Month: August 2025

Oscar Piastri scored an important race victory at Zandvoort as his main championship rival and teammate Lando Norris was forced to retire with a mechanical issue in the McLaren.

The home fan favourite Max Verstappen finished in second position for Red Bull and yet Isack Hadjar achieved his first podium result in Formula 1 with an impressive third place for Racing Bulls. The late non-finish from Norris promoted both Verstappen and Hadjar to the podium places.

Piastri and Norris looked set to score a straightforward fifth consecutive 1-2 finish for McLaren after Oscar kept his lead into Turn 1 with Lando recovering the position he lost to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

But on lap 65 of 72 Norris started reporting smoke from the cockpit before parking his McLaren MCL39 by the side of the track.

After the third safety car, Piastri led Verstappen home while Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadfar scored a spectacular maiden Formula 1 podium.

Before the start McLaren team boss Andrea Stella warned of a powerful weapon Red Bull had at its disposal in the shape of a fresh set of soft tyres, and Verstappen immediately proved it was not just chatter to talk up the competition.

At the start, Max powered on by the orange wave of home support, went around the outside of Norris into Turn 1 aka Tarzan. Verstappen went wide on the exit, but somehow still managed to make the move stick despite getting out of shape through Turns 2 and 3.

Verstappen’s overtake in the slower Red Bull was exactly what leader Piastri wanted to see, as he quickly went four seconds clear until Norris managed to challenge around the outside of Turn 1 on lap 9.

Norris chased towards Piastri while drivers were informed of the imminent threat of light rain around the windy seaside circuit, bringing the gap down to three seconds when Piastri started reporting drops of rain on lap 15.

At that point Verstappen had already gone passed 12 seconds as his powerful weapon was not working, the immediate benefit of his softer tyres turning into a longer-term tyre wear disadvantage.

That was reflected by medium-starting Racing Bulls driver Hadjar keeping Verstappen within reach as the impressive rookie kept a train with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Mercedes driver George Russell and the second Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton.

That three drivers only lasted until lap 24, when Hamilton crashed out at the exit of the high-banked Turn 3, bringing out a full safety car.

Leclerc ended up a victim of his teammate’s mistake, too, as he had just made his first pitstop under green-flag conditions while the other frontrunners completed a cheaper stop, with Russell coming out ahead in fifth.

The order on the lap 26 restart was Piastri, Norris, Verstappen, Hadjar, Russell and Leclerc, with Verstappen switching to the mediums while every other car in the field picked the hard Pirellis.

On the fourth lap of green running Hadjar’s teammate Liam Lawson and Williams driver Carlos Sainz came together, with the pair having to dive back into the pits with damage. Sainz was not impressed, calling the Lawson “so stupid”, but it was Carlos who had a 10-second penalty.

A brief virtual safety car was called to remove debris from the race track on the main straight, before the on-track drama continued at the front.

On lap 33 Leclerc made a dramatic lunge on Russell to take fifth, appearing to have cut the apex of Turn 3 to barge his way past.

At the front it was looking good for McLaren, with Piastri controlling a two-second lead to Norris, who was told by his race engineer to try and overtake his teammate in the fear of any strategic options.

Hadjar continued shadowing Verstappen for a maiden podium spot, with the Racing Bulls man on a harder-tyre compound that he hoped would pay off towards the end of the race.

With Leclerc’s overtake being investigated after the race, Mercedes tried a different tactic to put pressure on the Ferrari driver. It first issued team orders to let Antonelli past Russell, and then brought Kimi in for an aggressive second stop on soft tyres.

How that would have worked out compared to Russell we will never know, as Leclerc covered Antonelli’s stop on the following lap and the pair came to contact a few corners later, with Antonelli tagging Leclerc into a race-ending spin in Turn 3 and earning himself a 10-second penalty.

Under the resulting safety car most of the field came in to switch to a fresh set of tyres for the 15-lap dash to the chequered flag. Piastri and Norris picked up fresh hards while Verstappen went to used softs, but the Red Bull driver could not benefit enough to put Norris under threat.

