Piastri wins as Norris faces late-race retirement in dramatic Dutch Grand Prix

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.

Behind Lawson was Williams’ Carlos Sainz, who was earlier handed a 10-second time penalty for a collision with the New Zealander, and Kick Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto were just behind in 14th and 15th.

Antonelli ended a tough day down in P16, the Italian having received two penalties during the latter stages following his collision with Leclerc, while Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was the final classified driver down in P17.

Norris led the list of high-profile retirees after his late-race car failure, with the two Ferraris being the other two cars not to make the finish on a difficult day for the Scuderia.

AS IT HAPPENED

After an exciting end to Saturday’s Qualifying session saw Piastri just edge out Norris to take pole position, the paddock reconvened on Sunday for the first race of the second half of the 2025 season, the 72-lap Dutch Grand Prix.

It was confirmed in the build-up to the event that one change had been made to the starting order, with Bearman – who had qualified down in P19 – set to start from the pit lane after the Haas team changed power unit elements in his car under parc ferme conditions.

While rainfall had been forecast entering into the weekend at Zandvoort, the showers had mostly stayed away throughout the event so far – and this again looked to be the case as the race start approached, with the drivers greeted by dry albeit cloudy weather on Sunday. The risk of rain during the Grand Prix, however, stood at 60 per cent.

Meanwhile it was confirmed that Hamilton would be investigated after the race for a potential yellow flag infringement in a pit entry incident.

When the cars had assembled on the grid and the tyres blankets were removed ahead of the event – anticipated to be a one-stop race for many, though a two-stop could also not be ruled out – it was revealed that the majority of the pack would be starting on the medium compound, with the exception of Verstappen, Tsunoda, Colapinto and Hulkenberg running the soft while the Haas pair had bolted on the hard rubber.

Once the formation lap had been completed and the lights went out – under increasingly dark skies – Piastri made a strong start to hold the lead, while Norris soon came under pressure from Verstappen.

The Dutchman then had a wobble into Turn 3 after going around the outside of Norris, but managed to hold position and remain ahead of the Briton. Elsewhere Leclerc had gained a place on Russell to move up to fifth – with Hadjar leading a train of cars in fourth – while Albon had also made an impressive start to climb from P15 to P10.

Just as Piastri had extended his lead to more than two seconds by Lap 4, the McLaren driver was warned that “class one rain” was on the way in a matter of minutes. And as the next few laps ticked down, Verstappen’s soft tyres looked to potentially be falling away, with Piastri’s advantage growing to nearly four seconds as of Lap 8.

Norris, meanwhile, had closed in on Verstappen – the gap now within DRS range – and ultimately made a move around the outside of the reigning World Champion at Turn 1 on Lap 9, the British driver then given some encouragement by his race engineer to chase down Piastri.

Over in the pit lane, Stroll – who had earlier been noted for a collision with Bortoleto before the stewards deemed that no investigation was necessary – was the first to pit, the Canadian surprisingly emerging with the hard tyre bolted on despite the forecast suggesting incoming rain.

By Lap 12 Norris had pumped in another fastest lap as he continued to eat into Piastri’s advantage, while Verstappen had dropped back to more than five seconds adrift of the Briton. Bearman, meanwhile, reported his concerns about Bortoleto’s front wing, which had seemingly been damaged during his earlier incident with Stroll.

Shortly afterwards, replays showed Stroll appearing to run over a piece of debris on the track, suggesting that the endplate from the Kick Sauber had fallen off. Elsewhere Antonelli was hot on the tail of Tsunoda in a battle for 11th, while Alpine swapped their cars to put Gasly ahead as Colapinto’s soft tyres looked to be fading.

Piastri radioed in about drops of rain on his visor at Lap 15 – and within a couple of laps, McLaren CEO Zak Brown was seen holding out his hand from his position at the pit wall to assess whether the rainfall had indeed arrived. The gap between the papaya cars now stood at three seconds.

Race control announced that Bortoleto was under investigation for driving his car in an unsafe condition, while his manager, Alonso, became the next car to pit for a set of hard tyres as his team mate had done earlier.

Others soon started to follow, with the likes of Tsunoda, Colapinto and Hulkenberg diving into the pit lane – all bolting on the hard compound – just as Norris was asked if he could get closer to the car ahead. “Maybe a touch,” the driver in P2 responded.

As he followed Russell up ahead, Hamilton suggested that an undercut might be necessary to get ahead – but on Lap 23 the Ferrari driver hit the barriers after going wide through the banking at Turn 3, putting him out of the race and sparking yellow flags which then became a Safety Car.

This triggered a flurry of action in the pit lane as most of the pack took the opportunity to make their stop, with McLaren double-stacking Piastri and Norris. All worked out smoothly for Piastri – who re-emerged as the leader – while Norris had a slight delay after being held up by the front jack but remained in second.

While the majority of the field had gone for the hard compound, Verstappen had put on a set of medium tyres and stayed in third, with Hadjar still in fourth from Russell, Leclerc, Lawson, Sainz, Ocon and Albon. The only drivers not to pit were the Haas cars.

All eyes were on how Piastri would handle the restart as the Safety Car phase came to an end on Lap 26 – and the Australian seemed to time it well, maintaining the lead from his team mate. Further back there was trouble for Lawson and Sainz, with contact between the pair seeing both drop backwards.

