Lando Norris took victory in what is currently the final Dutch Grand Prix as hometown hero Verstappen crashes on lap 1.
The race start saw George Russell get off to a bad start as he would drop from 2nd to 3rd place on the run to turn 1, losing a position to teammate Kimi Antonelli, though Norris on pole was able to get away smoothly to retain first place.
Further back, Piastri would begin moving towards the outside of the track on the run to turn 1, which caused a chain reaction from both Leclerc and Hamilton having to do the same thing to try and avoid contact, which in turn meant Verstappen, who had a good run on Hamilton, to be forced slightly onto the grass. This gave Lawson a brief opportunity to try and overtake Verstappen, but the 4 time world champion would be able to defend.
Rain had fallen onto the race track before the start of the race, but most of it had dried up by the time the action got underway, which meant that all the drivers had elected to start the race on dry tyres.
The one part of the track that was still damp was the final couple of corners, which caught out Max Verstappen at the end of lap 1 when he spun his car around and hit the wall at the final corner, taking him out of his final home Grand Prix and bringing out a red flag.
Gabriel Bortoleto also had a spin at that damp final corner, but was able to catch the car after a 360 degree spin, and having avoided any contact with another driver, he was able to continue with his race like nothing had happened.
The restart of the race would have to be delayed by an extra lap as Ollie Bearman would have his engine fail on the way back to the grid, causing the race director to order the grid to do an extra formation lap.
When the race actually got going again, Kimi Antonelli was able to get an incredible launch off the line to challenge Norris for the lead of the race. Norris would try to defend very hard and squeeze Antonelli to the inside, but the current championship leader was able to get the move completed by the time he came out of turn 1.
While one Mercedes was having a strong restart, another was having an awful one, as George Russell would fall down to fourth after Oscar Piastri made an audacious move down the inside of turn 7, before Russell would then find himself under threat from Charles Leclerc, though the Brit was able to keep 4th from the Monegasque.
The race would soon settle into something of a procession, primarily characterised by Leclerc continuing his efforts to dislodge Russell from his 4th place position, but to no avail.
Feeling the pressure from Leclerc, Russell would come into the pits on lap 18, strapping on a new set of hard tyres, though he would come out behind some traffic. Piastri ahead would respond one lap later, but a slow pit stop would cost him a position to Russell, who turned possibly dropping to 5th into climbing up to 3rd.
While there had been some more processional racing during the middle point of the race, there was also some incredible racing in the mid pack, as both Audis, Racing Bulls and Pierre Gasly were all scrapping for what would effectively become the lower points paying positions.
Hulkenberg would find himself gaining a couple of positions within a handful of corners after overtaking Gasly due to the Alpine having a lock up at turn 11, before then sweeping around the outside of Arvid Lindblad at turn 1 just moments later. Yuki Tsunoda would also make an overtake on Gasly just a couple of laps later in a move that would be reminiscent of Piastri’s overtake earlier on in the race.
Leclerc started to look like he could threaten Piastri to take 4th place from the McLaren, and on lap 34 Leclerc would finally get his chance, initially looking to go outside with Piastri defending, but Leclerc would then sweep to the inside throughout the mid point of the corner, managing to get the better exit into turn 2 and solidifying the overtake.
Piastri’s woes weren’t over, as just one lap later the other Ferrari of Hamilton would himself overtake Piastri in order to climb up to 5th, having made a simple overtake on the inside of turn 1.
Antonelli would come into the pits once again on lap 41, having started to get somewhat pressured by Norris, who hadn’t allowed the Italian to pull away into the distance. Mercedes would elect to double stack their cars, with Russell perfectly pulling into the pit box the moment that Antonelli left.
Norris would elect to stay out in order to build a tyre offset, and both Ferrari’s would also stay out, though there was a bit of inter-team controversy brewing on track.
Hamilton, with his fresher tyres, had managed to catch up to the back of his teammate, alluding to his team that they should swap. Leclerc would be told to pit on lap 43, but he would refuse to do so, and no call to swap the cars had been made. While Leclerc would go on to pit one lap later, Hamilton lost a lot of time, and was evidently very annoyed with his team over the radio.
Norris would finally make his second stop on lap 48, and while he would come out 6 seconds behind Antonelli, he did crucially have 7 lap fresher tyres to use until the end of the race.
That gap would seem to come down very quickly, as Antonelli would struggle for pace, complaining about the rear tyres, all the while Norris was just flying on track.
Norris would eventually climb up to 1st place on lap 54, having initially passed Antonelli at turn 1 to take 2nd place, before then overtaking Hamilton, who was still yet to make his second stop, at turn 11.
Hamilton would get very lucky just one lap later as a Virtual Safety Car would come out on lap 55, giving him a much cheaper pit stop than those around him. Others would also come in during the VSC period, such as Leclerc, Piastri and even Antonelli on the following lap, who managed to just come out ahead of Hamilton, but now behind Russell.
Antonelli would catch up pretty quickly to Russell once green flag running resumed, to the point where the two Mercedes cars would swap positions on lap 66, with Russell lamenting over the radio that the chance for a double podium was over, as Hamilton was himself on quite a strong charge.
Russell was putting in a strong defensive effort though, and even had himself a bit of luck as another VSC was brought out on lap 70 right as Hamilton was as close as he had ever been. This was due to debris being left over after the two Williams cars made contact with one another.
In the end, Russell didn’t need to worry about losing the double podium, as he managed to valiantly hold on to his 3rd place right until the end of the race, joining Norris in 1st and Antonelli second on the podium.
The result means that while Antonelli still extends his lead at the top, Russell now overtakes Hamilton for 2nd place in the championship.
The next race will be the Italian Grand Prix held at Monza, which will take place in two weeks time on Sunday, September 6.
