Russell Dominates Dull Dutch GP Sprint - F1 Review
George Russell scored maximum points in the Dutch Grand Prix Sprint Race on Saturday, as the British driver closed down the gaps to Kimi Antonelli and Sir Lewis Hamilton in the championship. The affair, though, left a lot to be desired, and many will be glad to see the back of the Zandvoort Circuit.
Video Transcript
The first ever Formula 1 Sprint Race at Zandvoort took place during what could be the final ever Dutch Grand Prix weekend in F1.
And this, of course, is the first race of any kind in Formula 1 since the summer break.
So who impressed around the Zandvoort circuit earlier today in the Netherlands, and who will be very much licking their wounds?
Let's get into the five things that we learned from this race, the penultimate sprint round, believe it or not, already in the 2026 Formula 1 season.
So after taking sprint pole position yesterday on Friday afternoon, it wasn't really a big surprise that George Russell managed to convert this into a victory.
Russell, of course, needs to pick up as many points as possible.
There's a long way still to go in this Formula 1 season, but he needs to pick up as many points as quickly as he can against Antonelli.
He pretty much caught him a good while ago.
All that work was undone.
Now he's hoping to be clawing it back, and he made up a good number of points today in the sprint race.
Of course, the big points are paid during the Grand Prix on Sunday, but this is a good sign for the rest of the weekend for Russell.
He won by 1.3 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc, more on him very soon, and never really looked troubled for that lead.
He was chased through the majority of this sprint race by Lando Norris.
Norris couldn't really get that close to him.
Leclerc, in the end, he ran out of time to be able to get closer to him.
So in the end, a thoroughly professional job from Georgie Boy.
I'll show you the standings in both the teams' and the drivers' championships at the end of the video.
Don't worry.
But not a lot has really changed.
Only eight points for the victory here for a maximum haul, compared to 25 for the Grand Prix tomorrow.
But yeah, Charles Leclerc, I mean, decent day for him.
He started on the soft tires, which was a bit of a bold strategy from Ferrari, but it worked out.
They didn't really seem to be showing that many signs of wear.
If anything, Norris on the medium tires was struggling more.
So the soft tires very much showing that they are quality, and I think a lot of people will probably start the Grand Prix on them tomorrow.
A lot of people, I expect, to probably either go soft-medium or soft-hard during the Grand Prix.
In the sprint race, though, they did all the 24 laps, so I think that does show they're a good set of tires, Ferrari showing that they are good on those tires.
Leclerc's teammate, Sir Lewis Hamilton, down in P7.
Not a great day for him.
Don't worry, I will go through the r- full classified order at the end of the video.
So yeah, good job from Leclerc, as basically as b- as he could have done, really.
It was a good overtake on Lando Norris, but let's speak about the defending world champion next for point three.
Yeah, Norris started in second place.
He finished in third.
His tires just seemed to lose performance towards the end.
It was a bit of a strange overtake as well.
It did seem as though he basically ran out of energy going down the pit straight.
It wasn't really a pass and repass scenario.
It's very difficult to overtake in the Netherlands, part of the reason why I think it's such a bad choice for a sprint round, but don't worry, we'll talk more about that towards the end of the video.
Norris was just holding on to P3 by the end as well.
He was being chased.
He was being hounded.
He was being harangued by Kimi Antonelli, and that was a lot of pressure on Norris's shoulders.
But he did hold on for a sprint podium, so not a bad job, I suppose, all things considered.
I don't know if it's because of something with the car.
I don't know if it's something because of the tires.
I don't know why his tires would have worn out so quickly at the end there.
But he beat his teammate as well, Oscar Piastri, who was down in P5, and he was under pressure from the home hero, Max Verstappen, in the closing stages.
But yeah, point four, let's talk about Antonelli.
Decent job from him today in P4.
Yes, he loses three points to George Russell in the championship.
But in the grand scheme of things, I mean, that's not really , that's not really making much of a difference.
I mean, Russell, what is he on?
He's on 168 points at the moment.
Kimi Antonelli, at the top of the standings, is on 224.
If you do the maths, that's a 56-point gap.
That is over two victories.
So Antonelli could not turn up for the Grand Prix tomorrow and then for the next round in Italy, I think it's Monza after the Netherlands this season, and he'd still be leading the championship.
So Antonelli's not gonna be really troubled by this.
