Key events
Giles Richards
Lando Norris won the Dutch Grand Prix, putting in a superb drive to retake the lead in a thrilling fight with Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli late in the race, after the Italian had led for most of the majority of the 72 laps. The McLaren driver ultimately beat Antonelli into second and his Mercedes teammate George Russell into third, in a race that was marked on the opening lap with a huge, high-speed crash for Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who fortunately emerged unscathed after his car was left in pieces.
The race at Zandvoort had looked to be in Antonelli’s hands after he made two decisive moves. He passed Russell to take second on the off and then Norris for the lead when they resumed with a restart after a 40-minute stoppage to clear the track of the debris of Verstappen’s car.
However Norris did all he could to keep the Italian honest and McLaren took a chance on running the defending world champion long before his final pit stop. It proved to be inspired. When Norris emerged on fresher rubber, he hared after the Mercedes, with Antonelli not enjoying the best grip and made a decisive move to take the lead with 15 laps remaining. A late virtual safety car led to Antonelli taking another stop in an effort to charge on new soft rubber and Russell reluctantly moved over for his teammate who was quicker.
Right, Giles Richards’s report from Zandvoort is now live, so I’ll send you in that direction. He’ll have more reaction later too. Thanks for joining us, and also to Yara for doing the heavy lifting on this race.
Latest F1 driver standings
1) Kimi Antonelli 242
2) George Russell 183
3) Lewis Hamilton 183
4) Lando Norris 159
5) Charles Leclerc 155
6) Max Verstappen 112
So Antonelli has extended his lead on top of the standings from 53 to 59 points. Russell flips places with Hamilton despite having the same number of points, while race winner Norris vaults past Leclerc into the top four.
To the podium. The national anthem plays to mark Norris’s win and then it’s trophy time (a whopper, to be fair) … and then the champagne flows.
Norris, Antonelli and Russell are now on camera watching some of the race highlights, starting with the Verstappen crash. “That was a big one,” comes part of the debrief. Next up: the podium.
Norris: ‘Probably one of my better wins’
Lando Norris talks: “Amazing. A tough race. I’d said I needed to put on a show for the final race here. I made it tough for myself … Probably one of my better wins. Nice to win the final race at Zandvoort.
On his overtake of Antonelli: “I knew I wouldn’t get many chances. I saw Lewis defending and knew that was my moment … That move won me the race. I probably had one chance to make it happen.”
A splendid drive from Norris after giving up the lead at the start. Speaking on his race radio, Antonelli criticises his team’s tactics, calling them too risky, but a second place is still a strong return.
Norris wins the Dutch GP from Antonelli and Russell third
A great victory for the world champion, crossing the line some 11 seconds in front of championship leader Kimi Antonelli. And the final position on the podium goes to George Russell, who holds off the Ferraris.
Lap 71 of 72: The battle is for third, but it’s still Russell in front of Hamilton. Time for the final lap …
Lap 70 of 72: There’s a good deal of debris around the Zandvoor track and this could give Russell a real chance of hanging on for third. Out in front, it’s still 11 seconds for Norris. He’s heading for victory. VSC is done.
Lap 69 of 72: Now Charles Leclerc is closing on this battle for third position. But now we have a virtual safety car …
Lap 68 of 72: This has been a mature drive from the world champion in a thrilling and chaotic race. He’s holding that advantage of 11 seconds. Hamilton is pursuing that podium but is just held off by his former teammate Russell.
Lap 67 of 72: Landon Norris has 11 seconds out in front after the frenetic pace. George Russell is third and battling to hold off Lewis Hamilton as they duel for a podium spot. It would seem more a matter of time for the Ferrari driver, but you never know.
Hello! Some race this. Let’s get into the final five laps …
James Dart
James Dart is here to take you through the end of the Dutch GP.
Lap 64 of 72: Antonelli is 1.8sec behind Russell but Norris is still matching his pace.
Lap 62 of 72: Antonelli is catching up to Russell but Norris and Antonelli are lapping at the same pace. It is too early to say this is Norris’s to lose but he certainly has the advantage.
Lap 58 of 72: Norris: “Do you think we need to take it? Feeling a bit nervous now.” Too late, VSC is over. He leads by 6.2 sec from Russell, with Antonelli 6.3sec behind that.
Lap 57 of 72: Antonelli pits for a set of softs in a 4.6sec stop. The VSC is about to come to an end.
Lap 56 of 72: Lewis Hamilton: “Are you using me as a guinea pig or what? What’s going on? How long will you have me stay out?” He pits for 3.1sec as Leclerc and Piastri also come in.
