Lando Norris took home the win at the Dutch Grand Prix, but not before facing some serious heat from championship leader Kimi Antonelli. The McLaren driver had to work hard during the middle stages of the race, particularly struggling to get past the Mercedes driver. While Norris eventually pulled clear and claimed back-to-back victories, the battle revealed something that's been nagging at McLaren all season long.

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After the race, both Antonelli and George Russell were quick to praise McLaren as the fastest team on the grid, even faster than Mercedes. But Norris wasn't about to get too comfortable with that assessment. Speaking to reporters, the British driver pinpointed exactly where McLaren still need to improve. Slow-speed corners remain their biggest weakness, something that was painfully obvious when Antonelli breezed past him at the hairpin near the end of the main straight not once but twice during the race.

Norris was honest about what he experienced against Antonelli in those tight, twisty sections of Zandvoort. The final sector proved particularly troublesome, with the car struggling whenever the circuit got properly technical and narrow. While McLaren handle flowing, open corners reasonably well, that's not the case when things get tight and complex. The contrast was stark enough that Norris acknowledged it'll cost them in similar tracks coming up.

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Looking ahead, Norris explained that McLaren need to tackle this weakness head-on through targeted upgrades and setup refinements. The team only recently brought major updates to the grid, so they'll likely have to wait a bit longer for the next big push. But he stressed that the engineering team needs to focus specifically on those problem areas rather than continuing with broad-based improvements across the entire package. Until they do, Norris warned that McLaren could face a genuinely tough end to the season, despite currently having the overall pace advantage.

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There's no question that Norris benefited from the chaos of the restart following Max Verstappen's opening lap crash, and he also got some help from lapped traffic later on. But his observations about McLaren's shortcomings in slow-speed corners are spot-on and could prove crucial as the season develops. The team's still in a strong position, but this weakness needs addressing before the championship gets decided.

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