Round 12 of the 2026 F1 season has been completed at the final Dutch GP in Zandvoort, view the full race report here.
Following 3rd in the Sprint, Lando Norris started on pole position for the Grand Prix itself, outpacing Saturday’s winner by George Russell by a tenth. Championship leader Kimi Antonelli and Oscar Piastri started on the second row as McLaren and Mercedes occupied the top 4 spots.
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were on the third row for Ferrari, with the Red Bull duo of Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson on the fourth one. Gabriel Bortoleto and Arvid Lindblad rounded out the top 10.
The top 4 started on mediums, along with Gasly, Colapinto and Ocon. The Cadillacs were on hards. Everyone else went for softs. That was despite rain before the race and some damp areas.
The race is underway at the 2026 F1 Dutch GP
Norris got a great start, holding the lead. Antonelli jumped teammate Russell, with Leclerc up to 4th as he got side-by-side with Hamilton and Verstappen as the Dutchman had to take to the grass with the Brit coming across to avoid contact with his Ferrari teammate.
Then the Red Bull drivers had small contact out of turn 3 as Verstappen just managed to hold off Lawson. Gasly jumped both Lindblad and Bortoleto as Audi had another bad first lap.
Red flag
With the track wet in the last sector, Max Verstappen lost the car in the banked final corner and had a big crash as he held a tighter line compared to drivers around him. While the driver was thankfully okay, his car certainly was not.
In a separate incident, Gabriel Bortoleto had a massive spin but somehow did not find the wall or get hit, particularly by teammate Nico Hülkenberg.
Because of lots of debris, a red flag was rightly thrown by Race Control.
Arvid Lindblad (on Pierre Gasly) and Franco Colapinto (on Yuki Tsunoda) were placed under investigation for overtaking under double yellow flags through the crash area.
Norris, Antonelli, Russell, Leclerc, Piastri, Hamilton, Lawson, Lindblad, Gasly and Colapinto was the top 10 on the restart. The race leader was on softs, with the Mercedes on mediums. Leclerc was also on softs, with Piastri on hards.
Hamilton and Lawson were on softs, with Lindblad, Gasly and Colapinto on mediums.
As they went to form on the grid, Ollie Bearman conked out in the middle sector as he reported his engine giving up. Another formation lap was called.
Race resumes
As it got going on lap 5, Antonelli got the better launch and bravely kept it down the inside for the lead. Piastri jumped Leclerc as well, before brilliantly taking 3rd from Russell into turn 7. Hülkenberg jumped Tsunoda and Colapinto to be 9th.
Lindblad and Colapinto were handed drive-through penalties for overtaking under double yellows, dropping to P19 and P20.
Antonelli, Norris, Piastri, Russell, Leclerc, Hamilton, Lawson, Gasly, Hülkenberg and Tsunoda was the top 10 once the Brit and Argentinian drivers boxed.
First stops
On lap 18, Russell pitted from 4th as he fitted the hard tyre. The Brit swept past Hülkenberg on his out lap. McLaren tried to cover with Piastri but a 5.4s stop allowed the Mercedes driver to get the jump.
At the end of lap 21, Antonelli, Norris, Leclerc and Lawson all pitted. The Italian and Brit fitted hards, with the Monegasque and Kiwi going to the mediums. Lewis Hamilton extended a further four tours, rejoining in 6th. He fitted hards.
In a manic midfield fight, Nico Hülkenberg cleared Gasly, Lindblad and Sainz in quick succession to move up into 9th place. A fierce battle between the Racing Bulls and Alpine drivers opened the door for the German to make passes in turn 2, and then down at turn 1. Tsunoda then made a brilliant pass on Gasly before turn 7 for position, and then cleared his teammate and Sainz.
As Oscar Piastri started to struggle on his hards, Charles Leclerc forced him into a defensive move into turn 1, with the driver from Monaco getting the run out of it and making the move into turn 2. Hamilton then got the run and passed Piastri into turn 1 on the next tour.
Running in a brilliant P8, Alonso stopped halfway through to make sure he only needed to make one stop in full race conditions. He critically passed Albon soon after to get into clean air.
Second stops begin
Both Kimi Antonelli and George Russell came in at the end of lap 40 as Norris was putting pressure on the race leader and championship leader. Leclerc, dropping off on the mediums and holding up Hamilton, came in three tours later for hards as well.
Having extended to lap 47, Norris pitted from the lead and rejoined in 3rd. He went steaming after the Italian and was taking lots of lap time out of him.
As Lewis Hamilton had stayed out, Antonelli had a look into turn 1 at the start of lap 54 for the lead but backed out of it. Norris then swept around the outside for 2nd, before passing the Ferrari for the lead ahead of turn 11.
A VSC
After Antonelli cleared Hamilton, a VSC was thrown on lap 55 as Esteban Ocon stopped on the inside of turn 3. The Italian, Brit and Charles Leclerc all boxed for softs, rejoining in 3rd, 4th and 5th.
On the restart, Pierre Gasly got his elbows out and made a feisty pass on Yuki Tsunoda for P10.
With 10 laps to go, Norris comfortably led by over 10s from Russell, with Antonelli, Hamilton and Leclerc closing rapidly on the Brit for 2nd.
On lap 66, Mercedes swapped the cars into turn 1 as the championship leader had a massive tyre delta.
Another VSC
The VSC appeared once more because of debris. Carlos Sainz had a massive lock-up and hit teammate Alex Albon. He was handed a 10-second penalty. Colapinto and Lawson got that time penalty as well for failing to slow enough for yellows.
Norris wins the 2026 F1 Dutch GP
As Norris stormed to victory, Antonelli had to settle for P2 as the Brit was too fast. George Russell brilliantly held off the Ferrari duo for 3rd. Piastri, Lawson, Hülkenberg, Alonso and Gasly rounded out the top 10.
