Norris wins final Dutch Grand Prix with spectacular late move

Lando Norris delivered a vintage performance to win the final Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, taking his second consecutive victory of the season and the second in three years at the circuit. The reigning world champion produced a pair of spectacular overtakes to beat the Mercedes pair of Kimi Antonelli and George Russell in an incident-filled race.

Starting from pole position, Norris led cleanly at the lights before the race was halted just one lap later when home favourite Max Verstappen lost the rear of his Red Bull on the still-damp banking of the final corner and slammed hard into the barriers, sliding back across the track with a wheel missing. Fortunately, the four-time world champion reported he was okay as the red flags were thrown.

On the restart, Antonelli made a flying start to sweep ahead of Norris and stretch out an advantage. The reigning champion bided his time, often keeping within a second of the leader, before striking on Lap 54 of 72 — going around the outside of Antonelli at Turn 1 and then making it two overtakes on the same lap by disposing of Lewis Hamilton to reclaim the lead.

“Yesterday I said we needed to put on a bit of a show for everyone for the final race here, so I made it tough for myself today but it was a good race, well-fought,” Norris reflected. “Probably one of my better wins — we had to fight for it well but the pace was strong. We managed things incredibly well today so over the moon, very happy. Nice to win the final race here in Zandvoort.”

Discussing the decisive overtake, Norris added: “The move was good. I knew I wasn’t going to get many chances. Every lap I spent behind him, my odds were getting lower and lower. I saw Lewis defended and I knew that was my moment. I did a couple of clicks on my brake balance. I knew I was going to commit to the braking and that move won me the race.”

A late Virtual Safety Car, called after Esteban Ocon’s Haas stopped on track, triggered a flurry of activity in the pit lane. Antonelli dropped to third, but Mercedes chose to invert their cars and let the championship leader back into second behind Russell, who then nearly had to fend off the chasing Hamilton for the final podium spot. Norris, untroubled at the front, crossed the line 11.536 seconds clear of Antonelli.

An eventful farewell to Zandvoort

“Amazing. A tough race,” Norris said of the victory that carried him to a second straight win. “The start wasn’t great, I lost the position, a good race, well-fought… over the moon, very happy.”

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc took fourth and fifth respectively for Ferrari, with Oscar Piastri sixth and Liam Lawson a solid seventh in the only Red Bull to finish, despite a 10-second time penalty for a yellow flag infringement.

Nico Hulkenberg added to his points tally in eighth for Audi, while Fernando Alonso secured a valuable ninth for Aston Martin and Pierre Gasly completed the top 10 for Alpine. Racing Bulls stand-in Yuki Tsunoda missed out in 11th, narrowly off the points.

The final Zandvoort race, which drops off the calendar next season, will be remembered for its drama both at the front and in the midfield, where a late collision between Williams team-mates Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon forced the latter to retire.