Zandvoort delivered the drama as F1 returned to action for a final 10-round run \u2013 Oscar Piastri storming to victory, team mate and title rival Lando Norris retiring, Isack Hadjar scoring his first-ever podium, and much, much more…<\/p>\n
After cutting Piastri\u2019s championship lead to nine points at the Hungarian Grand Prix, a painful DNF for Norris in the closing stages of Sunday\u2019s encounter in the Netherlands means the Briton is now 34 points adrift<\/a>.<\/p>\n With plenty of talking points and storylines up and down the order, here is F1.com\u2019s round up of everything that happened at Zandvoort…<\/p>\n Advantage Piastri in the title race<\/p>\n Arriving into the weekend at Zandvoort, the intra-team battle between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris looked as if it could go either way. Piastri headed the Drivers\u2019 Championship \u2013 but momentum appeared to be on Norris\u2019 side, the Briton having won at three of the four final races prior to the summer break.<\/p>\n Norris continued that run of form by topping all three practice sessions ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix, yet it was Piastri who grabbed pole position in Qualifying and went on to make a solid launch when Sunday\u2019s race got underway.<\/p>\n McLaren executed the first two Safety Car phases well by double-stacking their drivers, allowing their 1-2 formation to remain in place. And while Norris stayed in pursuit of his team mate throughout, Piastri looked in commanding form as he continued to hold the lead.<\/p>\n Any potential challenge from Norris in the latter stages was diminished when the 25-year-old was forced to retire after a mechanical failure on his car (more on which below), but Piastri still had to navigate another Safety Car period \u2013 and the potential threat of Max Verstappen behind him on soft tyres at the restart \u2013 to seal his triumph<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Australian did so to complete a sterling afternoon at Zandvoort, and in the process took a clear advantage in the championship by stretching his lead out to 34 points over Norris.<\/p>\n “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,” Piastri reflected afterwards.<\/p>\n Heartbreak for Norris with late retirement<\/p>\n As touched on above, the outcome of the Dutch Grand Prix was a bittersweet affair for McLaren. While Piastri had reason to celebrate, the team suffered a blow on the other side of the garage after a rare technical issue struck Norris.<\/p>\n Having initially lost a position at the start to Verstappen, Norris soon retook P2 and from there set about chasing down Piastri. That challenge looked set to heat up in the final stages of the race \u2013 but it all came to an end in dramatic style when smoke started to emerge from Norris\u2019 MCL39.<\/p>\n After slowing down, the British driver pulled off the track and cut a dejected figure as he stepped out of his car, watching on from the sand dunes as his prospects in the championship fight took a knock.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just a tough race,” Norris conceded later on. \u201cI was a bit disappointed, but there\u2019s nothing I could really do about it in the end. Frustrating, but it\u2019s out of my control, so nothing I could do.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the disappointment, the nine-time race winner is still taking positives from his performance at Zandvoort as he prepares to go again in just a few days\u2019 time at Monza.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought I did a good job, but it doesn\u2019t help much, doesn\u2019t mean much,\u201d Norris explained. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean I got more points or whatever, it\u2019s just reassuring that the pace was strong, and I look ahead to the next one.\u201d<\/p>\n Ferrari endure double DNF ahead of Monza<\/p>\n A double retirement after crashes for both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc meant Ferrari’s Dutch Grand Prix ended on a low note.<\/p>\n Hamilton only reached as far as Lap 22 before colliding with the barrier<\/a> on the exit of the banked Turn 3, having lost control over the painted concrete advertising as light rain fell.<\/p>\n “I got to Turn 3 and had a snap and I couldn\u2019t recover it,” said Hamilton, who had been running seventh at the time of the accident. \u201cIt\u2019s not a normal sort of thing for me to have, [to] crash out of a race.”<\/p>\n The same spot would later claim Leclerc on Lap 52<\/a>, the Monegasque driver rejoining after a pit stop before being hit by Kimi Antonelli after the Mercedes driver had tried to cut inside and drifted up into the Ferrari.<\/p>\n “What created the incident is Kimi being overly optimistic, which is fine \u2013 you\u2019ve got to be aggressive and mistakes happen” said Leclerc, with Antonelli handed a 10-second penalty for the collision. “But it hurts, because it cost a lot to the team after what was a good race.”<\/p>\n The double retirement leaves the Scuderia just 12 points ahead of Mercedes<\/a> in the battle for second in the Constructors’ Championship, with the pressure facing Ferrari set to be at its highest this weekend on home turf at Monza.<\/p>\n That uphill battle for Monza was added to post-race, meanwhile, with Hamilton handed a five-place grid drop<\/a> for the Italian Grand Prix due to a pre-race double yellow flag infringement.<\/p>\n Elation for first-time podium finisher Hadjar<\/p>\n On just his 15th Grand Prix start, Isack Hadjar claimed his first podium<\/a> with a fine drive to third place in the Dutch Grand Prix.<\/p>\n The 20-year-old rookie, who in the process became the youngest Frenchman to claim a Formula 1 rostrum, impressed throughout the weekend at the Zandvoort Circuit, having claimed a sensational fourth on the grid alongside reigning World Champion Max Verstappen.<\/p>\n After holding both Charles Leclerc and George Russell behind in the race, Hadjar was able to capitalise following Lando Norris’ late retirement to jump onto the podium, which was Racing Bulls’ first since 2021 when it was known as AlphaTauri.<\/p>\n “It feels a bit unreal. What was most surprising for me was keeping that fourth place for the whole race,” said Hadjar.<\/p>\n “Unfortunately for Lando, we took advantage of his [retirement] but we did no mistakes. The car was on rails the whole weekend and I’m really happy about myself because I really maximised what I had.”<\/p>\n Verstappen puts on a show for the home crowd<\/p>\n Arriving in Zandvoort, Max Verstappen sought to defend a near-perfect record of three wins and a second place at his home Grand Prix. But while an opening lap lunge to pass Lando Norris for second gave hope to the watching fans, Verstappen knew he would have little chance of keeping the McLaren driver behind.<\/p>\n A pair of Safety Car interventions allowed him to add further pressure by running softer tyre compounds, but even on the hardest rubber, he had no answer. However, Norris\u2019 late retirement with a reliability issue promoted Verstappen onto the second step, sending the grandstands into raptures.<\/p>\n