F1 Dutch Grand Prix 2025 Recap: Oscar Piastri holds on for an eventful win

Championship leader Oscar Piastri resumed proceedings in stellar fashion by converting his pole into a seventh win of the season at the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix, as Formula One returned after the summer break.

Home hero Max Verstappen finished P2, with McLaren unable to secure a fifth consecutive one-two as an engine issue forced Lando Norris to retire from the race and leave Zandvoort with no points, further boosting his teammate’s title chances.

Norris’ DNF ended up handing Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar a career-first podium, with the French-Algerian putting in a sublime and composed drive to finish P3. Haas’ Ollie Bearman, meanwhile, also registered a career-best finish of P6 after starting from the pit lane, giving his American team a good haul of points.

Verstappen’s P2 saw him return to the podium after four races — a dry patch he had not experienced since 2018.

As the lights went out, it was Oscar Piastri leading his teammate off the line. While the two McLaren drivers went easy at the start, Max Verstappen charged behind them — right up in Lando Norris’ gearbox — and picked off Norris for P2 at Turn 2, while Charles Leclerc also made up a place at the start as he got past George Russell.

Norris took back P2 from Verstappen on Lap 9, squeezing past the reigning world champion. Piastri, meanwhile, maintained the lead at the front.

The first big action of the race came on Lap 24, when Lewis Hamilton crashed into the barriers at Turn 3, which brought out the Safety Car. Carlos Sainz, the man Hamilton replaced at Ferrari, was in the thick of things at the restart as he hit Liam Lawson at Turn 1 and was handed a ten-second penalty.

After Hamilton’s crash, things went from bad to worse for Ferrari as Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli clipped the other SF-25 of Charles Leclerc on Lap 54, going inside the Monégasque at Turn 3, which saw Leclerc crash out and brought out the Safety Car again.

The Safety Car saw the grid dive into the pits, including the frontrunners. Antonelli was consequently handed a ten-second penalty.

The Safety Car came in three laps later, with Piastri leading a bunched-up grid. Norris saw off Verstappen on a pair of softs at the restart, while Ollie Bearman — having started from the pit lane — moved up to P8, making up more places at the restart.

Norris suffered an engine issue on Lap 65 and stopped on the track to get the Safety Car out once again. The Safety Car came in on Lap 68 as Piastri once again led the pack, this time with Verstappen behind him.

Piastri managed to see off Verstappen, while Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar saw off George Russell to secure his maiden podium.

Russell finished P4 ahead of Alex Albon in fifth. Behind Bearman in P6, Lance Stroll — who crashed twice across the weekend — picked up an incredible P7 ahead of his teammate Fernando Alonso. Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda and Haas’ Esteban Ocon rounded out the points places.

Antonelli’s penalty eventually ended up dropping the rookie Italian right to the back of the grid, which meant Mercedes left Zandvoort with only one driver in the points, which they’ll be ruing especially on a weekend where their rivals had a host of issues.

With Norris unable to score points in Zandvoort, Piastri has extended his lead in the Drivers’ standings to 34 points, while Verstappen is now 70 points behind Norris.

With a double-header resuming the season, F1 action returns in a week’s time as the grid heads to Monza for the Italian Grand Prix.