2026 Dutch Grand Prix Sprint Review

Linus O'Howell
1 day ago
2 min read

Russell Evades Rain to Win Dutch Sprint

For the third time this season, George Russell converted Sprint Pole into a Sprint Victory, this time in the one and only Dutch Grand Prix Sprint! Charles Leclerc would jump Lando Norris for second, the only notable moment in the Race, as the rain decided to fall just as the leaders crossed the finish line!

An Absolute Stinker

There are almost zero positives I can say about today’s Dutch GP Sprint, as nothing happened! Zandvoort has notoriously been known to be one of the hardest circuits to overtake; it’s a classic track in the sense that it’s very narrow, with gravel and grass surrounding the circuit! So, when it was revealed that the Dutch Grand Prix would host a Sprint Race this year, it felt like an incredibly dumb move! A nice move given the fact that the Dutch GP is no more from next year, but still, an incredibly dumb move! Fast forward to the event itself, and literally nothing, besides a great overtake from Charles Leclerc, happened! If you missed this Sprint, you probably benefited, as it was literally impossible to overtake, whilst there was also a 30-second gap between Lewis Hamilton in P7 and Pierre Gasly in P8! That’s just too big for a third of a Grand Prix distance!

The Highs and Lows of the Sprint

I’ve given out two 10’s for today’s Sprint, and the first one is obviously for George Russell! George converted Sprint Pole to Sprint Victory; can’t ask for anything more than that! The other driver I’ve given out maximum points to is Pierre Gasly, as he secured his place as best-of-the-rest, scoring 1 point for Alpine! Elsewhere, shoutout to Charles Leclerc for making the only notable overtake of the day, whilst Andrea Kimi Antonelli did a good job of damage limitation!

On the other end of the spectrum, no one’s getting a 1 as nobody crashed! In fact, both Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez feel ungradeable after various issues, whilst the large majority of the field have just received the exact same grades that they got during Sprint Quali!