But on lap 65 Norris suffered a dramatic mechanical failure on his McLarene, in a harsh blow to his title hopes. Norris held his head in his hands on the grassy knoll overlooking the Zandvoort circuit as he witnessed Piastri scoring his seventh win of the 2025 season.

Verstappen had nothing for Piastri on the final restart and settled for second on home ground, narrowly ahead of impressive Hadjar, who grabbed a breakthrough podium after a faultless weekend that saw him qualify fourth.

Russell was third ahead of Alex Albon, who recovered from a poor qualifying with an excellent comeback drive.

Oliver Bearman also recovered from a pitlane start to take an unexpected sixth position, beating Aston Martin duo Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso.

Yuki Tsunoda was promoted into the points, with Esteban Ocon claiming the final point in P10 for Haas.

Piastri now heads to next weekend’s Italian Grand Prix in Monza with a 34-point lead. It will be fascinating how Lando Norris can recover following this non-finish at Zandvoort.

Dutch Grand Prix, race results:
1 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:38:29.849
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull +1.271s
3 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +3.233s
4 George Russell Mercedes +5.654s
5 Alexander Albon Williams +6.327s
6 Oliver Bearman Haas +9.044s
7 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +9.497s
8 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +11.709s
9 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls +13.597s
10 Esteban Ocon Haas +14.063s
11 Franco Colapinto Alpine +14.511s
12 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +17.063s
13 Carlos Sainz Williams +17.376s
14 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber +19.725s
15 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber +21.565s
16 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +22.029s
17 Pierre Gasly Alpine +23.629s
Lando Norris McLaren DNF
Chalres Leclerc Ferrari DNF
Lewis Hamilton Ferrari DNF

Championship leader Oscar Piastri edges out ahead of his McLaren teammate Lando Norris by a tiny margin of 0.012 seconds to take pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.

Although Norris had been the fastest of the two Papaya drivers over the course of the weekend, Piastri just got ahead of his title rival on the first run of Q3.

Qualifying was held in sunny conditions after overnight rain had washed away some of the grip on offer at Zandvoort’s spectacular seaside circuit.

In the deciding top ten shootout Piastri set the benchmark on the first of two runs, besting Norris by a mere 0.012 seconds with his lap time of one minute, 08.662 seconds thanks to marginally quicker first and third sectors.

Neither McLaren driver was able to find any improvement on the second Q3 run, with Piastri keeping P1. In doing so he moves ahead of his teammate with five poles for the 2025 season, compared to four for Norris, who trails him by nine points in the drivers’ championship.

Underlining McLaren’s dominance, Max Verstappen gave it a go in the Red Bull but was only to fall four tenths behind in third after the first run, with George Russell conceding six tenths to the McLarens in his Mercedes.

But Verstappen then delivered a promising second sector on his final run to cut the time gap to Piastri to a quarter of a second. Isack Hadjar also producing a solid qualifying effort in his Racing Bulls to be with Verstappen on row two, the rookie bumping Russell down to fifth with his second lap.

Lewis Hamilton had made an encouraging start by being 0.010 seconds faster than Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc on run one, but unlike Leclerc he could not find any more lap time on his final attempt, with Leclerc claiming sixth ahead of the seven-time world champion.

Liam Lawson was eighth, with Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso rounding out the top ten.

Norris had earlier led the way in Q2 with a lap of one minute, 08.874 seconds, less than a tenth clear of Piastri, with Verstappen a quarter of a second in third.

Having set his first lap on used soft tyres, Fernando Alonso was on the outside of the top ten looking in, needing to find just 0.005 seconds to move his way back into Q3.

On better tyres Alonso did so and grabbed seventh as the last driver over the line. Lawson also joined Hadjar in the top ten at the end, knocking out Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Yuki Tsunoda.

Antonelli fell just 0.019 seconds short of Carlos Sainz at the end of an extremely tight session, meaning the Williams driver booked a place in Q3 for the first time since Imola.

Sauber rookie Gabriel Bortoleto, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and a frustrated Alex Albon were also eliminated, with Albon blaming the team’s tyre preparation.

The McLarens were out in front in Q1 as well, but Piastri took top position ahead of Norris for the first time over the Zandvoort weekend. Russell narrowly edged Verstappen for third, with the pair three tenths behind.

