Lando Norris wins at Zandvoort and claims his second consecutive victory

Lando Norris won the final Dutch Grand Prix that Formula 1 will hold at Zandvoort, his second consecutive victory, in a race that featured a red flag and multiple tire changes, ending with Kimi Antonelli in second place and an even larger championship lead.

Photo By Mclaren

Verstappen started from seventh on full wet tires on a track that still had damp patches from morning rain. Norris controlled the start without issues, but Antonelli passed Russell to move into second, and a lap later Verstappen lost the rear of his Red Bull after hitting the white line on the main straight. The impact with the wall destroyed his car and brought out a red flag, though he confirmed over the radio that he was okay. Gabriel Bortoleto also spun completely in the same section but managed to continue, dropping to 18th without contact with his teammate Hülkenberg. Verstappen ended his home weekend without scoring a single point, with Isack Hadjar also absent from the team's other car.

After the track was cleaned up, the second start attempt transformed the race's development, though a mechanical issue for Oliver Bearman on the way to the grid forced an extra formation lap. When the race finally got underway, Antonelli reacted better than Norris and took the lead, while Oscar Piastri, on hard tires from the start, passed Russell to move into third. Tire compound decisions proved decisive for much of what followed. Norris went back to softs for the restart, Antonelli and Russell stayed on mediums, and Piastri started on hards.

Antonelli managed to keep Norris out of Overtake Mode range for much of the first half, though tire wear on the Mercedes allowed McLaren to close the gap progressively. Russell was among the first to switch to hards, Piastri followed with a slow stop that cost him track position, and Antonelli along with Norris pitted around lap 22, also taking hards. Hamilton stayed out longer and took the lead when the rest of the field made their stops, though his advantage didn't last once he too pitted. Lindblad and Colapinto, meanwhile, carried penalties from the early caution period caused by Verstappen's incident, and both served their penalties in the pits.

Norris closed the gap to Antonelli and passed him on lap 52, and in the same stint also got by Hamilton to take the lead for good.

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Esteban Ocon's retirement in the Haas brought out a Virtual Safety Car that ultimately tipped the balance. Mercedes used the caution to put Antonelli on soft tires, and he rejoined in third, behind Russell, while Norris chose to stay out. That decision gave him a comfortable gap when the race went green again, enough to remain unchallenged to the end.

With Russell and Antonelli fighting for second, Mercedes asked Russell to give up his position to protect Antonelli's championship advantage. Russell expressed his disagreement over the radio, though he ultimately followed the instruction and settled for third, ahead of Hamilton, who finished fourth just behind. In the final laps, a collision between the two Williams cars brought out a second caution and cost Carlos Sainz a penalty for causing the contact. Norris, with the race already won, said it had been harder work than expected and considered it one of his best performances of the year given the level of competition he faced against Antonelli and Mercedes.

Charles Leclerc finished fifth behind Hamilton and set the fastest lap of the race, the best individual result for Ferrari over the weekend. Oscar Piastri started fourth and was briefly third after the restart, but a slow pit stop and the charging Ferraris dropped him to sixth, far from the fight for the lead—a result that contrasts with Hungary, where he had led much of the race before a gearbox issue handed the win to Norris.

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With Verstappen out from the first lap, Liam Lawson was left as the sole Red Bull representative and finished seventh despite a ten-second penalty for a yellow-flag infringement. Nico Hülkenberg scored points for Audi in eighth, continuing a streak that began at Hungary, Fernando Alonso brought the Aston Martin home in ninth, and Pierre Gasly closed out the points-paying positions for Alpine.

Zandvoort hosted its first Formula 1 race in 1952, and the track, with its 18-degree banking at Tarzan corner as its most recognizable feature, returned to the calendar in 2021 after a 36-year absence, driven largely by the phenomenon that Verstappen generated among local fans. Stefano Domenicali, president of Formula 1, said that both the circuit and those fans left a particular mark during the six years of the Dutch Grand Prix's return. With this edition, the circuit among the dunes exits the Formula 1 calendar, and it does so with Verstappen failing to complete a single lap in his farewell.

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The weekend also featured a sprint format, with Russell winning on Saturday from pole, followed by Leclerc, Norris, and Antonelli, a result that gave him eight bonus points ahead of Sunday's main race. Norris had taken pole on Saturday by the narrowest margin over Russell and Antonelli, with Piastri fourth, Hamilton and Leclerc on the third row, and Verstappen relegated to seventh, in a session where the threat of rain complicated the final minutes of qualifying.

The result leaves Antonelli leading the championship with 242 points, with Russell and Hamilton tied for second on 183, Norris fourth with 159, Leclerc fifth with 155, and Verstappen sixth with 112 after scoring nothing at Zandvoort. In the constructors' standings, Mercedes remains first with 379 points, ahead of Ferrari with 307 and McLaren with 220.

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Formula 1 now has a weekend off before continuing the championship at the Italian Grand Prix, scheduled for September 4–6 at Monza.

 Dutch Grand Prix - Race

Pos.	No.	driver	team	time
1	#1	Lando Norris	McLaren	-
2	#12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+11.536s
3	#63	George Russell	Mercedes	+15.906s
4	#44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+16.755s
5	#16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+17.258s
6	#81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+32.332s
7	#30	Liam Lawson	Red Bull Racing	+1:19.915
8	#27	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	+1 LAP
9	#14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+1 LAP
10	#10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+1 LAP
11	#22	Yuki Tsunoda	Racing Bulls	+1 LAP
12	#41	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	+1 LAP
13	#5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	+1 LAP
14	#43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	+2 LAPS
15	#11	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	+2 LAPS
16	#55	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+2 LAPS
DNF	#23	Alexander Albon	Williams	-
DNF	#77	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	-
DNF	#31	Esteban Ocon	Haas F1 Team	-
DNF	#18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	-
DNF	#87	Oliver Bearman	Haas F1 Team	-
DNF	#3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	-