9 hours ago
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Key events
Starting tyres (again): Softs for Norris, Leclerc, Hamilton and Lawson. Mediums for Antonelli, Russell, Lindblad and Gasly. Piastri on hards.
Red flag: Race to resume in one minute. Two more investigations for a yellow flag infringement, this time for Lindblad and Colapinto. Both incidents were when yellow flags were out, but before the red flags were waved.
Red flag: That was fast – investigation for Ocon over. The stewards have deemed Ocon made the overtake right before the yellow flags. However, because of the red flag, the race will restart from the order at the end of the first lap; Albon starts ahead of Ocon.
Red flag: More replays and angles from the crash show Hulkenberg miraculously coming through so much smoke and only just avoiding Bortoleto.
Red flag: Ocon is under investigation after overtaking Albon when there were initial yellow flags for Verstappen’s crash.
Red flag: As usual under a red flag, the cars have pulled into the pit lane to await the restart. More replays showing Verstappen’s crash and what happened before it. The Dutchman was squeezed on to the grass by Hamilton before a slight touch between the two. He then had a similar exchange with Lawson through turn 3.
Red flag: Verstappen is checked over by the Medical Car, before making his way to the pits on foot.
Bortoleto’s spin means he has dropped from P14 to P18 but he has managed to get his car back into position. He did drive over some debris, so we will keep an eye on how that holds up.
Red flag: Verstappen’s car does not look to be in the best condition. On the radio, he says: “Yeah, that’s it,” before an expletive and an apology.
Verstappen crashes out in second lap at home race
Around the final damp corner, Verstappen crashed after his wheel dipped on the white line and hit the wall hard. He confirms he is OK. Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto also spun out of control.
The red flag comes out.
Lights out: And away we go! No one starts particularly well. Antonelli is through on Russell, Leclerc is past Hamilton and Piastri, and Lawson and Verstappen are side by side and may have barged into each other.
Formation lap: We get started with a safety car so that the track conditions are assessed.
Starting tyres: Every team has assessed that is it dry enough for slicks. Cadillac have opted for the hards while McLaren, Mercedes, Alpine and Ocon in the Haas are on the mediums. Everyone else on the softs.
Standings: A final number crunch before the race here in Zandvoort. After yesterday’s sprint, Kimi Antonelli leads Lewis Hamilton by 53 points Hamilton, and George Russell by 56. Charles Leclerc is in fourth, 79 points behind and the defending champion, Lando Norris, is 90 points adrift.
Weather check: Anthem is underway at the front of the grid. No rain any more but is the track dry enough for slicks at the start? Let’s see.
Ferrari: Fred Vasseur, Ferrari’s team principal, speaks to Sky Sports.
It will be barely wet, it will be barely damp so we will have to choose between the slick and the inter.
The race pace was good yesterday in the sprint, so let’s see. Now you have to overtake and in Zandvoort it’s not the easiest one, but let’s see if the pace is there.
Weather check: Forecast is now saying the rain will clear about 15 minutes before the start of the race. Will the wait for the first true wet race under the new 2026 regulations continue?
Racing Bulls: The pit lane opens and shortly after Liam Lawson slides on the penultimate corner and ends up in the gravel. It was slow enough that there is no damage to him or the car.
McLaren: The sprint race may have belonged to George Russell on Saturday, but it was Lando Norris who came out on top at the most recent grand prix in Hungary, converting pole into an impressive victory. At Zandvoort, Norris has the opportunity to repeat the feat after once again getting the better of Russell in qualifying, with McLaren’s growing ability to put pressure on Mercedes once again on display.
McLaren have brought upgrades to the car over the past two race weekends and appear to have a more competitive package across a wider range of circuits. However, Norris has said he expects the advantage they enjoy through high-speed corners to be less pronounced over a full race distance, potentially leaving him exposed to the cars behind.
Should the defending champion convert pole into victory, he would become the first driver outside Mercedes to win multiple races this season.
Weather check: It has been quite the weekend so far in the Netherlands, with each of the three days bringing spells of bright sunshine followed by heavy, short-lived, showers.
The strong winds have added another variable, with weather blowing in quickly from the North Sea. During the Sprint, the threat of rain increased in the closing stages before it began to fall heavily just as the cars crossed the line.
Even if the weather remains dry, the strong winds have already shown how difficult they can make certain corners for the drivers. Qualifying laps tend to be pushed closer to the limit than those during the race, while the difficulties with overtaking mean the penultimate corner will be particularly important when it comes to staying close to the car ahead.
Pushing hard through there also leaves little room for error if a gust catches a driver at the wrong moment, as Kimi Antonelli discovered on Friday when he ran through the gravel and damaged his car.
And as I type this all up … it has begun to rain in Zandvoort. The awnings are up and the ponchos have come up.
Mercedes: The young Kimi Antonelli has a substantial lead in the race to the championship but his rivals will not see him as being out of reach going into the Dutch GP.
