Lando Norris’s decision to go for the extra fastest lap point on the final lap of Formula 1’s Dutch Grand Prix was made alone – with McLaren unaware of his plan.
The young British driver was in dominant form in Sunday’s race at Zandvoort after recovering from a poor start.
He surged past early leader Max Verstappen and pulled comfortably clear to secure the biggest winning margin seen in F1 this year.
But the scale of his advantage, and especially how much potential his MCL38 still seemed to have, only became clear on the final lap when Norris unleashed the fastest lap of the race despite being on well-used hard tyres.
Norris’ effort of 1m13.817 managed to take the point away from Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, who had put in the best of the race up until that point of 1m13.878s on lap 62.
After the race, Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko had singled out Norris’s late fastest lap as a major warning sign for his own squad, because there was no way he felt his drivers would have been able to do it.
Speaking to Servus TV, he said: “In general, McLaren were clearly superior, underlined by the fastest lap without DRS on the very last lap, at 1:13.8.
“We can only dream of a time like that. We have a lot of work to do, because this lead of 70 or 72 points is not enough with nine races to go.”
The extra point that Norris got for the fastest lap meant he closed the gap on Max Verstappen in the drivers' championship by eight points rather than seven – which is the trajectory he needs to overhaul his title rival.
But interestingly, McLaren revealed after the Dutch GP that it was not a team decision for Norris to push hard for that extra point on the final lap, rather than taking it easy to guarantee the win. Instead, Norris had made the call himself.
In fact, McLaren suggested that had there been dialogue about whether or not it was worth the risk of going for the fastest lap late on, the pit wall would almost certainly have said no - which perhaps explains why Norris did not want to consult it.
Speaking after his victory, Norris said that his McLaren felt like it was just getting better and better throughout the Dutch GP as Verstappen began falling away.
“I think from quite early on, actually, from probably lap five, six, seven, I expected Max to start pushing and get a bit of a gap, and he never did,” said Norris.
“So, from that point, I knew we were in with a good fight. He seemed to just keep dropping off, and my pace was getting better.
“It's a nice feeling inside the car, and especially when I got past. I could just get comfortable, I could push, I had clean air, and that's always a big help.”
Additional reporting by Markus Luttgens
