Norris Enters Championship Fight with Back-to-Back Wins
Lando Norris picked up where he left off before the Formula 1 summer break by taking an excellent victory from pole position for the final-ever Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort. Not everybody left the Netherlands happy, though, as Max Verstappen had an awful home race and Sir Lewis Hamilton was left rueing what could've been.
Video Transcript
Will the 2026 Dutch Grand Prix be the final ever Formula One race around Zandvoort?
Probably, to be honest.
But what is for absolute certain is that it was actually a pretty good race.
People saying that Zandvoort doesn't produce good races, well, watch this one.
I actually think it was pretty good, to be honest.
And when it comes to the championship as well, there are some huge ramifications for the remainder of the season, because I firmly believe we've got another protagonist who has joined the fun, joined the party at the front of the order when it comes to the Driver's Championship, and it's none other than the Drivers' Champion himself.
Let's dive into all the things that we learned, the five main highlights from the 2026 Dutch Grand Prix.
Well, the first thing that we learned is that the rain would eventually play havoc.
Now, the start of this Grand Prix was in damp conditions.
Some people, including Lando Norris, who of course started this Grand Prix from pole position, were saying that this was going to be an intermediate start.
That didn't happen.
Everybody started on the dry tires, but coming onto the end of the first lap, it caused havoc.
It caused havoc for arguably the greatest driver ever in terms of wet weather driving.
I don't think he is, by the way.
I think that's firmly Ayrton Senna, but let's not get into that debate right now.
Surely a great driver, and without a doubt, the home hero of this Grand Prix, Max Verstappen, was out before the end of the first lap.
He spun going through the final corner.
He just lost grip.
He went too fast.
He said that he messed up, basically.
He made a mistake, and it was a very easy mistake to make as well.
It was rather wet in that final corner, and you have to make sure that you ace it going down to turn one because that's really the main overtaking point on the track.
It's not the only overtaking point, but it is by far the easiest overtaking opportunity on the track is Tarzan hairpin.
So Max Verstappen spun around, spun out, went into the barriers.
Quite a big impact.
Thankfully, he was okay.
Gabby Bortoleto, he spun.
I thought he was out as well, actually, but he somehow managed to survive.
Nico Hulkenberg, his teammate at the Audi team, he almost hit him.
He almost T-boned him, in his own words.
But thankfully, both Audis survived.
But unfortunately for Gabby Bortoleto, this really impacted his race.
He started in the top 10, but he leaves here with nil points, unfortunately for him, 13th, unlucky for him.
But it wasn't a bad day overall for Audi.
But let's focus on the Red Bull drivers.
Of course, Max Verstappen, he was out of the Grand Prix after the first lap.
The race was red flagged.
They later restarted a good while after.
That's why this Grand Prix took over two hours to complete in total because we stopped for about half an hour or so just to clean all the debris from the track.
And when they restarted, the track was dry at this point.
It was very green, but it was also very dry.
So no problems in terms of a lack of grip going through that final corner or any other part of the circuit for that matter.
But of course, we had a mixed up order at Red Bull this weekend, not only for the Red Bull Racing team, but also for the Racing Bulls team.
We had Liam Lawson, who was deputizing for Isack Hadjar, who of course missed this Grand Prix due to a wrist injury.
And Lawson, to his credit, he finished in seventh place.
He did a fine job, in my opinion.
Now, of course, some people will say, "Well, of course, he's gonna finish there.
He did the bare minimum.
It was a mid-performance at best.
He finished in seventh."
Just shut up, man.
He was parachuted into that team at the last minute and was told to get in the car and drive it as fast as he can, and he did.
He was not that far off of Max Verstappen in qualifying.
We don't know where Max Verstappen would have been in this Grand Prix.
Honestly, given the lack of pace in that Red Bull, I think he probably would have been sixth, maybe ahead of Oscar Piastri, perhaps.
But honestly, on the balance of things, probably seventh, probably a good distance ahead of Liam Lawson.
But it was over 40 seconds between Piastri and Lawson.
So good job by Lawson.
And that also tells us a lot in terms of the characteristics of that Red Bull.
It clearly is a lot easier to drive because Lawson struggled massively with the Red Bull last year.
Hadjar has got on top of the Red Bull this year, and Lawson got on top of it in one Grand Prix, which does tell me that this car is a lot easier to drive.
And maybe that's why Max Verstappen's not quite as quick as he has been historically compared to his teammate.
Just a thought.
But of course, someone had to fill Liam Lawson's seat at the Racing Bulls team, and that was none other than Yuki Tsunoda, who got so close to points.
He was running in points for a good while during this Grand Prix.
But unfortunately for him, he ended up in 11th just outside of the top 10.
Arvid Lindblad, he had a problem as well.
I think he had a drive-through penalty for a yellow flag infringement.
I don't actually know what he did to earn that.
Franco Colapinto ended up finishing in 14th as well.
He also had a drive-through penalty as well.
