Norris wins dramatic Dutch Grand Prix from Antonelli and Russell as Verstappen crashes out

Lando Norris has taken his second consecutive victory of the season during an eventful Dutch Grand Prix, the Briton beating Kimi Antonelli to the win while home favourite Max Verstappen suffered a dramatic crash that resulted in the race being red-flagged.

After Norris initially led away from pole position at the start, the race was halted just one lap later when Verstappen lost the rear of his Red Bull and hit the wall heavily. The Dutchman fortunately reported that he was okay.

When the action resumed, Antonelli made a flying start to overtake Norris for P1 and from there stretched out a lead – but as the race entered its final third, Norris made ground and retook the position from the Mercedes.

A late Virtual Safety Car – called due to Esteban Ocon’s Haas stopping out on track – resulted in a number of drivers pitting including Antonelli, setting up for a potential chase to the end as both Norris and George Russell in front of him had not stopped for fresh tyres.

While the Silver Arrows inverted their cars to release Antonelli into second, Norris would prove unbeatable at the front and crossed the line with an 11.536s margin over the championship leader. Russell, meanwhile, just sealed the final spot on the podium in third, having fended off the chasing Ferraris to the very end.

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc had to settle for fourth and fifth respectively, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri claiming sixth. Liam Lawson placed seventh as the sole Red Bull to finish, the New Zealander keeping the position despite a 10-second time penalty for a yellow flag infringement.

Off the back of scoring his first points of the season in Hungary, Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg added to his tally in eighth while Fernando Alonso grabbed a valuable P9 for Aston Martin and Pierre Gasly rounded out the top 10 for Alpine.

Racing Bulls stand-in Yuki Tsunoda missed out in 11th, ahead of the other VCARB machine of Arvid Lindblad and Gabriel Bortoleto in the Audi. Alpine’s Franco Colapinto took P14, while Cadillac’s Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz in the Williams completed the classification.

The other Williams of Alex Albon retired towards the end of the event, joining Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, the Haas pair of Ocon and Ollie Bearman and local hero Verstappen in the list of non-finishers from the race.

AS IT HAPPENED

Zandvoort’s final weekend on the F1 calendar had already witnessed plenty of action both on and off the track during the opening days, from Verstappen’s new Red Bull deal through to the return of the Sprint.

But after all of that, the attentions of the paddock turned to Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix, for which Norris – a previous winner of the event back in 2024 – would start from pole position, the McLaren driver having beaten Russell and Antonelli to the fastest time in Qualifying.

It was confirmed that one alteration had been made to the starting order prior to the race, with Perez set to start from the pit lane after the Cadillac team made set-up changes to his car under Parc Ferme conditions.

While Saturday’s track action had taken place in dry conditions, heavy rain started to fall at Zandvoort in the build-up to Sunday’s Grand Prix – leading to a tricky drive to the grid for some, with Lawson having a moment and running through the gravel.

There looked to be a mixture of intermediate and full wet tyres on display as the field headed to their grid slots, Verstappen being amongst those to opt for the latter compound – but with the showers easing as the start time neared, uncertainty remained over whether the track would have dried out enough for slicks in the opening laps.

It was soon revealed that much of the pack had bolted on the soft tyres for the expected one-stop race, while the top four – along with Gasly, Colapinto and Ocon – had gone for the mediums and the Cadillac pair of Bottas and Perez opted for the hards.

After completing the formation lap behind the Safety Car, the cars lined up for the start – and when the five lights went out, Norris held the lead but Antonelli made a better launch than Russell, the Italian taking P2 into the first corner.

Leclerc, meanwhile, moved ahead of Piastri into fourth, while the Red Bulls of Verstappen and Lawson engaged in some wheel-to-wheel racing. The action dramatically came to a halt one lap later, however, when Verstappen dipped a wheel across the white line on the main straight before losing the rear and hitting the wall heavily.

