AtaraxiaBack after the summer break, we find ourselves this time at the Zandvoort circuit in the Netherlands, the home country of the championship leader, Max Verstappen. This weekend promises to be eventful, but this year brings a big surprise: it’s the British driver, Lando Norris, who takes the lead in qualifying, something quite unexpected given Verstappen’s dominance in recent years. A McLaren on pole position in the Netherlands—Lando Norris has achieved a feat, following in the footsteps of Alain Prost, the last driver to take pole position for McLaren.
However, when Lando Norris loses his pole position right at the first lap, expectations weren’t high… Even though the McLaren driver has managed to assert himself in recent GPs, his weakness lies in the race starts. Especially since Max Verstappen had never been beaten at his home race. But proving that miracles do happen, and spoiler alert: Lando Norris clinches his second Formula 1 victory and, for the first time, wins a race after starting it from pole position. The McLaren driver certainly hasn’t said his last word and is determined to win the drivers’ championship very soon.
At the start of the race, only four drivers didn’t start on medium tires. Tsunoda, Hamilton, and Bottas opted for softs, while Magnussen (starting from last place) made a bold move by starting on hard tires.
Right from the start, it’s a spectacular battle: Pierre Gasly gains two places, Max takes the lead, Norris moves to second, and Russell climbs a position along with Leclerc. Almost no one on the grid holds their original position. It’s a chaotic start that seems to favor half the grid.
By lap 4, we see the first battle, with Leclerc and Perez competing for fifth place. But Charles isn’t giving up and defends his fifth place as best he can against Perez.
Meanwhile, Magnussen, who started in 20th, finds himself in the gravel on the first lap before rejoining the race. He manages to pass Zhou only by the 8th lap.
Carlos Sainz, after a less than stellar qualifying, makes a strong comeback. Starting in 10th place, he begins chasing down Pierre Gasly for 7th on lap 10, which he quickly secures by lap 11. Meanwhile, Hamilton manages to gain a few places, moving up to 11th by the 11th lap but quickly informs his engineer that he’s lacking power on the straights.
Despite losing first place, Lando Norris doesn’t give up and starts chasing Max Verstappen right from the beginning, emphasizing on the radio that his car has a good rhythm and that no matter who the team wants to fight against, he’s only focused on the car ahead of him.
After battling with Perez, Charles Leclerc sets his sights on Oscar Piastri’s fourth place, just as Lewis Hamilton gains two more places and finally breaks into the top ten, moving up to 9th.
Norris begins to reattack the Red Bull in front of him by lap 17. He’s looking for an opening to pass Verstappen, who is not satisfied with his car, complaining about a lack of grip and his tires. Norris retakes the lead on lap 18, with no complaints about his car, unlike his Dutch rival.
Hamilton, who has no intention of stopping, engages in a battle with Pierre Gasly on lap 22 for 8th place. Norris, very calm, discusses with his engineer, showing extreme focus as he pulls nearly 3 seconds ahead of Max.
Piastri takes the lead of the Grand Prix after a few pit stops by the two leaders. Hamilton, after dropping to 14th following his stop, quickly climbs back to 9th place. Once Piastri pits, Norris retakes the lead of the race, with Piastri rejoining in 5th place.
Leclerc climbs to 3rd place and tries to hold onto it on lap 35. Gasly, after a slightly too rapid pit stop, almost injures a mechanic, a mistake quickly reported to the stewards.
Lando Norris manages to pull ahead, finding himself halfway through the GP more than 8 seconds in front of the Dutchman. He also sets the fastest lap on lap 37, though Piastri quickly takes it back.
Magnussen, who started on hard tires in 20th, finds himself in 10th place by lap 40. But he suddenly loses 4 places, dropping to 14th and then 19th after his first pit stop on lap 42.
On lap 41, Sainz sets the fastest lap in 7th place, while his teammate tries to hold onto third place against Oscar Piastri, who is slowly but surely gaining ground.
Finally, on lap 47, Sainz overtakes Sergio Perez to secure the 6th place he had been chasing for some time, while Leclerc continues to defend his third place against Piastri.
Hamilton, who has made two pit stops in this race and started far back on the grid, finds himself in 8th place after his second stop. On lap 51, he takes the fastest lap from Sainz. Russell is called into the pits, allowing Sainz and Perez to climb higher, with Sainz, who started far back, eventually reaching 5th place. Gasly reclaims 9th place on lap 61.
In the end, the two drivers who made the most gains were Hamilton and Sainz, gaining 6 and 5 places, respectively. Norris ultimately wins the Grand Prix, with Verstappen holding onto second place but losing his reign in the Netherlands. Leclerc gains 3 places to finish 3rd, closely followed by Piastri and Sainz, who gained 5 places. Behind him is Perez, followed by the two Mercedes and an Alpine (Gasly), who finishes this first post-break Grand Prix in 9th place. Alonso is the last to score points, finishing 10th. Magnussen, who started 20th, finishes 18th, like his teammate who ends in 11th. Then Stroll in 12th, Ricciardo and Albon. Ocon, still disappointing, finishes 15th, and Sargeant ends up in 16th, a sad position for his last Grand Prix in Formula 1, as he is no longer part of the Williams team, replaced mid-season by Franco Colapinto for the remainder of the season. Finally, Tsunoda finishes 17th, followed by Magnussen, and then the two Saubers with Bottas and finally Zhou in last place.
