McLaren’s Lando Norris battled to victory at the 2026 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, Netherlands.
Having led the initial start which was red flagged on lap two for a spin by Max Verstappen, Norris lost the lead on the standing restart to Andrea Kimi Antonelli but repassed the Italian and Lewis Hamilton on lap 54 to snatch victory.
Antonelli finished second ahead of George Russell who pipped Hamilton to third, with Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri, Liam Lawson, Nico Hulkenberg, Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly rounding out the top ten.
In the drivers’ standings, Antonelli extended his title lead to 59 points as Russell jumped Hamilton into second on countback, with the British pair now tied on 183 points to Antonelli’s 242 points.
Following a rain shower around 40 minutes before lights out, Norris got a clean start from pole whilst Russell got bogged down and passed by Antonelli.
Leclerc meanwhile made a quick getaway to clear Hamilton then Piastri to move up to fourth after the Aussie got squeezed by Russell.
Verstappen meanwhile fended off a challenge from Lawson through Hugenholtzbocht for seventh but the home hero spun out on the exit of Arie Luyendky Bocht, having dipped his front-right tyre on the grass which sent him sliding into the outside barriers and back across the track.
Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto meanwhile got caught out at the same corner but managed to retain control of his car in an 360-degree spin, and was able to continue as the red flags came out due to the debris from Verstappen’s incident.
Racing resumed 28 minutes later with a standing start which had to be aborted after Haas’ Oliver Bearman stopped at Turn 11 on the outlap with a mechanical shutdown.
On the second restart attempt, Norris lost the lead to Antonelli following switch from medium to soft tyre, whilst Russell found himself passed by Piastri after the Aussie made an audacious pass on the run to Slotemakerbocht.
Piastri held off Russell until the latter pitted at the end of lap 17 and jumped the McLaren driver a lap later for net third after Piastri suffered a slow pit stop.
Up front, Antonelli and Norris pitted on lap 22 together after the Italian had built a two-second lead over his rival but Norris soon reeled the championship leader in, only for his charge to be briefly halted by a near-miss when lapping Alonso on lap 36 as the latter exited the pits.
Antonelli made his second stop on lap 41 but Norris hung his tyres out until lap 48 and then reduced a 2.7s gap down to 0.7s by lap 51, as the pair caught Hamilton but Antonelli found himself struggling for rear grip.
Norris consequently was able to take advantage of the Italian’s tyre woes with an outside move into Tarzanbocht on lap 54, before he later that lap cleared Hamilton into Hans Ernst Bocht for the lead and victory.
Haas’ Esteban Ocon however brought out a virtual safety car (VSC) on lap 55 which saw Antonelli pit on lap 57 and lost second to Russell as a consequence, but regained position into Tarzanbocht under team orders.
Russell quickly fell into the clutches of Hamilton who like Antonelli pitted for soft tyres under the VSC but clung on to round out the podium, with the race having marked F1’s last visit to Zandvoort for the foreseeable future following the race organisers’ decision not to renew their contract.
F1 now takes a near two-week break before regrouping at Monza, Italy, across 4-6 September for the Italian GP, which forms the first of a double-header with the Spanish GP – which has moved to Madrid – following on weekend of 11-13 September.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 72 | + |
| 2 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 72 | + 11.536 |
| 3 | George Russell | Mercedes | 72 | + 15.906 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 72 | + 16.755 |
| 5 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 72 | + 17.258 |
| 6 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 72 | + 32.332 |
| 7 | Liam Lawson | Red Bull | 72 | + 79.915 |
| 8 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | 71 | + 1 Lap |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 71 | + 1 Lap |
| 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 71 | + 1 Lap |
| 11 | Yuki Tsunoda | Racing Bulls | 71 | + 1 Lap |
| 12 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | 71 | + 1 Lap |
| 13 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | 71 | + 1 Lap |
| 14 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | 70 | + 2 Laps |
| 15 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | 70 | + 2 Laps |
| 16 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | 70 | + 2 Laps |
| 17 | Alex Albon | Williams | 69 | Collision |
| 18 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | 67 | Mechanical |
| RET | Esteban Ocon | Haas | 53 | Mechanical |
| RET | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 49 | Mechanical |
| RET | Oliver Bearman | Haas | 2 | Mechanical |
| RET | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1 | Spin |
Leave a Reply