Lando Norris wins the Dutch GP with a massive gap, in front of a sold-out, orange-clad crowd at the Zandvoort circuit.
Max Verstappen, the local hero, settles for second place in a car that is not as competitive as it was at the start of the season. In third place, Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari surprises with a double overcut to secure the final spot on the podium.
After the first corner and another poor start for the British driver, the race seemed to be set. However, the impressive pace of the papaya-colored car and a crucial overtaking move on the main straight led Lando Norris to victory.
For the fourth time in his career, Lando Norris was outfoxed, this time by Max Verstappen, who snatched the first position and gained enough tenths to move out of the DRS zone from the British driver. The other McLaren driver Oscar Piastri also lost his position to a very skilled George Russell, who, after being disqualified in the last race, climbed back to third place.
Russell had a slower pace than Norris and fell back by 1.7 seconds. Piastri was coming in stronger, but overtaking was very difficult.
Further back, Charles Leclerc made an excellent start, managing to stay ahead of Sergio Pérez. The good news for the Mexican driver was that he had DRS, giving him a chance to fight back. A small mistake by Kevin Magnussen saw him run off at turn one, forcing him to take the escape road, but he quickly recovered and regained DRS with Zhou.
As expected, Fernando Alonso lost his position to Carlos Sainz. However, the surprise came from Pierre Gasly, who rocketed forward, catching everyone off guard. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton managed to pass Nico Hülkenberg to move into P11 but needed to pit soon to change his soft tires.
Sainz continued to impress with an aggressive move into the final corner, where he and Gasly emerged side by side on the main straight. The duel continued until Sainz finally secured the position into Turn 2, moving up to seventh place with a skillful yet fair maneuver.
With the top six drivers being told to manage their tires carefully, as no one was quite sure how long the C2 medium tires would last under these heavy fuel loads, the race’s strategy became increasingly critical.
By lap 17, Norris started to find his rhythm, closing the gap to Verstappen by six-tenths and even gaining DRS. Verstappen reported that “the car doesn’t want to turn,” hinting at potential tire issues for the Dutchman.
It appeared that McLaren was managing its tires better than Red Bull, and Norris seized the opportunity to take the lead, passing Verstappen as the Red Bull struggled for grip. The situation worsened for Verstappen as, on the next lap, he lost nearly half a second, and his DRS advantage disappeared. Compounding his troubles, wind gusts picked up, further destabilizing his car.
Leclerc remained hot on Piastri’s heels as the young McLaren driver focused on managing his tires as best as possible to maintain his position. The Monégasque pitted on lap 25 and managed to pull off an overcut on Russell, who had a slower pit stop of 3.4 seconds, costing him the position.
Piastri’s pace revived as soon as he found clean air ahead of him, allowing him to gain ground on those who were still behind Max Verstappen. He moved ahead of Gasly and had Sainz nine seconds in front. Norris also pitted to stay ahead of Verstappen. Although it wasn’t the best pit stop, Norris managed to stay ahead of Verstappen by five seconds.
The strategy was once again suboptimal for Oscar Piastri, who pitted only on lap 35, resulting in him losing two positions to Leclerc and Russell. The Monégasque had an unexpected podium within his grasp. Piastri was forced to mount a comeback and began setting fastest laps in an attempt to recover lost ground.
Stroll’s penalty for speeding in the pit lane was announced. During this time, Piastri closed the gap to Russell and easily passed the Mercedes driver. McLaren’s race pace proved impressive today, particularly on the hard compound tires.
Unexpectedly, Sainz in seventh position set the fastest lap and closed in on Pérez. By lap 47, he had overtaken the Mexican driver and was in a position to challenge Russell.
Meanwhile, on lap 52, Hamilton set the fastest lap after switching to red soft tires, benefiting from the gap he had over Nico Hülkenberg and effectively getting a free pit stop.
The tension started to rise at this moment in the race. Norris extended his lead over Verstappen to 14 seconds. Piastri lost DRS on Leclerc. Meanwhile, Sainz continued to close the gap to Russell, which was now down to 1.8 seconds.
The gap between Leclerc and Piastri remained around 1.3 seconds. Piastri’s tires were losing their edge, and he struggled with the dirty air. His podium bid looked like it might be coming to an end, although there could still be some late drama. Leclerc was lapping faster than Verstappen, who was now focused on managing his race.
Piastri failed to overtake Leclerc, allowing the Ferrari driver to secure Ferrari’s first-ever podium at the Dutch GP. Lando Norris clinched his second career victory with over a 20-second gap to Max Verstappen and snatched the fastest lap from Hamilton in the final lap.