Norris holds off Mercedes pair in Zandvoort after Verstappen crashes out of final home race

Credit: Formula One

Lando Norris took a commanding second victory of the 2026 season, recording back-to-back race wins, after keeping Kimi Antonelli and George Russell at bay in an eventful final Dutch Grand Prix.

One of the biggest stories of the afternoon was home hero Max Verstappen's devastating crash in the opening laps of Formula One's final visit to Zandvoort, bringing out an early red flag duration.

With plenty of chaos further into the race, Virtual Safety Cars (VSC) and incidents galore as well as a number of strategic gambles, here's how the Dutch Grand Prix's swansong panned out.

Race Report

Right off the line, Lando Norris held on to the lead while George Russell had a poor start, giving way for Antonelli to seize second place. Meanwhile, the Ferrari pair had started on the softs, working out well for Charles Leclerc who moved up to a couple of spots.

On Lap 2, it was absolute heartbreak for home hero Max Verstappen as he slammed into the wall out of the final corner, being caught out by the still-damp track. The Dutchman appeared to have dipped a wheel onto the painted white line, losing the rear and immediately crashing with a heavy-impact hit but crucially, confirming that he was okay over the radio.

The race was immediately red flagged, while replays showed several other incidents during the opening laps, including Gabriel Bortoleto having a spin and Nico Hülkenberg narrowly avoiding his teammate’s incident, as well as Verstappen and replacement Red Bull driver Liam Lawson banging wheels into Turn 3.

As the red flag duration continued, Race Control confirmed that the race will resume in the order the field was in at the end of Lap 1, meaning that the top 10’s order would be Norris, Antonelli, Russell, Leclerc, Oscar Piastri, Lewis Hamilton, Lawson, Arvid Lindblad, Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto.

As the cars lined up in time for the race start, several cars decided to copy Ferrari and bolt on the soft tyres too, including race leader Norris. Piastri had taken a new hard tyre, while both Mercedes drivers remained on softs.

Just as we finished the first formation lap behind the Safety Car, Oliver Bearman broke down on track becoming the second retirement of the day, necessitating another formation lap. 

As the Dutch Grand Prix finally got going again, Antonelli seized the lead from Norris, as Piastri on the hard tyre got past Russell into third. 

Meanwhile, Lindblad had been handed a drive-through penalty for a yellow flag infringement from the opening laps.

By Lap 6, the top 10 was led by Antonelli followed by Norris, Piastri, Russell, Hamilton, Lawson, Gasly, Hülkenberg and Colapinto.

The Argentine driver was then also handed a drive-through penalty for the same incident as Lindblad, promoting Yuki Tsunoda into the top 10 on his first Grand Prix of 2026.

Meanwhile, unpredictable weather remained a possibility as Norris was warned of rain in three minutes.

Russell, who had two crucial positions, came over the radio to note that he felt “very under-balanced”, as his championship hopes seemed to unravel further with Antonelli in the race lead.

On Lap 13 of 72, Russell had to begin taking defensive action against the charging Ferraris of Leclerc and Hamilton. Up ahead, Antonelli was attempting to pull away from Norris in second, the gap building up to two seconds between the pair.

Further down the grid, several drivers had made huge gains through the chaos of the opening laps, including Alex Albon running in 11th after making up five places.

Back in the top five, the battle between Russell and Leclerc continued, Hamilton dropping away from the fight for fourth. Russell decided to pit on Lap 18, ducking out of the battle and rejoining the track in ninth with the hard compound.

McLaren decided to pit Piastri in response, but a sticky 5.4-second stop meant that Russell pipped the Australian driver at the line. It was now over to Ferrari, to decide whether to respond to this series of stops or not — the Scuderia electing to bring Leclerc in on Lap 22.

Antonelli and Norris too decided to stop on the same lap, both drivers bolting on the hard compound. Following this round of stops, which also saw Lawson pitting, the top 10 was occupied by Hamilton, Antonelli, Norris, Russell, Piastri, Leclerc, Albon, Lawson, Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz.

Hamilton boxed on Lap 25, swapping his soft tyres for hards and rejoining in sixth right behind his teammate, bumping Antonelli back to the race lead. 

