The ultimate Dutch Grand Prix actually delivered a memorable occasion, with Lando Norris taking the spoils in a dramatic race on Sunday.
There have been many different speaking factors that emerged throughout an action-packed weekend at Zandvoort, nevertheless, from Mercedes’ “dangerous” technique en path to a double podium, via to Max Verstappen’s heavy crash and the performances of the super-subs.
Listed here are all the important thing moments from the 2026 Dutch Grand Prix…
Norris makes it back-to-back Grand Prix wins
Lando Norris ended the primary half of the 2026 season together with his maiden win of the marketing campaign, leaving him hopeful that he and McLaren may proceed to ship on that promise when the championship resumed.
Whereas he needed to accept third in Saturday’s Dash, the reigning World Champion stormed to pole place for the Grand Prix later within the day – however with heavy rain falling previous to Sunday’s race, there have been instantly doubts over how methods would possibly unfold.
Because it was, the showers had eased by the point of lights out and Norris initially held onto P1 off the road – but he was confronted with the problem of sustaining that place for a second time when the race was restarted following a crash for Max Verstappen (extra on which under).
This time round it was Antonelli who acquired the stronger launch, the Italian snatching the lead from Norris. The Briton bided his time, although, and managed to catch the championship chief in the course of the ultimate third of the race the place he quickly retook the place.
Regardless of questioning whether or not he ought to have made a pit cease throughout a late Digital Security Automobile section, Norris in the end needn’t have nervous as he crossed the road with a sizeable margin of over 11 seconds from Antonelli to seal his second win in a row.
Whereas this has inevitably led to speak over his prospects of a title bid, the McLaren driver was eager to play that down as he commented after the race: “We’ve to maintain working laborious. There are nonetheless loads of races, loads of alternatives for everybody. Hold my head down, maintain working they usually’ll maintain coming.”
A double Mercedes podium with a ‘dangerous’ technique
George Russell had loved the stronger begin to the Zandvoort weekend within the Mercedes storage, the Briton having gained the Dash earlier than claiming P2 on the grid for the Grand Prix.
Nevertheless, Antonelli made the higher launch in Sunday’s race and overtook his crew mate for second place. He then grabbed the lead from Norris on the restart, and from there issues initially appeared good for the championship chief’s prospects of claiming a win.
That tempo appeared to slide away later within the race, although, and Norris finally snatched P1 again from the Italian.
Throughout the closing levels, a Digital Security Automobile section led to a flurry of motion within the pits – and with the chasing Ferraris bolting on contemporary tyres, Mercedes opted to pit Antonelli with the purpose of defending towards a possible problem from the Scuderia.
This dropped him to 3rd behind Russell and, consequently, the squad determined to invert the automobiles to permit Antonelli – on brisker rubber – to maneuver forward. Russell then confronted the duty of holding off the Ferrari pair, a feat that he was profitable in as the 2 Silver Arrows drivers secured a double podium in second and third.
It was a technique that Antonelli admitted in a while had been “dangerous”, with the teenager now looking forward to his house weekend at Monza – one during which he’s set to serve a grid penalty for a deliberate engine change.
Ferrari take P4/5 – however have been they compromised?
You wouldn’t have been capable of criticise Ferrari’s optimism heading into the weekend – when Lewis Hamilton arrived, he confidently declared that they have been on their approach to closing as much as Mercedes, while Charles Leclerc stated that the monitor traits in Zandvoort theoretically suited their automobile.
And the Monegasque was proper for the Dash no less than, as he fought previous Norris to complete P2 and praised the crew for his or her technique, though Hamilton struggled to make any progress and settled for a distant P7.
They went on to qualify fifth and sixth for the primary occasion, with Leclerc getting forward early within the Grand Prix earlier than they acquired caught into an in depth battle towards Russell. Because the race unfolded, Hamilton grew more and more annoyed about being caught behind his crew mate, leading to Ferrari’s insistence that Leclerc head into the pits.
When he finally adopted the order a lap later, Hamilton made the many of the clear air and narrowed the hole to their rivals, culminating in one other tense combat with Russell for the ultimate podium place after he misplaced locations to Norris and Antonelli.
The questionable technique and missed alternatives left Hamilton to ask over the radio whether or not the crew have been treating him as a “guinea pig”, later suggesting {that a} sooner use of crew orders may’ve helped him safe extra factors for the crew.
Verstappen’s ultimate house occasion ends early in dramatic circumstances
The Dutch Grand Prix was at all times going to be a bittersweet spherical for Max Verstappen, who was excited to compete in entrance of his house followers for one ultimate time earlier than the race dropped off the calendar.
It was apparent that Purple Bull couldn’t match the tempo of the opposite frontrunning groups as Verstappen and the returning Liam Lawson certified in P7 and P8 respectively, however with the relative issue of overtaking in Zandvoort, it appeared like double factors might be doable.
That hope disappeared shortly after the lights went out when Verstappen, coming across the damp ultimate nook of the circuit, misplaced management of his automobile and slammed into the boundaries. Particles and one in all his wheels have been despatched flying, prompting a purple flag to get well his destroyed challenger.
The Dutchman was fortunately unhurt from the huge impression, however it was the alternative of the outcome he was anticipating after he signed a major contract extension earlier this week, leaving him to sum your complete spherical up as merely “disappointing”.
How super-subs Lawson and Tsunoda fared
Liam Lawson completed seventh for Purple Bull and, given the tempo of the automobile, that was a reasonably stable outcome for the Kiwi racer. After simply lacking out on SQ3 on Friday, he made it rely over one lap on Saturday and completed one place and one tenth of a second behind his crew mate.
Within the race, he stored his begins clear, was keen to go wheel to wheel with Verstappen and did properly to keep away from the Dutchman when he spun off in entrance of him. The one actual blot on Lawson’s copybook was a 10-second time penalty for a yellow flag infringement, however given he was 47 seconds away from Nico Hulkenberg, the penalty didn’t have an effect on his ending place.
As for Yuki Tsunoda, he was combating for the highest 10 for a lot of the Grand Prix and got here near scoring for Racing Bulls. Contemplating how difficult the beginning situations have been, he did very properly to get off the road cleanly and decide up a spot too.
He pulled off a superb transfer on Pierre Gasly at one level within the race, his overtaking abilities exhibiting no indicators of rust. Tsunoda ran out of time to combat with the Frenchman for P10, however ending the race in eleventh and winding up forward of his crew mate was nonetheless a robust outcome.
Palmowski wins for Purple Bull in F1 ACADEMY
Alisha Palmowski held off a spirited problem from Alba Larsen in Zandvoort to take the F1 ACADEMY Function Race win, after ranging from pole for Purple Bull.
The British driver took her fourth win of the season, and in doing so has prolonged her championship lead over Audi’s Emma Felbermayr. However she needed to work laborious for it, with Larsen pushing her shut as she tried to discover a well beyond for Ferrari.
Nina Gademan accomplished the rostrum for Alpine regardless of beginning fifth, selecting up two locations as she opportunistically took benefit of her rivals squabbling forward on the opening lap. The race was run within the dry, with the rain arriving lengthy after the chequered flag.
On Saturday, Payton Westcott gained the Reverse Grid Race for Mercedes, her first victory of the season – one thing she described as a “weight off” her shoulders. The 17-year-old needed to survive two Security Automobile restarts to say the win, as she climbed to fifth within the standings.
F1 ACADEMY subsequent races in Austin in October.
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