Piastri Strides Toward the Title as Norris Gets Left on the Side of the Road in F1 Dutch GP

Oscar Piastri of Australia drives the (81) McLaren F1 Team MCL39 Mercedes during the Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2025 in Zandvoort, Netherlands, on August 31, 2025. (Photo by Alessio Morgese/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Oscar Piastri didn’t just win the Dutch Grand Prix Sunday — he broke it wide open like a bar brawl on karaoke night. The Australian now has a 34-point lead in the championship, thanks to his McLaren teammate Lando Norris having his engine throw in the towel while running second. That left Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to mop up P2, while Isack Hadjar pulled off the kind of miracle that gets you remembered, hauling his Racing Bulls car onto the podium for the first time in his career at Zandvoort.

When the lights went out, Piastri bolted like a greyhound chasing dinner. Verstappen, on softs and in front of a home crowd expecting him to walk on water, tried to muscle Norris at Turn 2. He nearly spun himself into a highlight reel but somehow clung on to grab second.

Norris, calm as a librarian in a hurricane, let his mediums warm up and then blew past Verstappen on Lap 9 with a move around the outside of Turn 1 that made Max look like he was parking the car rather than racing it.

Then came Lap 23. Enter Lewis Hamilton. Ferrari’s finest decided to sample the Dutch gravel traps, overcooked Turn 3, and brought out the first Safety Car. Rain drops, slick track, barriers — all the ingredients for a Hamilton-shaped disaster.

Pit lane chaos followed. McLaren stacked their drivers for hards, Verstappen gambled on mediums, and everyone else rolled dice that didn’t have many winning numbers. On the restart, Piastri kept his nose clean, Norris shadowed, and Verstappen huffed and puffed but couldn’t blow their doors off.

And then — Kimi Antonelli. The rookie who looks 12 but drives like he’s already got a midlife crisis. On Lap 53 he tried a low line past Leclerc in Turn 3, understeered straight up the banking, and punted the Ferrari into the barriers. Cue the Safety Car, cue Leclerc walking back to the paddock looking like someone stole his lunch.

More pit stops. McLaren messed up both of theirs, Verstappen bolted on softs, and Hadjar smelled opportunity. The restart came, Max lunged, Norris swatted him back like a mosquito, and for a few laps it looked like McLaren had everything under control.

Until they didn’t. Lap 65, Norris’s power unit decided it had seen enough. The car coughed, wheezed, and gave up. Another Safety Car. Another twist.

Lewis Hamilton of the UK drives the (44) Scuderia Ferrari HP SF-25 Ferrari and crashes during the Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2025 in Zandvoort, Netherlands, on August 31, 2025. (Photo by Gabriele Lanzo/Alessio Morgese/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

When racing finally resumed, Piastri had ice in his veins. He kept Verstappen at arm’s length, left Hadjar to enjoy his day in the sun, and romped home to a win that may well be remembered as the moment he planted his flag in this championship.

Behind him: Verstappen, grumpy as ever; Hadjar, over the moon; and George Russell, tidy as a man rearranging his sock drawer. Penalties dropped Antonelli down to 16th, which frankly was charitable after his Ferrari-launch stunt. Albon bagged fifth, Ollie Bearman impressed for Haas, Stroll and Alonso brought their Aston Martins home, Tsunoda finally scored again, and Ocon rounded out the points.

And the emotions?

“It feels good obviously,” said Piastri. “I feel like it’s a pretty hard act to follow Isack standing up here so I’ll try my best. I controlled the race when I needed to and obviously incredibly unfortunate for Lando at the end, but I felt like I was in control of that one and just used the pace when I needed to. It was a bit of a different race to 12 months ago, so [I’m] very happy with all the work we’ve done to try and improve around here. Very satisfied to come out on top.”

“It’s just a tough race,” said Norris when asked about his feelings. “I was a bit disappointed, but there’s nothing I could really do about it in the end. Frustrating, but it’s out of my control, so nothing I could do.

“You can’t do a lot around here. I felt a bit quicker [than Oscar] but you have to be about eight-tenths quicker to overtake around here and I’m not eight-tenths quicker,” said Norris.

“To follow within two seconds for pretty much the whole race was a good drive. There was nothing more I could really ask. You start to get dirty air at around four seconds. To be around three or two, I wasn’t really expecting it today.

“I thought I did a good job, but it doesn’t help much, doesn’t mean much. It doesn’t mean I got more points or whatever, it’s just reassuring that the pace was strong, and I look ahead to the next one.”

“Yeah. It’s been a very difficult weekend,” said Leclerc. “Apart from the race, it’s been an uphill weekend, so I hope we can start on a better foot in Monza and have a better weekend overall.”

ZANDVOORT, NETHERLANDS – AUGUST 31: Race winner Oscar Piastri of Australia and McLaren Second placed Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing Third placed Isack Hadjar of France and Visa Cash App Racing Bulls and Laura Bowden, Chief Financial Officer at McLaren on the podium during the F1 Grand Prix of Netherlands at Circuit Zandvoort on August 31, 2025 in Zandvoort, Netherlands. (Photo by Anni Graf – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)

F1 Dutch Grand Prix Results

1	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	72	1:38:29.849	25
2	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	72	+1.271s	18
3	6	Isack Hadjar	Racing Bulls	72	+3.233s	15
4	63	George Russell	Mercedes	72	+5.654s	12
5	23	Alexander Albon	Williams	72	+6.327s	10
6	87	Oliver Bearman	Haas	72	+9.044s	8
7	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	72	+9.497s	6
8	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	72	+11.709s	4
9	22	Yuki Tsunoda	Red Bull Racing	72	+13.597s	2
10	31	Esteban Ocon	Haas	72	+14.063s	1
11	43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	72	+14.511s	0
12	30	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	72	+17.063s	0
13	55	Carlos Sainz	Williams	72	+17.376s	0
14	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Kick Sauber	72	+19.725s	0
15	5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Kick Sauber	72	+21.565s	0
16	12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	72	+22.029s	0
17	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	72	+23.629s	0
18	4	Lando Norris	McLaren	64	DNF	0
NC	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	52	DNF	0
NC	44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	22	DNF	0
* Provisional results. Note – Antonelli received a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision and a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

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Greg Engle

Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community.

Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.

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