McLaren expect to see ‘even better version’ of Lando Norris after DNF

McLaren have tipped Lando Norris to bounce back from his heartbreaking Dutch Grand Prix retirement as an “even better version” of himself.

Norris suffered a devastating blow to his hopes of winning a maiden world championship when an oil leak forced him to retire from second place with eight laps to go in Sunday’s dramatic race.

The Briton has subsequently fallen 34 points behind McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, who claimed an impressive seventh win of the season in Zandvoort.

“He's a very mature person,” McLaren team principal Andrea Stella told media including Crash.net after Sunday’s grand prix. “He's one of the most fair, balanced – in a way I would almost say trustworthy – individuals, before being so as a driver.

“So when he says he's going to be full commitment or whatever he said, it just means that if anything, he will try to extract out of himself even more from his incredible potential.

“I look forward to seeing what Lando will be conditioned to express because we know that his talent is immense and I'm sure this situation in the championship will give him extra motivation to try and extract it.

“We will give, if anything, maximum support to make sure that he is staying in the fighting spirit. But like we said before, I think this will come very naturally and, if anything, we may see even a better version of Lando because now is the time to extract – if there is anything more – even more out of his potential.

“So I look forward to seeing Lando in the coming races. I'm sure this is going to be a great spectacle for Formula 1 and, if anything, it's going to make the competition with Oscar even more interesting.”

Meanwhile, Norris has vowed to “go for it” as he tries to fightback in the remaining nine races.

"It's only made it harder for me and put me under more pressure. But it's almost a big enough gap now that I can just chill out about it and just go for it,” he said.

"The only thing I can do is try to win every race. That's going to be difficult, but I'll make sure I give it everything I can.

"Tough one. Of course it's frustrating. It hurts a bit, it hurts for sure, in a championship point of view.

"It's a lot of points to lose so quickly and so easily. There's nothing I can control now, so I'll just take it on the chin and move on."

McLaren won’t change driver ethos

It marked the first time this season that the title race has been impacted by mechanical misfortune.

But Stella insisted Norris’s DNF will not change how McLaren goes racing in giving both drivers equal treatment.

“When it comes to the team, what's important is that the team keeps racing in the same way we have gone racing so far,” Stella explained.

“So staying as neutral as possible, facilitating the pursuit of their own aspirations for Lando and Oscar in a balanced way, in a fair way, in a sportsmanlike way, and that's what we will continue to do.

“I don't think there's any change in the approach of the team that is triggered based on the fact that we have this situation in Zandvoort.”