Oscar Piastri won the Dutch Grand Prix on Sunday in a race that could impact the finishes of the season-ending Formula One championships.
Piastri’s McLaren teammate, Lando Norris, was forced out of the race because of mechanical difficulty with seven laps to go. At the time, they were running 1-2 but smoke from Norris’ car engine, apparently due to an oil leak, forced him to pull off the course.
Norris’ troubles brought out the safety car for the third time; the first two came after Ferrari drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were involved in separate crashes that did not allow them to finish the race at Circuit Zandvoort in the coastal town of Zandvoort, the Netherlands.
Piastri, the pole sitter, led all 72 laps despite the constant pressure applied by Norris.
And Piastri wasn’t overjoyed by seeing his teammate exit the race, which was a turnaround from 2024, when Norris won and Piastri finished fourth, 22 seconds back.
“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.”
With the win, Piastri earned 25 points, which Norris banked zero since he didn’t finish. Piastri now has a 34-point lead over Norris in the drivers’ championship with nine races left in the season.
“I was a bit disappointed, but there’s nothing I could really do about it in the end,” Norris said after the race. “Frustrating, but it’s out of my control, so nothing I could do.”
McLaren is running away with the team constructors’ championship, with the real battle for second place. Despite disappointing individual seasons, the Ferrari team of Hamilton and Leclerc opened the day in second place, ahead of Mercedes.
And the contest for second place got closer with Hamilton crashing into the wall as light rain started to fall on Lap 23. His car suffered significant damage to the front end.
“It’s not a normal sort of thing for me to have, [to] crash out of a race. I can’t really say too much more about it,” said Hamilton, a seven-time individual champion.
Leclerc found trouble at Lap 53 when Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes nipped Leclerc’s left rear tire, forcing him out of the race. Antonelli was able to continue.
The Ferrari team entered the weekend with a 24-point lead over Mercedes in the team standings. With neither car finishing, the gap dwindled to 12 points.
Norris’ winning time was 1:38:29.849, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in second and rookie Isack Hadjar of Racing Bulls making his first F1 podium. George Russell of Mercedes was fourth.
Hadjar, a 20-year-old from France, was the beneficiary of Norris’ engine trouble as he was able to move up from fourth place.
“It feels a bit unreal,” Hadjar said “What was most surprising for me was keeping that fourth place for the whole race.
“Unfortunately for Lando, we took advantage of his [retirement], but we made no mistakes. The car was on rails the whole weekend, and I’m really happy about myself because I really maximized what I had, made no mistakes and brought home the podium, so I’m so happy for my guys.”
–Field Level Media
