By Alan Baldwin
ZANDVOORT, Netherlands, Aug 23 (Reuters) – Lando Norris gave McLaren a third successive Dutch Grand Prix victory on Sunday in an intense race of shifting fortunes that had to be restarted after home hero Max Verstappen crashed on the opening lap.
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli finished second to increase his championship lead, with teammate George Russell obeying orders to let the Italian — on fresher tyres — through late in the race and then holding off Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton for third.
The win was a second in a row for reigning world champion Norris, who started on pole position but had to fight back after losing the lead to Antonelli at the restart, following victory in Hungary last month.
He is now fourth overall, 83 points adrift of Antonelli, and still hopeful of closing the gap.
“Let’s keep bringing upgrades. Let’s keep bringing performance. The fight is still on. Let’s keep going,” said Norris, who won at Zandvoort in 2024 before teammate Oscar Piastri triumphed last year, still the Australian’s most recent win.
FINAL LAP IN F1 FOR ZANDVOORT CIRCUIT
Every F1 race at Zandvoort since the circuit returned to the calendar in 2021 after a 36-year absence has been won from pole, and Sunday’s will keep it that way as the last for the foreseeable future.
Antonelli stretched his lead to 59 points over Russell and Hamilton, now tied on 183 each to the 19-year-old Italian’s 242, after 12 rounds.
“With the new tyres, he would have overtaken anyway so it was the right decision,” said Russell, who won Saturday’s sprint but lost out to Antonelli at the first start on Sunday, of the team orders.
“Just happy to be standing on the podium. It’s been a little while for me and a strong weekend overall.”
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished fifth with Piastri sixth and Liam Lawson, a stand-in for injured Isack Hadjar, seventh for Red Bull.
Nico Hulkenberg was eighth for Audi, after almost hitting his spinning teammate Gabriel Bortoleto on a damp opening lap, with Fernando Alonso more than doubling Aston Martin’s points tally so far this season with ninth — an immediate result for Honda’s engine upgrade.
Pierre Gasly took 10th for Renault-owned Alpine.
ONE CHANCE TO MAKE IT HAPPEN
After various changes of lead through the pitstops, Norris passed Antonelli on track with 18 laps to go after he had pitted seven laps later than the Italian and made his fresher tyres count in a champion’s drive.
“I probably had one chance to make it happen and I made the most of it,” he said.
Norris then also passed Hamilton, who had inherited the lead but was yet to make his final stop after earlier chafing over the team radio at being held up behind Leclerc, with Antonelli following through.
Hamilton pitted when a virtual safety car was deployed after Haas’s Esteban Ocon stopped on track, with Antonelli also seizing a chance for fresh tyres while Russell and Norris stayed out.
He came back out 12 seconds behind Norris.
“Do you think we need to take it (the stop)? I’m a bit worried now,” Norris said over the radio but the opportunity was in any case gone and the Briton instead showed his pace by lapping faster on older tyres than his rival.
Russell was told to ‘invert the cars’, coded speak for letting his teammate through, and he did so after briefly questioning the order.
“We’ve lost a double podium here,” said the Briton as Hamilton closed right up, before another virtual safety car helped Russell get to the finish ahead. Both Mercedes drivers exchanged friendly gestures after the finish.
Norris crossed the line 11.5 seconds clear of Antonelli.
“I made it tough for myself today but a good race. Well fought. Probably one of my better wins. We had to fight for it,” said the McLaren driver.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Timothy Heritage, Christian Radnedge and Aurora Ellis)
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