ZANDVOORT, Netherlands — Lando Norris won the Dutch Grand Prix on Sunday after passing championship leader Kimi Antonelli late in the race, earning his second consecutive Formula 1 victory and reducing the gap in the drivers’ standings.
Norris started from pole but lost the lead to Antonelli after a restart following Max Verstappen’s first-lap crash. The McLaren driver caught Antonelli and passed him around the outside of the first corner on lap 54 of 72.
Norris then passed Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton before the end of the lap and held on to win on older tires.
“This fight is still on,” Norris said over team radio after the race.
Norris remains 83 points behind Antonelli in the championship standings. He also asked McLaren to continue improving the car as he attempts to close the gap.
“There’s still plenty of things we can do better and need to do better if we’re going to fight for a championship,” Norris said.
Antonelli finished second, while Mercedes teammate George Russell took third after the team instructed him to give way to Antonelli. Hamilton finished fourth, followed by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Antonelli’s lead over Russell and Hamilton grew to 59 points, with the two drivers tied in the standings. Norris moved into fourth place, ahead of Leclerc.
Norris said he knew he might have only one opportunity to pass Antonelli.
“The move was good. I knew I was not going to get many chances,” Norris said. “Every lap I spent behind him my chances got lower and lower.”
Antonelli questioned Mercedes’ strategy during the race, calling it “too risky” after the team congratulated him on finishing second. Russell also questioned the decision to move aside but later said the team made the right call because Antonelli would have passed him and Hamilton was closing in.
Verstappen crashed into the barriers on the damp first lap, causing a race stoppage that lasted about 30 minutes. He said he misjudged his speed on the wet track.
Nico Hülkenberg avoided another collision moments later when his Audi teammate Gabriel Bortoleto spun across the track.
Hülkenberg finished eighth, behind Leclerc in fifth, Norris’ McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in sixth and Red Bull’s Liam Lawson in seventh. Fernando Alonso finished ninth for Aston Martin, while Alpine’s Pierre Gasly completed the top 10.
The Dutch Grand Prix will leave the Formula 1 calendar after this season. The championship moves to Italy for the next race in two weeks.
