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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 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 appeared 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.

It was a mighty display of determination and race craft from Norris who has also kept himself in the title fight by closing the gap to the Italian. Antonelli now leads the world championship by 59 points to teammate Russell and 59 to Lewis Hamilton with Norris now 83 in arrears.

Hamilton finished in fourth after a series of feisty exchanges with his team, frustrated with his team’s strategy calls. His teammate Charles Leclerc was in fifth place, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in sixth.

For Norris and McLaren the victory represents no little turnaround. For the first half of this season the car had been a handful to drive and off the pace but the team were clear they had expected to make real steps with their upgrades including a new swathe here in Zandvoort. It is yet to be quite the complete package, with a weakness through the slow corners but Norris and the team are still exploiting it to the best effect and the defending world champion did so brilliantly in Zandvoort.

It is his second win in the Netherlands, the 13th of his career and his second in a row this season. Norris took victory here in 2024 but notably last year a DNF in the Netherlands marked the start of a remarkable comeback that would culminate in his first title. On this form he may yet believe a similar feat is on the cards.

The race opened on a damp track from rain that had hit as the cars took to the grid and which proved crucial on the opening lap. Norris held his lead into turn one but Russell was a little sluggish allowing Antonelli through to take second.

However at the end of the opening lap, Verstappen suffered a major accident at high speed, causing the race to be stopped. The Dutchman dipped a wheel on to the white line on the inside of the final corner, still damp from the rain, lost the rear and spun across the track to take a major hit into the barriers. He was ricocheted back into the inside wall, the car wrecked but from which he was able to emerge unhurt.

Racing resumed 40 minutes later from a standing start and on the off Antonelli made another quick start and squeezed past Norris who was a little slow through turn one. He had the place and held it well until the final, decisive stops.

Norris went long, looking for a tyre advantage and came in on lap 48, seven laps later than Antonelli and was swiftly very quick on the fresh rubber, hurtling up to the gearbox of Antonelli within a few laps as the Mercedes was struggling for grip on the hard tyres. Norris was all over the back of Antonelli as they came up behind Hamilton, who had yet to stop.

On lap 54 Norris barrelled past the Italian with a bold, decisive move at turn one round the outside, as they were right on Hamilton. The Ferrari was then passed by both as Norris made hay and opened a lead he would not relinquish for a suitably grand finale to the last Dutch Grand Prix as the event leaves the calendar.