2026 Dutch Grand Prix Race Review

Linus O'Howell
7 minutes ago
5 min read

Undeniable Norris Wins Final Dutch GP

Despite losing the lead at the start, Lando Norris would come back and make the decisive moves in order to take victory in the final Dutch Grand Prix! Mercedes would complete the Zandvoort Podium, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli being controversially let through by teammate (and Championship Rival) George Russell!

The Biggest Talking Points

During the build-up to the Grand Prix, the weather decided to play havoc by absolutely chucking it down, leading to a potential first wet competitive session of the season! Sadly, it would dry up quickly enough that all 22 drivers were able to start the Race on slick tyres, but that didn’t necessarily mean everyone avoided the chaos! At the start, Lando Norris was able to keep the lead into Turn 1 as a bad start for George Russell cost him a place to teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli (whilst Oscar Piastri also lost out)! Then, at the end of Lap 1, Max Verstappen went spinning into the barriers at the banking, taking the Dutchman out of his final Home Race, whilst we got a massive near-miss between the two Audis after Gabriel Bortoleto spun around! How Verstappen was the only driver not to retire on this opening lap was honestly pretty insane! After a 30-minute delay (and a retirement for Oliver Bearman), the Race got back underway with Kimi Antonelli getting another great start, this time to jump Norris for the lead of the Grand Prix, whilst Russell would lose another place as Piastri climbed his way up from fifth to third! This Race quickly became a 2-stop strategy, with George Russell triggering a ton of pit stops that included a slow stop of Oscar Piastri, costing the Aussie a place to the Brit! Why on earth would you start Oscar on hards, only to pit him before his teammate (who was on softs)?! Anyway, what this did do was create a ton of racing action in the midfield, as the likes of Pierre Gasly and Nico Hulkenberg were trying to come through on Carlos Sainz and Arvid Lindblad, who were still yet to pit at this point! Lindblad actually did a brilliant job of helping Racing Bulls in their battle with Alpine for 5th in the Constructors’, with a hard defensive move enabling Hulkenberg to get through in the Audi!

Oscar Piastri’s pace would soon drop off, allowing the two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton to get through, whilst we would then start to see some tension in the Ferrari ranks as Lewis became furious with the fact that Charles wasn’t getting out of the way! I’m not surprised; this was a complete waste of time! Now, in the battle for the win, Lando Norris was starting to put pressure on Kimi Antonelli in the previous stint, with McLaren deciding to keep Lando out longer in order to give him a strong tyre advantage for the final stint! This plan ended up working perfectly, with Norris taking advantage of a half-hearted attempt at an overtake from Antonelli on Hamilton (who was still yet to pit again) to take the lead of the Grand Prix (as he quickly dispatched Lewis the following lap)! A Virtual Safety Car would then be called out for the other stricken Haas of Esteban Ocon, with Antonelli, Hamilton, Leclerc, and a slow Piastri all boxing once again for fresh rubber! Elsewhere in the field, Pierre Gasly had to pull off a wonderful overtake to pass Yuki Tsunoda for the final points-paying place of the Race (after Yuki had delivered one of his own on Pierre earlier in the Grand Prix), but Gasly was unable to pass the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso (more on him later)! Back to the front, and Mercedes made a rather controversial call to tell George Russell to let Andrea Kimi Antonelli back through for P2, despite the fact that these two are supposed to be competing against one another for the World Championship (it’s Papaya Rules all over again)! Rather incredibly, Russell obeyed the team, with Antonelli then buggering off down the road, leaving George incredibly vulnerable against Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari! Impressively, George would hold onto the final place on the Podium with the help of two things: Charles Leclerc trying a crazy overtake on the final lap on his teammate, and the two Williams coming together, bringing out another VSC!

The Standout Drives in the Race

I’ve given out three 10’s for the 2026 Dutch Grand Prix, and the first one is obviously for Lando Norris! Lando genuinely looked incredible today; his pace was undeniable, and it’s always special to see a proper move for the Race Win! The second driver I’ve given out maximum points to is Nico Hulkenberg, who managed to recover a rather mediocre weekend and turn it into a best-of-the-rest finish of P8! Also, that reaction was something else! Now, the third and final driver I’ve given a Perfect 10 to is Fernando Alonso, because he absolutely deserves it! Aston Martin have absolutely sucked this season, so for Fernando to finally score some proper points in 2026 is special, particularly as he started all the way down in P18! Elsewhere, I want to give a massive shoutout to Liam Lawson for bringing home a P7 finish on his return to Red Bull, whilst Yuki Tsunoda also did a pretty good job in the Racing Bulls, beating his teammate (after Arvid Lindblad got into his own skirmishes)! Oh, and well done to Pierre Gasly for scoring a point for Alpine!

Drivers Who Had a Shocker

Amazingly, I’ve actually given out two 1’s for today’s Race, and the first one is unfortunately for Max Verstappen! Max rarely ever receives a 1 from me; it’s only happened like twice since I started doing grades in 2022, but today was his mistake; Verstappen placed his car on the wrong part of the track! Absolute pain for the Orange Army! The other driver I’ve given out the lowest possible grade to is Carlos Sainz, who crashed into his teammate! I’d say that speaks for itself; Williams are useless enough as it is right now, they don’t need unnecessary damage caused because of teammate collisions (which was completely on Sainz)! Elsewhere, Haas having a double DNF isn’t great, whilst mistakes from both Arvid Lindblad and Gabriel Bortoleto cost them a good opportunity at scoring points! I think Racing Bulls will be delighted to have Liam back in Monza!