“He’s just so stupid,” Sainz said of his rival as each car pitted due to damage on their respective cars. While these two were now down in P18 and P19, Piastri had built up a gap from Norris at the front to 1.7s by Lap 31 while Russell was trying to find a way past Hadjar in the scrap for fourth. “Moving under braking,” Russell commented as he fought with the Racing Bulls machine.

The Virtual Safety Car was soon deployed owing to a piece of debris on the main straight, with the crowd cheering when said piece of bodywork was recovered by a marshal. Meanwhile Norris was being told “we would try and go to the end on this” in terms of his strategy – and, behind him, a feisty Leclerc snatched P5 from Russell in a close duel.

Russell voiced his unhappiness about the manoeuvre over the radio, while Leclerc suggested that the Mercedes driver had not given him room earlier in the lap. Elsewhere Sainz’s tricky day had gotten worse when he was handed a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision with Lawson.

The stewards were being kept busy at Zandvoort, with it then being confirmed that the incident between Leclerc and Russell would be investigated after the race. Up ahead, Norris – 1.7s adrift of his team mate – was told that his best chance to beat Piastri was to do so on track rather than via strategy.

There was also plenty going on further back. Alonso cut a frustrated figure in P13, the Aston Martin driver asking if an undercut was possible as he found himself in a train of cars led by Bearman in P11, with Tsunoda trying to find a way past the Haas.

Over at Mercedes, Russell – seemingly carrying some damage from his earlier altercation with Leclerc – was asked to let Antonelli through, moving the Italian up to P6 as he tried to chase down Leclerc with just over 30 laps to go.

By Lap 48, Piastri was continuing to lead Norris by 1.2s, with Verstappen still making his medium tyres last in third while Hadjar had kept his Racing Bulls in fourth. Sainz, meanwhile, was unhappy to be informed about his penalty for the Lawson incident, the Spaniard commenting: “Who? Who gets a penalty? Me? You are joking.”

With the final portion of the race still to go, there were plenty of questions remaining regarding strategy. If the Safety Car was deployed again, would McLaren pit their drivers or leave them out? Should that scenario not arise, though, Norris had around 20 laps to catch Piastri on track.

Elsewhere, Alonso had pitted earlier on following his frustrations and had found a way past Bortoleto to move up to 15th, while Antonelli and Leclerc each pitted – only for Leclerc to then hit the barriers after being hit by the Mercedes, putting the Ferrari out of the race just out of the Turn 3 banking.

Those earlier questions about a second Safety Car then came to fruition as the vehicle was sent out again, with McLaren carrying out another double-stack for the hard tyres while the majority of the pack also took the opportunity to put on another set of tyres.

Antonelli limped back to the pits, having sustained damage in that clash with Leclerc – and to make matters worse for the Italian, he was subsequently handed a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision, as well as being noted for speeding in the pit lane. Elsewhere, the two Haas cars both made a long-awaited stop, while Tsunoda was told that he needed to manage a throttle issue.

As Lap 57 ticked down, the Safety Car peeled into the pits and Piastri again executed the restart well – and while Norris initially faced pressure from Verstappen, the Dutchman looking racy on a fresh set of soft tyres, the McLaren pair were able to break away.

The intra-team battle was still very much alive, though, with Norris remaining on the tail of Piastri with just over 10 laps to go. Behind them, Antonelli was given a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane, meaning that the rookie – running in seventh – would need to maintain a decent gap from the chasing Bearman in eighth to keep that position.

“Possibly a few very light drops,” Piastri was warned of potential impending rain with a few laps to go – but the race then took a dramatic turn when Norris reported a strange smell from his car just as smoke started to emerge from the back of the McLaren, forcing the Briton to pull over and retire from the Grand Prix.

As the Safety Car appeared for a third time, Norris was seen perching on the grass near to his stricken car, with the retirement marking a potentially pivotal moment in the championship battle. Also still sat in the sand dunes in another section of the track was Leclerc, both drivers cutting pensive figures.

While those watching on tried to digest what had happened, the race was still not over – and the Safety Car again returned to the pits on Lap 70, with Piastri holding off any potential challenge from Verstappen while Hadjar was now looking at a potential debut podium in third.

After a drama-packed 72 laps, Piastri ultimately crossed the line by 1.271s from Verstappen to seal a seventh Grand Prix triumph of the season and extend his championship lead to 34 points over Norris following the Briton’s retirement.

Behind them was Hadjar in P3, the Racing Bulls driver marking an impressive afternoon at Zandvoort with his debut appearance on the rostrum. Russell – who will visit the stewards after the race following that earlier battle with Leclerc – claimed fourth, ahead of Albon in fifth.

Bearman grabbed a career-best P6, with Stroll, Alonso, Tsunoda and Ocon rounding out the top 10. Colapinto again missed out on points in P11, as did Lawson (P12), Sainz (P13), Hulkenberg (P14) and Bortoleto (P15).

Antonelli dropped to 16th following his penalties, bringing a tough day for the Italian to an end, while Gasly completed the order in 17th place.

Norris, Leclerc and Hamilton were the three retires from the race, with Ferrari’s non-score meaning that Mercedes are now 12 points away from the Scuderia in the fight for P2 of the Teams’ Championship.

Key quote

"It feels good obviously," said Piastri. "I feel like it's a pretty hard act to follow Isack standing up here so I'll try my best. 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. It was a bit of a different race to 12 months ago, so [I'm] very happy with all the work we've done to try and improve around here. Very satisfied to come out on top."

What's next

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