With debris strewn across the track, the Dutchman fortunately reported that he was okay as the red flags were thrown, leading to the rest of the pack heading to the pits. Bortoleto, meanwhile, had suffered a separate 360-degree spin behind Verstappen but managed to keep on going, the Brazilian dropping down to P18 – with Hulkenberg fortunate to avoid contact with his team mate.

Amid the pause in proceedings, both Lindblad and Colapinto found themselves under investigation for yellow flag infringements. Meanwhile, it was confirmed ahead of the race restart that the order of the field would resume from that seen at the end of Lap 1, with a standing start set to take place.

Ahead of the race restarting at 1533 local time, Norris had switched to the soft tyres while the Mercedes duo remained on the mediums and Piastri swapped to the hards. There was further drama en route to the grid, however, when Bearman stopped with a technical issue between Turns 10 and 11, leading to an extra formation lap while the Haas was cleared.

When the action finally resumed, Antonelli made an impressive getaway to sweep ahead of Norris – but it was a better restart for the other McLaren of Piastri, with the Australian overtaking Russell for P3. This dropped Russell into the clutches of Leclerc, the Ferrari man quickly piling on the pressure in the fight for fourth.

The stewards confirmed that both Lindblad and Colapinto would serve a drive-through penalty for their yellow flag infringements. Back on track, Norris was just remaining within a second of Antonelli as the laps ticked down but Piastri had started to pull away from Russell, the Mercedes still keeping Leclerc and Hamilton at bay.

The sole Red Bull of Lawson was running in seventh by Lap 10, with Gasly, Hulkenberg and Tsunoda filling the rest of the points-paying positions. Up at the front, Antonelli had soon eked out his advantage over Norris to 1.4s, meaning that the Briton would not be able to use Overtake Mode.

There was further news from the stewards when it was announced that Bortoleto and Bearman would be investigated after the race for leaving the pit exit on a red light. Meanwhile, as Antonelli and Norris were breaking away at the front, Russell continued to find himself under pressure from the two Ferraris – with the Mercedes driver asking his race engineer about going onto the “original Plan A”.

Norris was quizzed on how his tyres felt as Lap 16 arrived, leading the World Champion to answer: “I’m pace zero – I’ve got nothing else.” Leclerc, on the other hand, looked racy as he moved even closer to Russell – just before the Silver Arrows racer dived into the pits for a set of the hard tyres, bringing him back out into P9 amongst some traffic.

Piastri subsequently pitted one lap later for the hards but a slow stop cost the Australian, who returned to the track behind Russell. Antonelli would then stop from the lead on Lap 22 along with Norris, and both suffered slower visits than they might have hoped for as they also bolted on the hard compound.

Leclerc opted for the mediums as he too pitted, leaving Hamilton to lead the race as one of the only frontrunners yet to stop. Plenty of question marks persisted over strategy plans and whether some would go for a two-stop plan – but Hamilton seemed content with his tyres, reporting to his race engineer that they were still “okay”.

It was not too long, though, until Hamilton made his pit stop for the hard tyres on Lap 26, the Briton re-emerging into clean air in sixth place. Meanwhile a fierce battle was playing out in the midfield as a lock-up from Gasly saw Lindblad overtake – with Hulkenberg also sneaking through and eventually getting ahead of the Racing Bulls car too, before Tsunoda got involved and overtook Gasly.

By Lap 30, Norris had reduced the gap to Antonelli down to just under one second while Leclerc was on the charge again, the Ferrari this time chasing down Piastri for fourth. Norris’ pursuit dropped away somewhat a few laps later after a snap – but Leclerc was done waiting and made a move on Piastri by taking the outside line.

This put Hamilton hot on the tail of Piastri, and it was not long until the Briton also snatched a position from the McLaren, dropping the latter down into P6. By the halfway point of the race, Antonelli continued to lead from Norris, Russell, Leclerc, Hamilton, Piastri, Lawson, Hulkenberg, Tsunoda and Gasly.

After clearing several backmarkers, the gap between Antonelli and Norris had again been reduced to 0.7s by Lap 40 – while yet again Leclerc looked to be gearing up for another battle as the Monegasque closed in on Russell in the scrap for third. Just one lap later, Antonelli headed to the pits for a set of hard tyres and was soon followed by Russell, bringing the pair out in fourth and sixth respectively.

