Race report
Formula 1 Dutch GP
F1 Dutch GP: George Russell dominates sprint race as Kimi Antonelli misses the podium
Russell won the Saturday race at Zandvoort from pole, while his championship-leading team-mate Antonelli could only muster fourth
Edited: Aug 22, 2026, 12:11 PM
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George Russell, Mercedes
Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images
George Russell dominated the Dutch Grand Prix sprint race from pole for his third Saturday victory of the 2026 Formula 1 campaign.
The Mercedes driver led all the way from lights out in a rather processional affair with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Lando Norris completing the podium at a dry Zandvoort.
It came after Russell grabbed pole on Friday after profiting from floor damage for his team-mate Kimi Antonelli, who lost “25 points” of downforce due to an off at the penultimate corner in SQ1.
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That left the championship leader fifth on the grid behind a front row of Russell and Norris, with Leclerc and Norris’ team-mate Oscar Piastri respectively lining up third and fourth.
At lights out, Russell enjoyed a solid getaway by holding Norris at bay, but Antonelli immediately gained a place with a sweeping move around the outside of Piastri at Turn 1.
The 19-year-old applied instant pressure on Leclerc, who started on soft tyres compared to the rest on medium rubber, but as expected overtaking proved difficult.
The opening laps were rather static around the tight seaside circuit, but the evenly-matched drivers still remained within touching distance of each other as they preserved their tyres.
Lando Norris reported a lack of rear grip
Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
Everything started to ramp up, though, come lap 10 when Mercedes allowed Russell to push harder and the leader quickly streaked clear of a now vulnerable Norris by two seconds.
“I’ve got no rear,” reported the reigning world champion, who couldn’t keep his eyes off the Ferrari and Mercedes in his mirrors and that pressure from behind never died.
It resulted in Leclerc finally making his overtake down the inside of Norris at Turn 1 on lap 18 and while the Ferrari quickly pulled ahead, the McLaren still had to defend from Antonelli.
But once again at Zandvoort, staying within a second of the car in front is one thing, yet overtaking is another, and all Norris really needed to do was keep it within the white lines.
That he did, so the 26-year-old managed to hold on to third behind winner Russell, who crossed the line 1.4 seconds ahead of Leclerc - the Ferrari driver taking his third sprint podium of 2026.
Antonelli took fourth, 0.4s off Norris, with an extra 4.6s to fifth-placed Piastri who had Red Bull’s Max Verstappen just 0.3s behind in sixth in front of his home crowd.
Lewis Hamilton was never in contention aboard the sister Ferrari as he took seventh, with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly completing the points positions in eighth.
F1 Dutch GP: Sprint results
All Stats
Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval km/h Pits Points Retirement Chassis Engine 1 G. Russell Mercedes 63
24
30'25.318
201.485 8 Mercedes Mercedes 2 C. Leclerc Ferrari 16
24
+1.360
30'26.678
1.360 201.335 7 Ferrari Ferrari 3 L. Norris McLaren 1
24
+5.196
30'30.514
3.836 200.914 6 McLaren Mercedes 4
A. Kimi Antonelli Mercedes
12 24
+5.581
30'30.899
0.385 200.871 5 Mercedes Mercedes 5 O. Piastri McLaren 81
24
+10.185
30'35.503
4.604 200.367 4 McLaren Mercedes 6 M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing 3
24
+10.529
30'35.847
0.344 200.330 3 Red Bull Red Bull 7 L. Hamilton Ferrari 44
24
+12.188
30'37.506
1.659 200.149 2 Ferrari Ferrari 8 P. Gasly Alpine 10
24
+42.510
31'07.828
30.322 196.900 1 Alpine Mercedes 9 G. Bortoleto Audi 5
24
+44.437
31'09.755
1.927 196.697 Audi Audi 10 A. Lindblad Racing Bulls 41
24
+44.971
31'10.289
0.534 196.641 RB Red Bull 11 L. Lawson Red Bull Racing 30
24
+47.471
31'12.789
2.500 196.378 Red Bull Red Bull 12 F. Colapinto Alpine 43
24
+54.466
31'19.784
6.995 195.648 Alpine Mercedes 13 Y. Tsunoda Racing Bulls 22
24
+56.483
31'21.801
2.017 195.438 RB Red Bull 14 E. Ocon Haas F1 Team 31
24
+1'06.098
31'31.416
9.615 194.444 Haas Ferrari 15 O. Bearman Haas F1 Team 87
24
+1'06.588
31'31.906
0.490 194.394 Haas Ferrari 16 A. Albon Williams 23
24
+1'14.632
31'39.950
8.044 193.571 Williams Mercedes 17 L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing 18
24
+1'14.650
31'39.968
0.018 193.569 Aston Martin Honda 18 F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing 14
24
+1'15.284
31'40.602
0.634 193.505 Aston Martin Honda 19 V. Bottas Cadillac F1 Team 77
23
+1 Lap
30'29.227
1 Lap 192.673 Cadillac Ferrari 20 C. Sainz Williams 55
23
+1 Lap
31'03.041
33.814 189.176 1 Williams Mercedes 21 S. Perez Cadillac F1 Team 11
21
+3 Laps
31'27.795
2 Laps 170.452 Cadillac Ferrari dnf N. Hulkenberg Audi 27
7
+17 Laps
30'43.640
14 Laps 58.105 1 Retirement Audi Audi View full results
Photos from Dutch GP - Saturday
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Formula 1
39
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