ZANDVOORT, The Netherlands — George Russell claimed a commanding victory in the Sprint at the Dutch Grand Prix, the Briton converting the pole into a win ahead of Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris.
Russell had made a strong launch when the 24-lap event got underway and – despite seeing his advantage ebb and flow at times – the Mercedes driver managed to maintain a decent lead over Norris as the laps progressed.
While a fight unfolded behind in the latter stages for second place – with Leclerc sweeping past Norris on Lap 18 – Russell remained clear at the front and crossed the line in P1 just as rain started to fall, marking the third time that he has turned pole position into a Sprint triumph.
Leclerc held onto second place for Ferrari – the Monegasque making his soft tires last well – while Norris faced pressure from a chasing Kimi Antonelli down to the wire, but the McLaren racer ultimately took third 0.3 seconds ahead of the championship leader.
Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) and Oscar Piastri completed the top five.
“Obviously a great start to the weekend,” Russell said. “The three of us were just talking – if there was one more lap, it would’ve potentially been a very different end to the race so I was glad the rain came when it did.
“I knew if there were going to be any overtakes, they were going to be towards the end of the race, so I knew I just wanted to manage my tires a little bit through the high-speed corners and have a bit more in the tank come the end of the race.
“I knew if Charles got past Lando, he would’ve been fast. As soon as I saw Charles behind, I sort of dropped the hammer a little bit and the two of us pulled away.”