Over at Ferrari, Hamilton was all over the back of Leclerc and the World Champion was quick to voice his frustration, Leclerc seemingly unwilling to let his team mate through. After ignoring a call to pit, the driver from Monaco followed the instruction one tour later on Lap 44 and, following a fairly slow stop, returned to the track in P6 on hard tyres. “Great waste of time there, guys,” Hamilton sarcastically commented on the situation.

Piastri was the next to pit and also suffered a slow stop, returning to the track in P6. Up ahead, Norris was leading by 10 seconds from Hamilton, followed by Antonelli, Russell and Leclerc – but it was all change again on Lap 48 when Norris made his second visit to the pits, re-emerging in third just over five seconds away from Antonelli.

That gap rapidly came down over the laps that followed, with it dropping to 1.4s only three tours later. Hamilton, meanwhile, was in discussions with his team about strategy plans as the Briton remained in the lead.

By Lap 52 Norris was nail-bitingly close to Antonelli, the Mercedes driver reporting struggles with his rear tyres. However, as Antonelli was within a second of Hamilton, the Italian was able to use Overtake Mode to defend against Norris.

This did not stop Norris from making a move, however, as he swept ahead into Turn 1 – and only a few moments later, the Briton had also snatched P1 from Hamilton. Antonelli went on to take another position from the seven-time World Champion, just before a Virtual Safety Car was deployed due to Ocon stopping out on track in the Haas.

This triggered a flurry of action in the pit lane, with a number of cars opting to make a stop – including Antonelli, who swapped to the soft tyres and rejoined the track in third behind team mate Russell.

“Do you think we need to take it? I’m a bit worried now,” Norris asked, having not pitted – but the query was too late as the VSC period soon came to an end. As the action resumed on Lap 58, the McLaren led by 6.8s from Russell, who in turn had Antonelli around 5.6s away.

As the race entered its final 10 laps, Antonelli had closed to within 2.4s of Russell – yet Norris was still 10 seconds up the road. The Ferraris, meanwhile, were not out of the fight, with Hamilton only two seconds behind Antonelli.

The call came from Mercedes to switch their cars on Lap 65, leading to a slightly disgruntled response from Russell. Regardless, the Briton followed the order and allowed Antonelli through – but just as Russell commented that the team may have “lost a double podium”, Hamilton had rapidly closed in on the #63 car.

Colapinto’s day got even tougher down in P14 as the Argentinian was hit with a 10-second time penalty for a yellow flag infringement. Meanwhile Hamilton was trying to find a way past Russell three laps from the finish, a charge that was momentarily paused when another Virtual Safety Car was called to clear some debris from the track, with replays showing a clash between the two Williams cars.

Sainz subsequently received a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision, but up ahead Russell was still trying to keep both Ferraris at bay. Elsewhere, Norris remained untroubled at the front and took the chequered flag to seal his second consecutive Grand Prix victory.

Antonelli followed in second, while Russell was able to hold onto his third place by less than one second from Hamilton. Leclerc was in turn only half a second away from his team mate, while Piastri came home in a much lonelier sixth.

Lawson claimed seventh during his solid stand-in performance for Red Bull, despite being handed a 10-second time penalty for a yellow flag infringement during the latter stages. Hulkenberg, Alonso and Gasly completed the points finishers. Tsunoda, Lindblad, Bortoleto, Colapinto, Perez and Sainz rounded out the classification, with Albon, Bottas, Ocon, Stroll, Bearman and Verstappen the day’s retirees.

Key quote

"Amazing. A tough race," said Norris. "Yesterday I said we needed to put on a bit of a show for everyone for the final race here, so I made it tough for myself today but [it was] a good race, well-fought. Probably one of my better wins – we had to fight for it well but the pace was strong. We managed things incredibly well today so over the moon, very happy. Nice to win the final race here in Zandvoort."

What's next

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