Tsunoda once again came under pressure, having been knocked out of Q1 four times this season, but the Red Bull driver was able to get a Q2 spot, while Alpine’s Franco Colapinto missed the cut-off by less than a tenth compared to Bortoleto.

Bortoleto also beat experienced teammate Nico Hulkenberg for the fifth time in a row in regular qualifying – the sixth time including sprint qualifying. The Hulk took P17, ahead of Haas duo Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was unable to set a lap time after a crash in Turn 3. He also shunted on Friday, dropping a wheel onto the grass at the entry to Turn 13 and spun into the barriers.

So an exciting qualifying battle between the McLaren drivers and it was Oscar Piastri who claimed an important P1 ahead of his title rival Lando Norris. Home crowd favourite Max Verstappen is P3 with an impressive Isack Hadjar next up in the Racing Bulls.

Dutch Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:08.662
2 Lando Norris McLaren 1:08.674
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:08.925
4 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls 1:09.208
5 George Russell Mercedes 1:09.255
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:09.340
7 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:09.390
8 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 1:09.500
9 Carlos Sainz Williams 1:09.505
10 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:09.630
11 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:09.493
12 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull 1:09.622
13 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber 1:09.622
14 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:09.637
15 Alexander Albon Williams 1:09.652
16 Franco Colapinto Alpine 1:10.104
17 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:10.195
18 Esteban Ocon Haas 1:10.197
19 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:10.262
20 Lance Stroll Aston Martin No time

Lando Norris takes victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix beating his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri thanks to a single pitstop strategy.

The McLaren driver absorbed the big pressure and attacks from Piastri late in the race at Turn 1, one featuring a lock-up for the championship leader, but held on to convert a somewhat risky strategy – one arguably made possible by a difficult opening stint.

Piastri had run to a two-stop strategy in an effort to beat polesitter Charles Leclerc, who preserved the lead off the starting line and maintained it through the opening stint of the race. The Ferrari driver also been running to a two-stopper, with the rear-limited nature of the circuit expected to impose a heavy load on the tyres.

By comparison, Norris got a poor start to the race. Although the first stage of his getaway allowed him to gain on teammate Piastri, he was boxed in at the opening braking zone – thus, both George Russell and Fernando Alonso used the open outside line to gather more momentum and clear Norris into Turn 1.

Norris passed Alonso two laps later, but struggled to break down Russell. Having been on for third at best on the same two-stop strategy, Norris extended his stint and took the one-stop offered to him, pitting at the end of lap 31 – with the expectation that those ahead would need to pit again.

This proved to be the case, as Leclerc made a second visit to the pitlane on lap 40 for another set of hards, prompting McLaren to attempt to extend for more offset with Piastri’s tyres. Thus, Piastri stopped five laps later, giving the championship leader the opportunity to push the Ferrari driver.

But Leclerc was struggling at this stage. A race-long argument with his team over pre-race procedures eventually boiled down to Charles been angry and blaming his team for “losing competitiveness” through the stint. Piastri passed him for second on lap 51, and began his own chase towards Norris.

Over the next ten laps, Piastri reduced away at his teammate’s lead. The two were separated by almost nine seconds when Piastri cleared Leclerc, but this quickly fell to set up a late battle between the pair.

And, with five laps to go, Piastri was within DRS range, having caught up during the late-race traffic, and filled his teammate’s mirrors. He got close at the start on lap 68, and then went for a dive on the next lap – but locked up and had to go slightly wide into the opening corner.

Without enough momentum in the final lap, Piastri had to settle for second as Norris went across the finishing line with a margin of 0.698 seconds gap.

Behind the McLarens was George Russell, who managed to get by an aggressive Charles Leclerc. The Mercerces driver finished over 21 seconds behind the Papaya, underlining the competitive order between the McLarens and the other race cars.

Charles Leclerc received a five-second time penalty for moving under braking in his attempt to stop Russell getting by. To finish fourth is a disappointment after starting on pole.

Taking fifth is Fernando Alonso, finishing ahead of his protege Gabriel Bortoleto. The remaining points scorers are Lance Stroll, Liam Lawson, Max Verstappen and Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

So a tense finish to the race between the Papayas and yet Lando Norris did a solid job in managing his tyres after going with a single stop. More points in the constructors’ championship with McLaren scoring a 1-2 result.

