Sunday’s Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix had a little bit of everything.
Daring overtakes, thrilling battles, three of the biggest names in the sport failing to finish the race, and a rookie securing his first podium finish.
Let’s revisit it all with winners and losers from the Dutch Grand Prix.
The only time Isack Hadjar put a foot, or a hand, wrong during the Dutch Grand Prix?
When he broke his third-place trophy during team photos following the podium celebration, his first in F1.
Other than that moment, it was a “perfect” week from Hadjar in Zandvoort, as he qualified fourth and picked up his first F1 podium with a P3. Along the way, Hadjar fought off both Charles Leclerc and George Russell and was staying within striking distance of Max Verstappen in front of him over the final stages of the race.
“This is what I’ve always dreamed of, and it feels incredible, I’m absolutely over the moon,” said Hadjar after his first podium celebration, but certainly not his last. “The team has worked so hard to get us here today, and I couldn’t be prouder. I didn’t expect today’s result, but achieving one of my dreams makes it even more special. It was a tough race physically, especially after the break.
”I had a tricky start, but we did this on pure pace and merit. I knew I had to nail the final safety car restart, so I defended as hard as I could and brought it home. The battles were intense, especially in the opening laps, with the pressure from other cars, but we held strong. There are so many people to thank, from my family to the Red Bull family. I hope we can carry this momentum into next week and keep scoring points.”
His boss hailed his “faultless” race.
“What an incredible day! Isack drove a faultless race, it was a perfect weekend for him and it was a very well deserved podium,” said Alan Permane after the Dutch Grand Prix. “It might have been an inherited 3rd place, however Isack put himself in the strongest position possible to do that, which he did the whole race. He excelled all weekend; after such a great Qualifying it was good to see the pace of the car in the race and he was running at a very comfortable 4th place and had no real threats from behind.”
With that result, Visa Cash App Racing Bulls moved into seventh in the Constructors’ Championship standings with 60 points, just two behind fifth-place Aston Martin.
And as we decided during Sunday’s Open Thread on the Feed, hats off to the man we now call Dr. Hadjar.
Following a dismal Friday at the Dutch Grand Prix, which Charles Leclerc called “[p]robably the worst Friday of the season,” the Monégasque driver said Ferrari needed a “miracle” at Zandvoort.
Neither Leclerc nor teammate Lewis Hamilton finished the race, and the team now limps to their home race at Monza with nothing to show for their efforts in the Netherlands, and with Hamilton facing a five-place grid penalty for the Italian Grand Prix.
Hamilton’s race came to an end on Lap 23, when he spun off the line and into the barrier at Turn 3. “I want to apologise to everyone in the team and to the tifosi, both here at the track and at home — we had hoped to bring home more points today,” said Hamilton following the race.
As for Leclerc, he was well in the fight for points and was running fifth in the closing stages, after a dramatic battle with George Russell.
But on Lap 51, Mercedes called Kimi Antonelli, who was then running behind Leclerc in sixth, in for another pit stop and bolted on a fresh set of soft tires. Ferrari then called Leclerc in for a pit stop to cover off Antonelli, and when Leclerc rejoined the fight, he was alongside the young Mercedes driver.
Leclerc was on the outside racing line at Turn 3 when Antonelli slid up into him, spinning the Ferrari driver off the racing line and into the barrier, ending his race.
“Today hurts. It was a difficult weekend all along, and it ended in the worst way,” said Leclerc.
Complicating matters is the fact that Hamilton will start the Italian Grand Prix — his first race at Monza with Ferrari — with a five-place grid penalty handed out by race stewards for failing to slow under double-yellow flags during reconnaissance laps ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix.
A Sunday to forget for Ferrari.
“I think today was a perfect race,” began Alexander Albon in his post-race media comments for Williams.
Albon was frustrated on Saturday when his qualifying session ended in Q2, down in P15. But he made up five spots on the opening lap and was in P10 during the early stages, which opened up some strategy options for him and the team.
