Zandvoort - Race

The anticipated Dutch Saturday brought more excitement than anyone might have expected. It began with Sargeant crashing during a practice session and destroying his newly upgraded Williams and with two drivers from the 'top teams', unable to make it into Q3. It ended with breaking news about Albon and Hamilton falling down the starting order. 

Alex Albon's car was inspected after qualifying ended and his car was found to be breaching technical regulations as its floor was outside the regulatory volume set by the FIA. The William's driver managed to secure an impressive P8 but ended up being disqualified from qualifying. He will start from the back of the pack, side by side with his teammate, Logan Sargeant, whose car did not get fixed in time to participate in the qualifying session. 

Lewis Hamilton's 'crime' wasn't as severe but still cost him a few places. He had impeded Sergio Perez during qualifying and for that was penalised with a three-place grid drop. He was supposed to start the race 12th, but will instead start 15th. 

And now, with all the introductory information out of the way, let's focus on the most important part of the weekend, the Grand Prix itself. Norris was under big pressure to keep the lead into turn one but, unfortunately for all McLaren fans, he had a less-than-perfect send-off, which allowed Verstappen to take the lead in front of his home crowd. The switch between the two wasn't the only change in the top: Russel finished the first lap in 3rd while Leclerc managed to move up to P5. 

There was also movement further down the back as Sainz moved up the track, from P10 to P9. Hamilton, the other top team driver not to start in the top ten, rapidly climbed up the order. By lap 14 he was 10th, quite the improvement from 15th. 

The first pit stop belonged to Albon who drove in for a new set of tires on lap 13. Even though the other drivers followed closely after, the viewers' eyes were far from the pit lane instead being glued to Verstappen and Norris who engaged in, yet another this season, battle for the lead. The Red Bull didn't work in Max's favour, which led to him complaining about the grip. Lando, meanwhile, seemed to be perfectly content with his car. On lap 18 the McLaren flew past the leader, regaining the position it had lost during the start.

Leclerc tried to put some moves of his own on Norris' teammate but, even though he stayed within Piastri's DRS for quite a while, he didn't manage to overtake him. He was the first of the top 5 to drive into the pit, intending to undercut the McLaren in front of him. His decision set off a wave of pits on the top of the field. The strategy proved to be beneficial for the Monegasque: with how quick he was on his fresh tires, before long he was at a net third place. 

Verstappen tried to undercut Norris but the Brit drove down the pit lane only a lap after him and managed to come out before the Red Bull. Piastri pitted on lap 31 and came out a few places behind his main competitor for the third step of the podium, Leclerc. He quickly got through the few drivers that separated them, having overtaken Alonso and Russel within a few laps. This began the fight for P3 that would last until the very end of the Grand Prix. 

With fresh tires, Norris' rapid McLaren truly came to life. He put in fastest lap after fastest lap, moving further away from Verstappen with every turn around the track. By lap 41 his lead was larger than 10 seconds. 

By that point, the first two spots were all but secured so the eyes of the viewers turned to the fight for the last step of the podium. It seemed like it was just a matter of time before Piastri made his move on Leclerc since McLaren had proved to be much quicker than Ferrari, but that wasn't the case. While the Australian driver did get very close, he couldn't seem to find a way past his opponent, always coming just short of overtaking him. And the fighting spirit was alive in both scarlet drivers: Sainz managed to take Perez's P6 right from his nose, flying past him on lap 47. He then set his eyes on his next targets, Russel and Perez

Alonso took 10th from Hulkenberg with only a few laps to go, not long after Gasly stole 9th from him on lap 61. Hamilton and Russel finished hand in hand with P8 and P7 respectively. Perez got past the Mercedes and ended the day in 6th. He didn't manage to gain P5 from Sainz who had a truly impressive driver, gaining five places throughout the race. Piastri tried to jump onto the podium but just couldn't find any space to get past Leclerc. The Monegasque secured his second consecutive podium during a race in which Ferrari seemed to be doomed to fail. And, tried hard as he might, on his 200th career Grand Prix, Verstappen couldn't deliver another win. All his efforts were not enough against the incredible speed of the upgraded McLaren.

It was Lando Norris who won all there was to win with a race win, the fastest lap, and the title of the driver of the day. Even though he lost the lead in the first lap, he didn't let it get to his head and fought hard to find himself on the top step of the podium. For the second time this season, it was Norris' victory. 

Order of the grid:

1. Lando Norris

2. Max Verstappen

3. Charles Leclerc

4. Oscar Piastri

5. Carlos Sainz

6. Sergio Perez

7. George Russel

8. Lewis Hamilton

9. Pierre Gasly

10. Fernando Alonso

11. Nico Hulkenberg 

12. Daniel Ricciardo

13. Lance Stroll

14. Alex Albon

15. Esteban Ocon

16. Logan Sargeant

17. Yuki Tsunoda

18. Kevin Magnussen

19. Valtteri Bottas

20. Zhou Guanyu