ZANDVOORT, The Netherlands — Oscar Piastri won Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix at the Zandvoort Circuit on a day when his McLaren teammate Lando Norris failed to finish.
The surprising retirement of Norris allowed Piastri to stretch his point lead to 34 points heading into next week’s Italian Grand Prix.
Piastri had made a good start from pole when the race got underway, the Australian going on to build a lead from Max Verstappen after the Red Bull had overtaken Norris early on in Lap 1.
Norris, however, went on to retake the position.
The race then faced a potential turn when the Safety Car was deployed after Lewis Hamilton hit the barriers on Lap 23, leading to a flurry of action in the pits. McLaren double-stacked their drivers and, despite a slight delay for Norris, both cars maintained position.
Norris continued his chase of his teammate from there and – despite a second Safety Car after a collision between Charles Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli that put the Ferrari out of the race – the fight looked to still be open as the race entered into its final stages.
However, everything changed when smoke started to emerge from Norris’ McLaren with just a few laps to go, forcing him to retire at the side of the track on lap 64.
Piastri held off Verstappen by 1.271 seconds to seal his seventh Grand Prix win of the season.
Piastri was in control from start to finish.
“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,” he said. “It was a bit of a different race to 12 months ago so very happy with all the work we’ve done to try and improve around here. Very satisfied to come out on top.”
Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar converted an impressive fourth-place start into his first podium finish during his rookie campaign.
George Russell took fourth for Mercedes, while Williams’ Alex Albon claimed fifth after starting 15th.
Haas’ Ollie Bearman – who started from the pit lane – crossed the line in sixth after the American outfit made a one-stop strategy work.
Aston Martin drivers Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso claimed seventh and eighth, respectively.
