George Russell converted pole into victory, winning the Dutch Grand Prix sprint and finishing over a second ahead of Charles Leclerc. The Mercedes driver fended off the McLaren of Lando Norris as the reigning champion came under pressure from Ferrari, allowing Russell to get a slight advantage.
But the Mercedes driver never looked under pressure in what was a largely uneventful race, as drivers couldn’t really find a place to overtake. Leclerc finished the race almost four seconds ahead of Norris; Kimi Antonelli looked to be on the back foot going into this race after damage in SQ1.
The only real concern for Russell appeared to be the threat of rain; the forecasted showers did arrive, but only after he crossed the line. Had they arrived slightly sooner, the final laps could have become about keeping the cars on track.
Despite being on the more brittle soft tyres compared to the mediums of those around him, Leclerc overtook Norris for second with an impressive move into the first corner on lap eighteen of the race. Russell’s win cuts his deficit in the championship to Antonelli to fifty-six points, with Lewis Hamilton in second place.
Ferrari had gambled with Leclerc, starting him on soft tyres from third on the grid, but it was a move which did not immediately pay off, as he was unable to make progress at the start. But the only progress he made was passing Norris at the start.
The championship leader looked to struggle to make progress during the sprint, though he did gain one place; the Italian swept around the outside of Oscar Piastri at Tarzan on the opening lap. After passing the McLaren, Antonelli looked to stall as the race progressed but managed to open a four-second lead over Piastri.
Norris now had to concentrate on holding off Antonelli. The Italian was three tenths behind the McLaren crossing the line into the last lap, but although he feinted a move into Tarzan, he was not close enough to make it work.
Russell said: “As soon as I saw Charles behind, I dropped the hammer a bit and the two of us pulled away.”
Piastri appeared to lose the pace to fight with the front runners during the sprint race, but the Australian was just able to fend off Red Bull’s Max Verstappen as he finished nearly three and a half tenths ahead of the four-time champion. Lewis Hamilton was a second and a half behind, but as expected, the top four teams held a clear advantage: the Alpine of Pierre Gasly thirty seconds behind as he scored the final point.
The race proved rather uneventful; despite the threat of rain during the closing stages everyone managed to get through the sprint without damage or incident. Gabriel Bortoleto was ninth as he finished half a second ahead of Arvid Lindblad, the Racing Bull driver having a comfortable two and a half seconds ahead of regular teammate Liam Lawson.
Lawson was drafted in as a replacement for the injured Isack Hadjar at Red Bull, the New Zealander putting in a solid performance given he hadn’t driven this year’s Red Bull before FP1 on Friday. He finished nearly seven seconds ahead of Franco Colapinto with his replacement Yuki Tsunoda two seconds behind the second Alpine.
Esteban Ocon finished the sprint fourteenth, nearly half a second ahead of Haas teammate Ollie Bearman. Alex Albon, the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso and Valtteri Bottas in the Cadillac.
Carlos Sainz for Williams and Cadillac’s Sergio Perez completed the classification, while Nico Hulkenberg had retired his Audi earlier in the Sprint before rejoining the action in the latter stages.
Related
- Dutch GP – Sprint Qualifying Result
- DUTCH GP – George Russell pips Lando Norris by four hundredths to take sprint pole
- DUTCH GP – Kimi Antonelli a tenth faster than Lando Norris in practice ahead of a possible tight sprint qualifying
- Welcome to the Dutch Grand Prix – 20/08/2026
- PRIXVIEW – Dutch Grand Prix