When the dust settled and the checkered flag flew, Albon was up in fifth, matching his best result of the season. The Williams driver has finished fifth three other times this season (Australia, Miami, and Imola).
“We had a really strong start and then there was a lot of crashes that helped us. I don’t know why there was so much chaos, but we kept it clean and had a good race,” continued Albon. “We were hoping for rain, and in terms of race strategy it didn’t look like it was going to be a fun race at all, but I think we made it for ourselves with that strong start.
”By being P10 by Lap 1, it put us in contention for the rest of the race. We kept it on track and picked up the pieces of what went on around us and got that P5.
“I’m happy to get some good points especially because with Isack finishing P3, it is important for the championship.”
His teammate and rival for the Drivers’ Championship dominated the timing sheets in FP1, FP2, and FP3.
But when the checkered flag flew at the end of qualifying, it was Oscar Piastri who had captured pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix.
It was another reminder of what McLaren boss Zak Brown told me was Piastri’s strength during his impressive rookie season.
“But a lot of young drivers are over-eager on Friday, and they get themselves in trouble, and then they never recover and have a good weekend because they spent time getting their car repaired,“ explained Brown to me in October of 2023.
“Oscar kind of creeps up on it. He uses Friday as a test session and that’s exactly what Friday is, a test session. And he doesn’t get, which a lot of rookie drivers do get lulled into the ‘I wanna win Friday free practice’ and then they end up not focusing on Sunday.
“So that takes a maturity to be able to come into a race weekend and be, mature enough and confident in your own abilities to look at the team timesheet on Friday and go, ‘oh, I’m a little further down than I’d like to be.’ But that’s because he’s thinking about Sunday. Not about Friday.”
That maturity played off again this week, as Piastri managed to storm into P1 at the end of Q3, hold onto P1 over several restarts in the Dutch Grand Prix itself, and leave Zandvoort with a commanding 34-point lead over Norris, after his teammate’s MCL39 suffered a failure and Norris endured his first DNF of the season.
Piastri struck a conciliatory note in his post-race comments.
“I’m really pleased to come away with the win. I felt in control throughout the race and was able to push and save where I needed to. However, it was incredibly unfortunate for Lando as you never want to see your teammate DNF, or gain points in that way,” said Piastri.
“I am very satisfied with the job we’ve done and all of the work to ensure we could maximise everything around here, improving everywhere. Thank you to the team for their work. We’ve still got a long way to go.”
There may be a long way to go, but right now, Piastri is in command.
When the lights went out on Sunday at Zandvoort, both Haas drivers were at the back of the field. Esteban Ocon aligned in P18 for the start while Oliver Bearman was on pit lane, the team having changed power unit components to his VF-25 under parc ferme conditions.
When the checkered flag flew, both Haas drivers were in the points.
Given their starting position, the team rolled the dice, bolting on hard tires for the start and running deep into the race. When Hamilton’s spin into the wall on Lap 23 brought out the safety car, both Ocon and Bearman stayed out, opting to pick up track position rather than fresh rubber.
They waited until the second safety car, which came after the Leclerc-Antonelli incident, to make their pit stops. Ocon pitted first on Lap 52 followed by Bearman on Lap 53, and they rejoined the fight with Bearman inside the points, and Ocon in P11.
Ultimately, Bearman crossed the line seventh and was promoted to sixth following post-race penalties handed down to Antonelli. Those penalties also bumped Ocon up to tenth, after finishing 11th.
“What a race! I’m really proud of the team effort because yesterday was a tough day,” said Team Principal Ayao Komatsu following the Dutch Grand Prix. “From starting P18 and in the pit lane, the chances were against us but you can never give up, so thanks to everyone in the team. We started on the hard compound and the first safety car timing was completely against us, that was perfect for medium starters. The reaction at that point was to stay calm and focus.