Antonelli, what he needs to do, it doesn't really matter what Russell does.
As long as Antonelli is in and around the podium throughout the remainder of the season and is consistent in doing so, he'll be champion, simple as that.
Doesn't matter what Hamilton does, doesn't matter what Russell does.
He'll be champion at that point pretty much no matter what.
So in the end, P4, I mean, he'll be disappointed not to overtake Lando Norris, but P4 in the grand scheme of things, it's okay.
It'll do.
And right now, that's all he needs to do to win the championship, simple as that.
It sounds simple, but it's anything but, of course.
But yeah, let's talk about the sprint itself.
I mean, this was an absolute dull as Dutch dishwater affair.
I mean, I said this when the sprint calendar got leaked partway through 2025.
I said the Netherlands is a terrible choice for it.
Yes, I know the Oranje Army will be out in force.
Yes, I know this is the final ever Dutch Grand Prix weekend, but there are certain circuits that do not really lend themselves towards a sprint format.
And the Netherlands, unfortunately, is one of them.
Zandvoort is a great track, but it's not one that's gonna be very good to watch cars racing around when there's no pit stops.
The main action normally during a dry Dutch Grand Prix is during the pit stops, during that strategic masterclass from some teams and some strategic disaster classes from other teams, like usually Ferrari, although Ferrari's strategy has become better recently, of course.
Low bar, but they still clear it.
So this is a track that doesn't lend itself towards the sprint format.
Same with Singapore as well for the final sprint.
I mean, that doesn't either.
So yeah, this was exactly what I thought it was gonna be like.
We thought we might get some action in the, like, the last lap.
There was a bit of rain around, and it started to come down quite heavy just after the checkered flag fell.
That could have made it a bit chaotic towards the end, but as it was, it arrived too late.
Just like it did as well for qualifying later in the day.
But we'll speak about that in the qualifying review on YouTube.
This will be part of a compilation video going over Super Saturday in Formula 1 for the Dutch Grand Prix.
But the sprint race was very much not super.
It was, yeah, pretty dull, like I said.
I've already showed you the drivers' standings.
I'll show you the teams' standings as well.
That'll be up on the screen for you guys.
Like I said, not that many changes really, not that many points on offer, of course, during a sprint race.
But just to reiterate it, let's go through the full order here.
George Russell in P1, he gets the full haul of eight points.
Charles Leclerc runner-up in this one on seven points.
Lando Norris in P3, Kimi Rikknen in P4, Oscar Piastri in P5.
Max Verstappen in his home race, he was in sixth place.
Sir Lewis Hamilton in seventh, and Pierre Gasly picking up another point for the Alpine team there in eighth.
Gabby Bortoleto, unfortunately for him, just misses out on points in his Audi.
And of course, look at that Arvid Lindblad ahead of Liam Lawson.
Lawson in the Red Bull racing car for this weekend, replacing Isack Hadjar, of course, injured his wrist.
That means that Yuki Tsunoda is in action this weekend as well.
Unluckily for him though, he was in P13.
Not really a bad effort, to be honest.
I mean, three places behind his teammate who's been in the car the whole season, and we know how different and difficult these cars are to drive this season as well.
So not a bad effort at all, all things considered.
Carlos Sainz, the last of the competitive runners, I suppose you could say, down in P20, one lap behind.
Bottas also a lap behind in the sprint race.
That's a bad sign for Cadillac to be honest with you.
Aston Martin aren't that much better either in 17th and 18th.
Sergio Perez, he was three laps down.
I assume he had some sort of trouble during this race.
I didn't really clock that, to be honest with you.
And Nico Hulkenberg, he finishes, but 17 laps down and not classified during a 24-lap race.
I mean, why did they even bother getting him out there again?
I don't understand that one.
I mean, I suppose it's effectively testing for Audi.
They wanna find out as much as they can about the car, but like just, just let the man pack up.
Let him prepare for qualifying at that point.
There's no, there's no point in keeping him out there.
But anyway, that is the sprint review, guys.
I've somehow managed to record for nearly 10 minutes talking about that absolutely terrible sprint race.
Let me know your thoughts about it in the comments below.
Qualifying was more eventful, put it that way.
Qualifying was more eventful.
More to talk about in that one, and we'll do that in our next video here on the Formula Reports and f1chronicle.com.
See you soon, guys.
Have a good one.
