F1 Today | Did Verstappen go slower purposely? And Norris' stupid dismissal

Why a farewell to Horner makes sense

Christian Horner presents himself as a true gentleman with neat British English, nice full sentences, never attacking his team in the press. Yet, there is something that makes him internally struggle to have everyone follow the same direction. Is it because after all Red Bull's successes in recent years, his staff have come to believe they know better, and cracks have formed? Or has Horner's magic simply worn off, and people within Red Bull are yearning for a breath of fresh air?

In any case, since Horner was accused of inappropriate behaviour, cracks have appeared in the Red Bull bastion, cracks that have now become substantial. Coincidence or not, Horner has not managed to get everyone back following one direction in the meantime. Adrian Newey left - partly because he was annoyed by Horner's handling of the allegations - and recently, team manager Jonathan Wheatley also announced he is leaving for Audi. Despite everything, the one who stays is Christian Horner. Here's our analyse of the situation.

Brundle's shocking theory

Max Verstappen finished second at the Dutch Grand Prix, behind race winner Lando Norris by 23 seconds. Lando Norris rocketed away from the Dutchman, who only saw the gap widen lap after lap. However, former F1 driver and Sky Sports analyst Martin Brundle thinks Verstappen could have gone faster than he actually showed, he stated after the race. Here's his viewpoint. 

Norris' "stupid" dismisall

Lando Norris' stunning win at the Dutch Grand Prix could be seen as a turning point in the world championship. A dominant 23-second triumph has not been seen since Max Verstappen stormed to victory in Bahrain at the start of the season. British media now think Norris has a serious shot of winning the driver's world championship, but the McLaren star refuses to get ahead of himself. Even after such a convincing victory, Norris brands any current world title aspirations as 'pretty stupid.'

Ratings after the Dutch Grand Prix

Nobody could stop Lando Norris from securing a resounding second Formula 1 victory at Zandvoort. The McLaren driver impressed but was not the only driver to deliver a good performance.

Lando Norris had a virtually flawless weekend at Zandvoort. The Briton only had, once again, a dramatic start. As a result, Norris again had to pass his rival, but this time managed to do so with relative ease. Norris still had enough tyres left at the end of the race for the fastest race lap, which showed how well he had managed the race. 

Some drivers performed less well this weekend. These included unsatisfactory marks for Guanyu Zhou, Daniel Ricciardo and Lewis Hamilton, among others. The lowest mark goes to Logan Sargeant. The American made a huge mistake in FP3, meaning he was unable to qualify. In what might be his last laps in an F1 car, he drove as a backmarker once again. These are the ratings from GPblog.

Horner sees the positives

While Helmut Marko and Jos Verstappen have been outspoken about how things are at Red Bull Racing at the moment, team boss Christian Horner continues to see the positive side of the situation. He said after the race that the team collected a lot of data at Zandvoort.