The 19-year-old has been a revelation this season, with six wins demonstrating confidence and control perhaps beyond his years but also a verve and ebullient enthusiasm. Yet the teenager knows he cannot afford to lose any focus, while Mercedes’ reliability issues have been their achilles heel and the reason there is no chicken counting occurring in Brackley.
Hamilton cuts a charged-up figure in the Netherlands. The seven-time champion is enjoying a season that could not stand in starker contrast to the annus horribilis of his first year with Ferrari. The team are sharp, the car is to his liking and there is a palpable sense that the Scuderia are on course. The gap to Antonelli is a gulf but not insurmountable, not least as Ferrari have another engine upgrade to come, expected to be introduced in Monza, and are deploying an upgraded floor in Zandvoort. Hamilton is hungry, a player once more in the title fight.
Read more from Giles Richards below.
Max Verstappen: Earlier this week, the four-time world champion ended speculation about his future in Formula One by signing a new contract with his Red Bull team that will extend to the end of 2030, after almost 18 months of uncertainty around the Dutchman.
After being linked with moves to Mercedes and McLaren, Verstappen’s commitment to Red Bull ensures that all the major seats in the leading F1 teams are now locked in for next year, just as the sport’s silly season in terms of transfer speculation is beginning.
The four-time champion’s future had been a subject of debate and not just in reference to switching teams. He had also seriously intimated that he might call time on his F1 career because he was so unhappy with how the new regulations have affected his enjoyment of racing.
Read more from Giles Richards below.
Goodbye, Zandvoort: A windblown seaside circuit from another era, said farewell to Formula One and the Dutch Grand Prix today with a party of pride, celebration and sadness.
The track in the North Sea coastal dunes, with an Orange Army of tens of thousands of Max Verstappen fans packing the grandstands and partying in the streets late into the evening, has hosted one of the liveliest races on the calendar since it returned in 2021 after a 36-year absence.
The farewell has been some time in the planning, local organisers announcing in 2024 that they would go out on a high in 2026 when the contract ended after weighing up the financial risks. “It’s definitely going to be missed, for sure,” said the four-time world champion Verstappen, the home hero who won the first three editions from pole position and sent Red Bull shirts flying off the shelves while beer sales soared.
“It’s always been really fun to drive. Even if I would not be Dutch, you know, to drive here would have been always amazing. And, of course, for me being Dutch, it made it that extra bit special.”
Zandvoort first hosted a round of the championship in 1952, two years after the first season, and this year’s race is the 36th Dutch Grand Prix. The narrow and twisty track, with 14 corners, is the second shortest after Monaco and features evocative corners such as Tarzan, which according to lore was the nickname of a local man who exchanged his vegetable garden for the naming rights, and the banked Hugenholtz.
“It’s a cool layout. It’s definitely very rewarding if you get it right … it’s proper old-school driving. It’s definitely one of the best tracks on the calendar compared to some tracks that we go to now that … I’m not going to name names, but they lack a bit of character,” said Verstappen.
McLaren’s world champion Lando Norris, who has a Belgian mother and can also count on strong local support and who won from pole in 2024, said he was disappointed to see the circuit go with its throbbing techno beat and high-energy DJs. “I like just the event itself, the fans. Although most of them are here for one driver, it’s still always just a fun event, good atmosphere, good passion, and that’s what you want,” said Norris, on pole again this year.
“I prefer going to smaller races where the fans are more exciting and the event is better than a different place where you just have less of that. So, this is definitely up there and a lot better than a lot of the races we have on the calendar even currently.
“It’s a shame, but it’s also not our choice. I think if it was a driver’s choice, we would probably like to keep it in.”
Zandvoort is a rare circuit as one that has never seen a Lewis Hamilton Formula One victory but the seven-time world champion has fond memories from success in his junior career. “It’s just such an incredible circuit,” said the Ferrari driver. “Great crowd, obviously. Very special, particularly for Max as he has the incredible support through the weekend, but they really create the atmosphere.” Reuters
Preamble
Formula One is back after its summer break and what a race to return to with the Dutch Grand Prix. With the GP not renewed beyond this year, the Orange Army will be in full voice supporting Max Verstappen on home soil for possibly the final time in his career.
Lando Norris is aiming for another F1 win as he heads into today’s race on pole position with George Russell and Kimi Antonelli close behind.
McLaren’s Norris found some unexpected extra pace in qualifying to snatch top spot ahead of the Mercedes pair of Russell and the standings leader, Antonelli.
Russell won Saturday’s sprint at Zandvoort but Antonelli still increased his standings lead to 53 points despite placing fourth. That was because his closest challenger, Lewis Hamilton, could only manage seventh in the sprint. A troubled day continued for Hamilton as he qualified fifth for the grand prix. Antonelli has a 56-point advantage over Russell, with gaps of 79 points to Leclerc and 90 to Norris.
Join me for the Dutch GP as the lights go out at 2pm BST/3pm local time.
