RACE REVIEWS

Formula 1 signed off from Zandvoort in suitably dramatic fashion. Lando Norris took victory in the final Dutch Grand Prix, while behind McLaren’s controlled performance came a race of contrasting fortunes, strategic decisions and tense radio messages — including several from Lewis Hamilton.

The seven-time world champion finished fourth, a result that looked respectable on paper but left Ferrari with mixed feelings. Hamilton believed a podium was within reach, but his afternoon was shaped by strategy, traffic and the difficulty of managing two cars in the same fight.

The race itself had already been turned upside down before the field had properly settled. Max Verstappen’s high-speed opening-lap crash brought out the red flags and ended the home hero’s final Dutch Grand Prix almost immediately. With the Orange Army denied its expected protagonist, attention switched to Norris, Kimi Antonelli and the two Ferraris.

Norris eventually produced the decisive drive. Antonelli led after the restart, but McLaren played the longer game, extending Norris’s stint and allowing him to return to the fight with a crucial tyre advantage. With 15 laps remaining, Norris swept past the Mercedes and began the final phase of the race with control firmly in his hands.

For Hamilton, however, the story was more complicated.

Ferrari had sufficient pace to put him into contention, but its race management left Hamilton questioning whether the team was making the most effective use of its opportunities. His frustration boiled over on the radio as he compared Ferrari’s approach with Mercedes’ willingness to use team orders to optimise its result. From Ferrari’s perspective, however, managing two cars in close proximity involved balancing Hamilton’s podium challenge with Leclerc’s own race and the wider team result.

The biggest flashpoint came when Hamilton found himself behind Charles Leclerc. Ferrari wanted Leclerc to pit, but the Monegasque driver did not immediately comply, leaving Hamilton behind his team-mate while Russell remained within reach ahead.

For Hamilton, this was not merely a matter of pride. Every tenth mattered as he attempted to close the gap to Russell for the final podium position. The time lost behind Leclerc proved significant, although the precise impact of the sequence is difficult to separate from the other strategic and traffic factors that shaped the race.

Leclerc himself still showed strong pace. He set the fastest lap of the race on the final tour, a 1m14.230s, suggesting that Ferrari had competitive speed even if its race execution did not produce the result it wanted.

The Ferrari drivers’ fortunes ultimately diverged. Hamilton finished fourth, only 1.3 seconds behind Russell, while Leclerc came home fifth. Hamilton could reasonably feel that a podium had been possible, but Russell’s pace and Mercedes’ strategy also played an important role in keeping him behind.

Ahead, Russell resisted Hamilt with on’s late pressure to secure third, while Antonelli completed a double Mercedes podium and extended his championship advantage. Norris, meanwhile, did exactly what a championship contender needs to do: turn a potentially messy race into a victory.

Zandvoort’s farewell therefore belonged to McLaren rather than Verstappen, while Ferrari was left to assess both its pace and its decision-making. Norris leaves with momentum, Antonelli a healthier championship lead, and Hamilton with a reminder that Ferrari must continue refining how it manages opportunities when its drivers are fighting for the same positions.