So Lindblad and Colapinto actually did quite well, in my opinion, to get up to 12th and 14th place respectively, despite those penalties.
So yeah, a mixed day for the Red Bull teams overall, but encouraging really for Lawson, I would say.
Also encouraging for Tsunoda.
That's a good audition for him to be able to try and get a seat for 2027.
Although, as you will probably see in the coming weeks on my who will drive where in 2027 video, which I've recorded but not managed to edit yet, I do not have Yuki Tsunoda on the grid for 2027, unfortunately.
I can't see where he's going to go.
Unless Fernando Alonso retires from Aston Martin, the Honda connection may be playing a part there in getting him a seat.
I don't know.
It'd be a big upgrade on Lance Stroll, but personally, I don't really see them binning Lance Stroll off just yet, Aston Martin, even though they really should.
Because Fernando Alonso, second thing we learned, we had some real standout point scorers in this one, Fernando Alonso being one of those.
He managed to score ninth place on merit.
I mean, yeah, there were virtual safety cars.
There was an early red flag.
Verstappen was took out right at the start.
You know, all these factors did play into Fernando Alonso being able to get into the top 10 in his Aston Martin.
But still, almost the entire field finished.
Well, 16 cars finished the Grand Prix in the end.
But Alonso was running in ninth place even when the likes of Bottas and Albon and Ocon and Stroll were still in the Grand Prix.
So it was a really good effort from the Spaniard.
You could argue his point in Monaco was lucky.
This one was absolutely earned.
Likewise as well, Nico Hulkenberg.
I mean, he's took a while to score points for Audi this season, but here he is up in eighth place, four points for the Audi team.
Absolutely superb.
Hulk absolutely smashed it.
And like I covered in the previous point, thankfully he didn't smash into his teammate during that first lap incident before the red flag.
So good effort from them.
Shout out as well to Pierre Gasly in the Alpine picking up another point.
He gets the odd point here and there, does Gasly.
He's very, very consistent in that Alpine machine.
Not the best car, not the worst car, but still, he's consistently getting points.
Their problem is that they're not getting big points.
They need, like, a sixth, a seventh, something like that to really climb the order, but that car doesn't unfortunately not seem capable of being able to do that.
Third thing we learned, missed opportunity for Ferrari, question mark?
I think certainly so.
They ran a bit of a different strategy compared to most other teams out there.
Now, everybody and their mother was doing a two-stop race during this Grand Prix.
Everybody stopped after the first lap, after the, the red flag, of course, where you can change your tires.
So I'm not really counting that as a pit stop.
Outside of that though, they all did two stops.
I thought maybe Hamilton might have tried to do a one-stop during this race.
He ran longer than everybody else on his initial soft tires, and he ran a good while longer than everybody else on his second tires as well, the hard tires, but he was being caught very quickly by Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
More on him very soon.
Hamilton was also complaining on the radio to his team, saying to Ferrari, "Look, this is a great way to waste time here," while he was stuck behind Charles Leclerc, Charles Leclerc, being stuck behind I think it was George Russell at that point.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but either way, he was being held up.
He was saying, "Look, I can go faster."
And he was going faster.
He caught down, like, a six, seven-second gap to his, to his teammate, Charles Leclerc, in that second stint, as it were.
So Hamilton was really quick, and he was right on the back of George Russell in the closing stages.
I thought he might have been able to do it.
I thought he might have been able to overtake Georgie Boy and get a podium here.
And I think if he wasn't held up by Charles Leclerc earlier in the Grand Prix, I think he would have done.
And I also think he would have been challenging Antonelli by the end as well.
As it was, Hamilton in P4, Ch- Charles Leclerc in P5.
It's not the worst result for Ferrari, both of their cars in the top five, but it could have and should have been more.
And of course, we've got Monza next, don't we?
And they have the weakest engine on the grid.
It could be a difficult weekend for them in their home race.
I hope it's not.
I hope the Tifosi have something to celebrate.
I hope they have a Leclerc or a Hamilton win to celebrate, but I don't really see it.
I don't really see it, to be honest with you.
That Mercedes engine I think is just too strong right now, but we'll see what happens.
Maybe if we didn't have a virtual safety car late on, for Esteban Ocon's car being at the side of the road, maybe things could have been different then.
Who knows?
But Ferrari, missed opportunity.
Good strategy earlier on in the race, but when it came to what was happening later in the race, unfortunately for them, they did make a key error here, it's fair to be said.
But let's talk about Mercedes for the fourth thing.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, he led during large stages of this Grand Prix.
He got ahead of Lando Norris off the line, and he held that lead for a good while.
But it was Sir Lewis who was actually the decisive factor in this, effectively.
Lewis, like I said, he was running longer than everybody else on that second stint.
Norris and Antonelli were right behind him.
They had already stopped for fresh rubber.
But we know how difficult it is to overtake around Zandvoort.
It's a very difficult track to overtake.
It's very narrow, and there's only really one spot where you can do it.
