. 🥹#DutchGP 🇳🇱 pic.twitter.com/WZKSZ66eQ1

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) August 25, 2024

Despite performing brilliantly and consistently, Lando remains constantly determined to better himself. “We worked hard over the summer break to just try and take a step back and reset and go again,” he said.

As we headed for the Netherlands, where Lando has built up a strong fan base, he felt he had used the downtime well. He touched down with renewed confidence and was determined that a fresh breakthrough was imminent. He was in supercharged form from the off.

A fabulous pole-winning lap

Another massive team effort from those back at the McLaren factory had resulted in significant aerodynamic and suspension upgrades, and the team arrived in Zandvoort feeling positive and quietly confident that the car would prove very competitive.

The weather was disruptive on Friday morning, but Lando started the weekend on the front foot, edging out Verstappen in the first practice session. His belief continued to grow over the weekend, and when Qualifying came around on Saturday afternoon, he left those watching in no doubt that he was ready to fight for the win.  

He was fastest in Q1, and he and Oscar topped the times in Q2. In Q3, he was quickest after the first runs, but then Verstappen went faster on his second attempt, much to the delight of the Verstappen-supporting Dutch contingent.

The Dutchman was after his fourth successive win in Zandvoort, which would have seen him equal Jim Clark’s record tally of victories at the track. But right at the very end, Lando produced a sensational lap of 1m09.673s to put pole beyond his reach.

“Qualifying was pretty smooth, with good laps, especially the last one,” he said. “The conditions today made it a little more challenging, and with every lap, you had to reassess how much more you could push and where the limits were. I felt very comfortable, the car was strong, and the team have done a great job so far, so a big thank you to them for their hard work.”

A waiting game

The tension was palpable as more than 200,000 trackside fans waited for the start.

Although Lando fell to second when the lights went out, his reaction to losing first was impressive and crucial to his recovery. Rather than risking his tyres overcooking in the Red Bull’s dirty air, he calmly sat back a second or so for the first 11 laps, wisely resisting the temptation to push hard and challenge to try and make right his loss of the pole position advantage as soon as possible.

“I was actually just surprisingly calm, maybe because I'm a bit used to going backwards at the start! I'm very prepared for those kind of scenarios. And I was just, ‘Okay, what can I do now?’ And that was just to look ahead, start saving my tyres, and see what I had pace-wise.”

Using his head, he watched how the Red Bull performed, noting that it was not pulling away even though Verstappen was driving it hard. Like a cat toying with a mouse, he waited. And then, when he saw its rear tyres going off, he pounced.

The crucial move

He had never let Verstappen’s advantage grow to more than 1.5s, and between Laps 12 and 16, he carved it from 1.3s to just 0.3s. By the time they crossed the start/finish line on Lap 17, the pair were a mere tenth apart, and by Tarzan, the colourfully named, lightly banked first corner, he was able to dive down the inside to relieve Verstappen of the lead.

When he pitted for fresh rubber 11 laps later, he returned behind Oscar, Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz, who had yet to change their tyres. Once more, his patience proved key as he waited for them to pit and assumed the lead without destroying his tyres.  

He had used the break to reflect upon what he’d learned from the opening 14 rounds and where he could still improve. Describing his McLaren as “beautiful to drive”, Lando’s calmness and precision showed how he is continually learning and his willingness to never stop bettering himself.

A class of his own

As we head towards the season's conclusion, every point will count, and in the race’s final laps, Lando had one more trick up his sleeve.

Lewis Hamilton had set the Fastest Lap on new Soft tyres, but on his final tour of Circuit Zandvoort, Lando found the pace to bang in a faster time, despite running on 44-lap old Hard tyres. In doing so, he became the 48th driver to achieve pole, victory and Fastest Lap in a Grand Prix, which made the success even sweeter.

The victory was Lando’s second in F1 and made him the first Dutch Grand Prix winner, other than Verstappen, since it returned to the calendar in 2021. It was also our first at the historic Circuit Zandvoort since Niki Lauda in 1985 and our 186th win in total.

“A win is always satisfying,” he said afterwards. “Obviously, it didn't start in the most optimistic way, but the pace was unbelievable from the beginning and I could go with Max quite happily at the start. I just didn't expect our pace to be as good as what it was today! It's nice to be kind of a little bit surprised by this.

“And as soon as I got ahead, it was quite straightforward. I had good confidence to push the whole race, save the tyres a little bit, but just get in a good rhythm and go from there. The car felt amazing, and made my life easier for sure. So a big thanks to the team.”

Ready for a title challenge

With nine races remaining, we’re now only 30 points behind Red Bull in the Constructors' World Championship. With another 396 left to be won, Team Principal Andrea Stella has said the team should allow itself to believe it can challenge for the title.

Lando made it clear on Sunday that he doesn’t want to be continually asked whether he can challenge for the Drivers’ title this season too, pointing out that he is 70 points behind Verstappen. But with 234 points still available to him this season, who knows what might happen…