Norris dominates Dutch GP as Verstappen's crash triggers red flag at Zandvoort

Lando Norris delivered a commanding performance to win the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort on Sunday, beating Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli by 11.5 seconds with George Russell completing the podium — all while home favourite Max Verstappen’s race ended in the barriers on the opening lap.

Norris, who started from pole after edging sprint winner Russell in qualifying, had a clean getaway at lights out. But the drama began immediately when Verstappen clipped a white line on the inside of the final corner, spinning his Red Bull into the barrier and scattering debris across the circuit. “Yeah that’s it — sorry!” the Dutchman said over team radio. Gabriel Bortoleto also spun 360 degrees at the banking in the same incident but somehow avoided damage, while Oliver Bearman suffered an engine failure on the formation lap of the subsequent restart.

The red flag and standing restart proved a brief setback for Norris. Antonelli, on medium tyres against the McLaren’s softs, squeezed past at Turn 1 to lead, and Russell lost third to Oscar Piastri at Turn 7. Antonelli built a 2.2-second advantage over Norris as the field settled, but the gap had closed to roughly a second by the time the pit window closed, with most frontrunners switching to hard tyres.

From there, Norris steadily reeled in the young Italian and eventually overhauled him to seal his second straight win. Russell, meanwhile, reported balance problems and struggled for pace throughout, cycling through mediums to hards on lap 18 but unable to threaten the leaders.

Further back, McLaren’s Piastri endured a difficult afternoon. A slow 5.4-second pit stop dropped him behind Russell, and he was later passed by Charles Leclerc — who went around the outside of Turn 3 on lap 34 — before Lewis Hamilton also moved him aside at Turn 1 a lap later. Yuki Tsunoda emerged victorious from a multi-car scrap for the points positions.

The result extends Norris’s championship lead and marks another difficult weekend for Verstappen, whose race lasted barely a lap on home soil.