Antonelli was trying to get past, Hamilton, but he wasn't able to do it, and he made a key mistake, and he let Lando Norris through.
To paraphrase the great Murray Walker, he was like a ferret up a drainpipe.
He took that opportunity, and he took it so well.
And of course, he overtook Hamilton not too long after that as well.
A key move that decided the Grand Prix in Norris and McLaren's favor.
More on him for the final point.
Overall, though, you must say despite that error, Antonelli had a really good race today, and his teammate, George Russell, had quite a bad race.
I mean, he lost places at the start.
He started in third, I think, and he dropped behind Oscar Piastri.
Piastri had a pretty poor Grand Prix on the whole.
I'm not sure what really happened there.
I mean, he's the guy who won the race 12 months ago, but he didn't really seem to have much pace.
He was kind of just in no man's land by the end of things.
Way ahead of Lawson, who was in seventh, but a good 15 seconds or so behind Charles Leclerc, who was in fifth.
He was ahead of Leclerc after the final round of stops, but Leclerc made very light work of him.
I don't know what was up with his McLaren, but he just couldn't hook it up.
He did not have the, the mojo, for lack of a better term, the rhythm round this track.
So Antonelli, he gains points on Russell, his closest championship rival.
His other closest rival, Hamilton, he also gains points on him this weekend as well.
Antonelli, didn't win the sprint race, of course, but he did gain three points here on George Russell during the Grand Prix.
So it's pretty much status quo as what it was coming into this race.
And just like I said in the sprint race, he's doing exactly what he needs to do.
You know, he's beating his championship rivals, but did he beat another championship rival?
You could argue that Lando Norris is in that championship fight now.
I think it's a bit of a stretch, to be honest.
But he is ahead of Charles Leclerc now just about.
He's into fourth place as the former number four Of course, he drives the number one these days 'cause he is the defending champion.
He's almost 100 points behind.
To be precise, he is 83 points behind in Ansonelli.
I'm exaggerating a little bit there for effect, some may say.
But you know, you could argue he's in the championship fight.
I mean, you could definitely say going off of this performance, the fact that he's won the first race after the summer break and the last race at the end of the first half of the season, that he is the form driver right now, and he's also a driver who is not far off George Russell, who is in second place.
He's, just 24 points, less than a Grand Prix victory, behind George Russell, who's in second.
So, you know, you got a British trio there of Russell, Hamilton, and Norris.
Rule Britannia, got a little bit of British bias there in Formula 1.
Been a while since we heard that, isn't it?
I mean, maybe some Italian bias is going on.
I mean, Stefano Domenicali, he runs Formula 1.
It could be a conspiracy to make Antonelli the champion in 2026.
Have you heard that before?
Probably not, because it's ridiculous, isn't it?
It's absolutely insane.
But yeah, Antonelli's still in a commanding position in the championship.
But Norris, on this current form, you know, he has every opportunity to get second in the championship, and given how poor McLaren were at the start of this season, that'd be an incredible result.
To beat their constructor- their engine provider, sorry, their power unit provider, Mercedes, over a season, one of their drivers at least, I should say, a George Russell, that would be an unbelievable achievement in my opinion.
You could argue an even bigger achievement than winning the championship last season.
There, I said it.
But Antonelli right now, he is absolutely commanding.
I think we would need two retirements really from Antonelli.
I mean, like I said, he doesn't need to turn up for his home race in Italy.
And for the next one after that, the Mad Ring, the Spanish Grand Prix, I think it is, isn't it?
Oh boy, that's gonna be fun.
Love that track.
But yeah, you know what, Antonelli, don't turn up for the Spanish Grand Prix around the Mad Ring.
That circuit is absolute trash, and it might not even be ready as well.
Have you seen the news reports?
Hopefully it's not ready, but they will make a race around there, Formula 1, even if there's no fans there, even if there's nobody in the grandstands, they will have this vanity project.
It will go ahead because they love a vanity project.
They got so many of them now on the calendar.
But anyway, anyway, positive, stay positive.
I'm gonna miss Zandvoort.
I'm gonna miss Zandvoort.
I think it's a great venue.
I've always said this, it's a good track.
You know, I would much rather have Zandvoort on the calendar than Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, China, Las Vegas, Miami, just to name a few.
Just to name a few.
It's a proper old-school venue, and the fans are brilliant.
It's great the Dutch fans have a Grand Prix in their home nation, but they won't anymore.
Now that's the last one, and I'd be shocked if it comes back.
But then again, I never thought that Turkey and Portugal would come back, and they're back.
I never thought Malaysia would come back, even though it's the Bahrain Grand Prix.
I never thought Sepang would be back, but here we are.
So never say never in Formula 1, but I'm saying probably never on this one.
What did you think of the Dutch Grand Prix, guys?
Not an all-time classic by any means, but a decent Grand Prix.
The sprint race though on Saturday, I mean, watch it if you want, watch the review if you want.
We did one here on the channel, but you didn't really miss much.
You really didn't miss much, I'll be totally honest.
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Have a good one.