The midfield saw intense battles for position, with Hülkenberg, Lindblad and Gasly in a scuffle for the final point. Tsunoda appeared on the scene of the battle in his return to F1, sweeping past Gasly and picking off Lindblad and Sainz to re-enter the points.

On Lap 34, Leclerc made a daring pass on Piastri for fourth down Turn 1, making the move stick into Turns 2 and 3; as Hamilton copied his teammate to also overtake the McLaren driver, moving up to fifth. 

Traffic soon became an obstacle for the race leaders, as Norris attempted to close down on the one second gap to Antonelli and Leclerc began to hunt down Russell in third.

Soon, both Norris and Leclerc had come within a second of their respective targets. To cover off the McLaren and Ferrari’s threats, Mercedes boxed both their drivers on Lap 41.

The top five after Mercedes’ double-stack was led by Norris, then Leclerc, Hamilton, Antonelli and Piastri, Russell in sixth.

Hamilton was furious over the radio, believing he had better pace than Leclerc and pleading for team orders, as Leclerc was ordered to pit despite opposing the strategy, clearing the way for the seven-time world champion. 

Hamilton sarcastically quipped over the radio: “Great way of wasting time guys, good job.”

The next driver to stop was Piastri, taking on soft tyres for his final stint. That same lap, Tsunoda was the next to pit from 10th, promoting Alonso into the points.

Soon after, Norris was called in for his final stop, giving him a tyre advantage over Antonelli. After this cycle of stops, the top 10 on Lap 48 was occupied by Hamilton, Antonelli, Norris, Russell, Leclerc, Piastri, Lawson, Alonso and Tsunoda.

Meanwhile, Hamilton in the lead was still at odds with his pitwall, with Ferrari posing strategy options and questions to an increasingly frustrated Hamilton.

Right behind him, the battle between Antonelli and Norris was now down to three tenths between them, the reigning world champion right on the gear box of the current championship leader.

The pair had also caught up to Hamilton now, setting up a three-way fight for the race win. Norris dived past Antonelli into the first turn, with Hamilton his next target. The race lead was reclaimed by Norris from Hamilton through Turn 11, while Antonelli also passed the Ferrari driver on older tyres.

Just as this battle settled, Esteban Ocon stopped on track, inviting the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) as Haas recorded a double retirement. Hamilton took the cheap pitstop, quickly followed by Leclerc as Ferrari double-stacked. Antonelli quickly responded by pitting as well under the VSC, taking on the soft tyres.

The VSC ended on Lap 57, with the order led by Norris, then Russell, Antonelli, Hamilton and Leclerc — the former two on hard tyres and the remaining three on softs.

Further back, Gasly got back at Tsunoda and took the final points-paying position, right behind Alonso miraculously running in ninth for Aston Martin.

With twelve laps to go, the gaps in the lead had stabilised, Norris nearly 10 seconds ahead of second-placed Russell. On Lap 65, Antonelli had closed in to Russell, as the Briton was forced to comply with team orders to let the championship leader through, releasing Russell into the clutches of Hamilton.

With five laps to go, Hamilton went wheel-to-wheel with Russell, trying to force Russell deep into Turn 10 but so far unable to get the Mercedes driver to budge. The VSC was deployed right in the midst of this battle for debris on track from contact between the two Williams drivers earlier on.

Meanwhile, it was confirmed that the sole running Red Bull driver Lawson would receive a 10-second time penalty for a yellow flag infringement.

The final lap of the final Dutch Grand Prix saw Leclerc eyeing the battle between Russell and Hamilton, eager to capitalise on any mistakes from the pair. However, the order remained intact as the chequered flag fell, as Norris cruised to a second 2026 victory from Antonelli and Russell.

The rest of the points scorers were Hamilton, Leclerc, Piastri, Lawson, Hülkenberg, Alonso and Gasly; the Aston Martin car making up nine positions to enter the points.

Find full results here.

Up Next

We have a week’s break before the next round in Monza, Italy, as the grid takes to the Temple of Speed to continue the 2026 season. Tune back in as the action resumes from 4th to 6th September.