”As I always say, we must get the basics right and today I believe we did that, and both drivers were great team players, and I can’t fault it. Today should be the benchmark, this is what we can do, so let’s do it again.”
Ultimately, Aston Martin saw both Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso finish in the top ten on Sunday, picking up ten points to keep pace with Williams in the fight for fifth in the Constructors’ Championship standings.
But the team certainly took an interesting path to those results.
Both Stroll and Alonso were strong in FP1 on Friday, finishing third and fourth, respectively. However, things changed from there. Stroll suffered a hard crash in FP2 that cost him the rest of the session and required a change of chassis for Saturday.
Then Stroll crashed in Q1 of qualifying after he put the left side of his ARM25 onto the grass and spun into the wall, putting him at the back of the grid when the lights went out on Sunday.
Early contact with Gabriel Bortoleto forced an early pit stop as well for Stroll, but it worked to his advantage given the two Safety Car periods, and he ended up finishing eighth and being promoted to seventh after the penalties handed down to Kimi Antonelli.
As for Alonso, while he started tenth, the veteran was running outside of the points — and running rather hot on the radio — midway through the race. But he pitted on Lap 40, shortly before the second Safety Car, which allowed him to pick up some positions on the track as the rest of the field came in for pit stops.
He ultimately finished ninth and was promoted to eighth with Antonelli’s penalties.
Ten big points for the team, despite the unorthodox pathways to that result.
When the story of the 2025 F1 Drivers’ Championship is ultimately told, will the image of Lando Norris on a dune inside the track at Zandvoort, helmet still on, staring down in despair, tell that tale?
Norris was dominant over the three hours of practice ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix, but lost out on pole position to Piastri by just 0.012 seconds on Saturday. Still, starting second, Norris was in position to pick up another win and close the gap to Piastri in the championship race.
But he lost P2 shortly after the start as Max Verstappen, beginning the race on a set of soft tires, gave it everything off the line to pick up a place or two. Still, Norris did not panic and settled in behind Verstappen and slowly chipped away at the Red Bull driver’s advantage. He slid by Verstappen on Lap 9 and remained within striking distance of Piastri over the bulk of the race, including a pair of Safety Cars.
He was just outside of DRS range behind Piastri on Lap 65 when the smoke appeared.
His MCL39 had suffered a failure, and the challenger that had powered Norris to five wins this season — including three of the four races before the Summer Break — had let him down for the first time this year.
The smoke was out, and Norris was out of the race.
Will he be out of the championship fight now?
“It’s a shame to have ended the race like that today, but it was out of my control and there’s nothing I could have done differently. I was having a good race until that point. To have been that close to the car ahead throughout the race isn’t easy at Zandvoort, so I’m pleased with my performance. My focus switches straight to Monza,” said Norris after the race.
“Congrats to Oscar and the team on the win, and congratulations to Isack on his first podium.”
Team Principal Andrea Stella summed up the day for McLaren this way:
“Today we experienced the two sides of motorsport. The joy and satisfaction of a victory for McLaren and Oscar with a strong and confident drive to the Chequered Flag. Overall, he ran a clean weekend in some tricky conditions with impressive race craft which led him to today’s win.
“On the other side, we have the pain of Lando’s retirement towards the end of the race. Lando was in contention to put up a good battle at the front with a 1-2 finish looking very likely. He can be proud of his performance this weekend and will come back stronger next weekend.
“We’ve identified an issue on the chassis side, and we will do a full review before we go racing again in Monza. This is the first technical problem for the team after a long run of faultless reliability. Thank you to the entire team for their continued effort which led to another victory, as we continue our journey together.”
Norris is now 34 points behind Piastri with nine race weekends to go. Certainly not an insurmountable gap, after all, if the results from Sunday are flipped in Monza, Norris would be back within nine points of Piastri, but the 34 points that separate the two teammates represent the biggest gap between the two this season.
As far as gut check moments go for Norris, there will be none bigger than next week’s Italian Grand Prix.
