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
Oscar Piastri has taken victory in a hugely dramatic Dutch Grand Prix that saw McLaren team mate Lando Norris retire from the race due to a mechanical failure in the closing stages, marking a potentially seismic moment in the championship battle.
Piastri had made a good start from pole when the race got underway, the Australian going on to build a lead from Max Verstappen after the Red Bull had overtaken Norris early on in Lap 1. Norris, however, went on to retake the position and the pair settled into a 1-2 formation.
The race then faced a potential turn when the Safety Car was deployed after Lewis Hamilton hit the barriers on Lap 23, leading to a flurry of action in the pits. McLaren double-stacked their drivers and, despite a slight delay for Norris, both cars maintained position.
Norris continued his chase of his team mate from there and – despite a second Safety Car after a collision between Charles Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli that put the Ferrari out of the race – the fight looked to still be open as the race entered into its final stages.
However, everything changed when smoke started to emerge from Norris’ McLaren with just a few laps to go, forcing him to retire at the side of the track. As the Briton cut a dejected figure, a final Safety Car phase played out which saw Piastri hold onto P1 from Verstappen and seal his seventh Grand Prix win of the season and in the process stretch his championship lead to 34 points.
Verstappen followed in second, while Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar converted an impressive P4 on the grid to third place, marking a maiden F1 podium for the rookie. George Russell took fourth for Mercedes, while Williams’ Alex Albon claimed fifth after starting down in P15.
Haas’ Ollie Bearman – who started from the pit lane – crossed the line in sixth after the American outfit made a one-stop strategy work under the Safety Car, with Aston Martin scoring a double points finish as Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso grabbed seventh and eighth respectively.
Yuki Tsunoda took two points for Red Bull in P9, while Haas’ Esteban Ocon added to his team’s points haul by rounding out the top 10. Alpine’s Franco Colapinto just missed out in P11, as did Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson in P12.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/piastri-wins-as-norris-faces-late-race-retirement-in-dramatic-dutch-grand.5gVVQeQH0zjZk9hl6k6wvv
Lando Norris was forced to retire from the 2025 Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix after his McLaren MCL39 went up in smoke.
Norris stopped on track as smoke was seen within the cockpit, which was expected to be due to a Mercedes power unit failure.
Heading into the race weekend, the British driver sat just nine points behind his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri in the drivers’ championship fight. The power unit failure cost Norris 18 points. Piastri continued to lead the race until the chequered flag, extending his lead in the standings to 34 points.
After starting from second on the grid, Norris initially lost the position to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at the race start. But as Verstappen started to struggle on the soft tyre compound, Norris took the place back and began to close the gap to Piastri, who started from pole position.
The dramatic race at Zandvoort had already seen two retirements after both Ferrari drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, crashed in separate incidents earlier in the race.
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/lando-norris-retires-from-dutch-gp-after-smoke-fills-mclaren-cockpit/10755100/
Formula 1 rookie Isack Hadjar has said his maiden podium felt “unreal” after claiming third for Racing Bulls at the Dutch Grand Prix.
Hadjar qualified a stellar fourth in Zandvoort on Saturday and looked set to stay there after a well controlled race, shadowing Red Bull’s Max Verstappen every step of the way.
But Lando Norris’ dramatic retirement with seven laps remaining elevated both drivers to second and third respectively, with Hadjar rewarding himself for his outstanding rookie form with a maiden podium spot.
“Oh my god,” a jubilant Hadjar he yelled on the team radio. “What have we done? The pace was unreal. We’re on the podium, I can’t believe it!”
After jumping into the arms of his Racing Bulls mechanics, he added: “What was most surprising for me is keeping that fourth place for the whole race. Unfortunately for Lando, we took advantage but we made no mistake.
“The car was on rails the whole weekend and I’m really happy about myself, because I really maximised what I had. Made no mistakes and brought home the podium, so I’m so happy for my guys.”
The 20-year-old Parisian, who now holds 10th in the drivers’ championship, added: “That was always the target since I was a kid. This is the first step, my first podium, and hopefully much more [will follow].”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/isack-hadjar-issues-emotional-response-to-unreal-maiden-f1-podium/10755114/
Max Verstappen finished second in front of his home crowd at the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix, but not without putting up a fight for a place on the podium. During the first lap, the reigning champion countered a moment of oversteer as he attempted to push through the leading McLarens. Reflecting on the race, he was happy with his result.
The Red Bull driver started third on the grid after qualifying almost three-tenths behind polesitter Oscar Piastri. He was rewarded with a DNF from Lando Norris, caused by an oil leak, leaving him and Isack Hadjar rounding out the podium.
“It wasn’t easy. I gave it everything at the start to move forward. A little moment in Turn 2.
“But after that, we just had to do our own race. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the pace of the McLarens. Then we got a bit lucky with one retiring.
“But in general, to be on the podium here is a great result. So to be in second, I think it’s a really, really good achievement for us.”
He continued with an explanation of what caused a slide that nearly saw him lose control of the RB21. Fortunately for the driver, he expertly controlled the oversteer and maintained his place behind the McLaren machinery, rapidly finding himself on the gearbox of Norris.
“Yeah, I tried to send it into Turn 3, but unfortunately, there was too much sand in Turn 2 from the middle of the track to the outside,” Verstappen explained. “I knew that we had the softer compounds, so I tried to make it work on that first lap.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/max-verstappen-explains-dutch-gp-near-miss-i-tried-to-send-it/10755135/
Dutch Grand Prix winner Oscar Piastri claims “there is a long way to go yet” in his quest for a maiden Drivers’ title, having taken a substantial points lead over McLaren team mate Lando Norris after his retirement.
Piastri took a lights-to-flag victory at the Zandvoort Circuit, leading all 72 laps from pole but having faced constant pressure from behind by Norris.
The pivotal moment came on Lap 64, as Norris stopped out on track with smoke coming from the back of his McLaren having reported an issue over the radio.
With Norris out, Piastri rattled off the remaining laps for his seventh win of the season and now has a 34-point lead in the Driver’s Championship with just nine races remaining.
“I controlled the race when I needed to and obviously incredibly unfortunate for Lando at the end, but I felt like I was in control of that one and just used the pace when I needed to,” he said.
“It was a bit of a different race to 12 months ago so very happy with all the work we’ve done to try and improve around here. Very satisfied to come out on top.”
The result was dramatically different from last season, with Norris having taken victory by 22 seconds while Piastri had to settle for fourth.
Piastri also seemed on the back foot this weekend compared with his team mate and title rival initially, but peaked at the most crucial moment to take pole position on Saturday.
“Nothing special, just trying to improve everywhere we can,” when asked what had changed from 12 months ago.
“At the start of this weekend it was looking like a difficult one and managed to get it together in Qualifying and then I was happy with the pace I had today.
“Very happy, obviously a couple of Safety Cars that spiced it up a little bit and we weathered it all so very proud of the whole team.
“It wasn’t just myself that improved to get here it was the whole team around me, without them none of this is possible. It’s a big team effort.”
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/long-way-to-go-piastri-cautions-title-talk-after-pivotal-dutch-grand-prix.3yt9UGl8CIMLYdN3fDjzNk