The 2025 Formula 1 season now takes a summer break so the next racing action will be the Dutch Grand Prix in three weeks time.

Hungarian Grand Prix, race results:
1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:35:21.231
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.698s
3 George Russell Mercedes +21.916s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +42.560s
5 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +59.040s
6 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber +66.169s
7 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +68.174s
8 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +69.451s
9 Max Verstappen Red Bull +72.645s
10 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +1 lap
11 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +1 lap
12 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +1 lap
13 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber +1 lap
14 Carlos Sainz Williams +1 lap
15 Alexander Albon Williams +1 lap
16 Esteban Ocon Haas +1 lap
17 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull +1 lap
18 Franco Colapinto Alpine +1 lap
19 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1 lap
Oliver Bearman Haas DNF

Charles Leclerc will start the Hungarian Grand Prix in pole position after taking a surprising P1 for Scuderia Ferrari, beating the favourites McLaren in qualifying.

The Papaya had led both Q1 and Q2 by some margin, and Lando Norris had set a time of one minute, 14.8 seconds in the intermediate stage – but neither of them got anywhere close to that pace in their final runs in Q3.

Leclerc, meanwhile, produced a time of one minute, 15.372 seconds on his final attempt to take provisional pole, but both McLaren drivers went slower in the opening sector; Norris improved slightly to ensure he got closer to Oscar Piastri, but the championship leader could not improve, due to the change in wind direction.

Despite missing out on pole, Piastri will join Leclerc – who was evidently surprised by the result over the team radio – on the front row, while Norris has George Russell alongside him on the second row as the cooling conditions ensured Mercedes was in the mix.

Aston Martin impressed and secured fifth and sixth on the grid. Fernando Alonso was briefly ahead of Norris before the McLaren driver did his final lap, and was just 0.109 seconds off Leclerc’s pole pace. Lance Stroll lines up behind him, ahead of Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto, who made Q3 for the third time in four races.

Max Verstappen could only find a time good enough for eighth on the grid, marginally ahead of Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar, who completed the top ten.

Lewis Hamilton was the biggest elimination in Q2 – the Ferrari driver ended the first runs of the session in P11, but had seemingly got himself into the top ten with his second effort.

But his time of one minute, 15.702 seconds was beaten by a series of drivers behind him, and was pushed further down the grid order when Verstappen and Bortoleto improved late on in the session.

Their laps also pushed Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman out of the reckoning for Q3, as the Mercedes driver complained of no rear end. He qualified P11 for the race, with Bearman P12 and Hamilton P13.

Carlos Sainz and Franco Colapinto swapped places late on, but never posed a real threat to break out of Q2.

Lawson dropped Yuki Tsunoda out of Q1 at the final moment, even though the Red Bull driver was less than 0.2 seconds off teammate Verstappen.

Tsunoda was joined by Pierre Gasly in the drop zone, who was out-qualified by Colapinto for the second time this season. Esteban Ocon had been troubled by a loose screw embedded in the surface of his right-front tyre and only qualified P18 for Haas.

Nico Hulkenberg and Alexander Albon will provisionally occupy the final row on the grid. The latter looked to have a distinctly loose Williams underneath him, and was beaten handily by teammate Sainz in the session.

So a surprising pole position for Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari driver admitted he will not be that competitive compared to the McLarens at the Hungaroring, and yet Charles managed to qualify on pole. It will be interesting if he can stay in front of the Papayas as the McLaren is faster.

Hungarian Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:15.372
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:15.398
3 Lando Norris McLaren 1:15.413
4 George Russell Mercedes 1:15.425
5 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:15.481
6 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:15.498
7 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber 1:15.725
8 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:15.728
9 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 1:15.821
10 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls 1:15.915
11 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:15.694
12 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:15.702
13 Carlos Sainz Williams 1:15.781
14 Franco Colapinto Alpine 1:16.159
15 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:16.386
16 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull 1:15.899
17 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:15.966
18 Esteban Ocon Haas 1:16.023
19 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:16.081
20 Alexander Albon Williams 1:16.223