Lap 55 of 72: Ocon stops at the third turn and the virtual safety car comes out.
Lap 54 of 72: What a move from Norris! On the first turn, he nearly hits Hamilton before cutting back between two cars and getting past Antonelli.
Lap 52 of 72: Antonelli has been caught by Norris, and the former tells his team that he has no rear grip, which is unideal.
Lap 50 of 72: Norris is speeding, 3.2sec behind Antonelli now. Hamilton, in the lead, gets into a bit of a tiff over the team radio when asked what tyres they should go on next. “You have the data,” he replies.
Lap 48 of 72: Norris stops for 3.2sec to get some hard tyres on and comes out in third, with Hamilton back in the lead.
Lap 47 of 72: “I have no grip,” says Antonelli and Norris leads on a set of 25-lap old hard tyres. He should be pitting soon, though.
Lap 45 of 72: Piastri pits and comes back out in seventh, behind Lawson.
Lap 44 of 72: Race engineer: “Box Charles, box. Leclerc: “What do you mean?”
And then … Hamilton (sarcastically): “Great waste of time there guys, good job.”
Lap 43 of 72: Norris chooses not to pit for a couple laps in a row. Leclerc is called in, and he stays out and does not let a frustrated Hamilton through. Antonelli is in P4.
Lap 40 of 72: Antonelli pits for 2.8sec for some hard tyres. Can Norris capitalise?
Lap 39 of 72: Leclerc is 1.3sec behind Russell, on tyres that are four laps fresher. Hamilton is 2.2sec away. Norris attempting to close in again on Antonelli.
Lap 36 of 72: Antonelli has a gap of 2.2sec ahead of Norris. Russell is 7.4sec back in third, but Leclerc is closing in on that podium spot.
Lap 35 of 72: Leclerc finally through after side by side with Piastri in turn 2. Hamilton then goes for the same move as his teammate, but gets through a tiny bit more easily as Piastri opts to defend less.
Lap 32 of 72: He does! Leclerc is rapid and attempts a similar move to what he did against Norris in the sprint race but Piastri covers the inside line.
Lap 31 of 72: Norris is in overtake mode with now a 0.7sec gap on Antonelli. Leclerc and Piastri are in their own battle too with Leclerc about to pull a move …
Lap 29 of 72: Tsunoda has picked off Gasly in a fantastic move, through a tight speedy section down.
Norris closes in on Antonelli and is within a second of the teenager.
Lap 26 of 72: Hamilton puts on hard tyres in 2.6sec. Antonelli leads again, 1.5sec ahead of Norris.
Lap 25 of 72: Ferrari tell Hamilton to pit after he loses a lot of time to Antonelli.
Lap 23 of 72: Hamilton is on soft tyres here: is there a chance he only stops once while everyone else opts for a two-stop strategy? He tells his team that his tyres are OK.
Lap 22 of 72: Antonelli, Norris, Leclerc and Lawson all stop slowly. Antonelli and Norris lose half a second and Leclerc loses a full second. Hamilton now in the lead.
Lap 21 of 72: No sign of a pit stop from Antonelli or Norris yet. The Ferrari drivers are eight seconds behind and also have not stopped.
Lap 20 of 72: Leclerc flies into third with Hamilton and Lawson behind him.
Lap 19 of 72: Antonelli is still on his mediums, leading by two seconds. Piastri has pitted from P3 to cover Russell but a 5.4sec stop is going to cost him.
Lap 18 of 72: Russell pits to swap to the hards – which was much needed and he comes back out in ninth, behind Hulkenberg.
Lap 16 of 72: Race engineer: “How are the tyres? How is the pace?” Norris: “I’m pace zero, mate. I’ve got nothing else.”
Meanwhile, Leclerc is close enough to start having a race with Russell.
Lap 15 of 72: Russell: “Consider original plan A.” Race engineer: “Copy.” Interesting. Plan A – whatever it is – needs to come into fruition quickly. Russell’s rear tyres are overheating now.
Lap 14 of 72: Piastri is really struggling on the hard tyre and is a distant third behind Antonelli and Norris. Russell is also falling away to Leclerc.
Lap 13 of 72: Leclerc and Hamilton are the two with Overtake Mode as an option as Antonelli takes another two tenths out of Norris.
Lap 12 of 72: Antonelli 1.5sec clear of Norris. Bortoleto has pitted to change to some mediums.
Lap 11 of 72: Hamilton has not been able to recover from his poor first start and is in sixth. Antonelli still has the lead and it is up to a second ahead of Norris. Leclerc only four tenths behind Russell.