Lando Norris had a poor start from pole position, allowing Max Verstappen to take the lead before the first corner. George Russell also gained a position at the start as Oscar Piastri also suffered from a poor start. Sergio Perez had a look between the McLaren and Mercedes but decided better of it. He lost a position to Charles Leclerc later.
The leading pair quickly created a gap to the rest of the field behind, with Norris barely managing to cling onto the DRS range. Verstappen began to complain about a lack of grip on his medium tyres and a small mistake enabled Norris to get right on the back of the leading Red Bull and start challenging.
Norris took the lead on lap 18 with a straightforward DRS overtake down the start/finish straight. Within a few laps, Verstappen fell out of DRS range, a testament to Norris’ pace in the grand prix.
Further back, Piastri was under pressure from Leclerc behind. With the help of the DRS, Leclerc made overtaking attempts on the McLaren multiple times but was unable to get ahead of him. He pitted for a new set of hard tyres on lap 25, jumping to a net P3.
This triggered the pit window for the top half of the field. Russell pitted the following lap, rejoining behind Leclerc after a slightly slow stop for the Silver Arrows. Verstappen pitted on lap 28 and Norris responded the following lap to cover off the undercut threat. Still, the World Championship leader was not close enough for the undercut, allowing Norris to maintain his net lead. A slow stop for Red Bull on lap 30 nearly cost him his battle with Carlos Sainz, but the Ferrari rejoined narrowly behind the Red Bull.
Piastri was the last lead car to pit for hards on lap 34, slotting back into P5. With slightly newer tyres, he quickly caught up to Russell, overtaking around the outside of the first corner on lap 41. With a strong pace, it only took a few laps of Piastri to put his McLaren within DRS range of Leclerc in the leading Ferrari.
While one Ferrari was under pressure, his teammate was piling on the pressure against Perez for P6. He attempted to overtake the Red Bull around the outside of the first corner but was squeezed wide by the Mexican. He had to wait two laps before he was able to launch around the outside again in the first corner to take the position.
With just over 20 laps remaining in the race, Lewis Hamilton made a second pit stop for a set of soft tyres. He had made a decent recovery to P8 after starting the race in P14 after a grid penalty for impeding Sergio Perez earlier in the weekend. With Nico Hulkenberg far behind the Mercedes, it was a free stop for Hamilton.
Shockingly, Russell also made a second stop a few laps later. Running a comfortable P5, costing him two positions, making it a more peculiar strategy call from the Mercedes pit wall. This dropped him to P7 without enough time remaining in the race to promote himself as the race came to a close.
But no one could beat Lando Norris, who appeared to be driving in a league of his own. His race victory ends Max Verstappen’s undefeated record at Zandvoort, with the Dutchman having to settle for a distant P2. They stood on the podium alongside Charles Leclerc.
The season is back in spectacular fashion with a double-header. Next on the calendar is the Italian Grand Prix at Monza on the weekend of September 1.
| Pos. | Driver | Laps | Time | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 72 | 1:30:45.519 | 26 |  | |
| 2 | 72 | +22.896 | 18 | ||
| 3 | 72 | +25.439 | 15 | ||
| 4 | 72 | +27.337 | 12 | ||
| 5 | 72 | +32.137 | 10 | ||
| 6 | 72 | +39.542 | 8 | ||
| 7 | 72 | +44.617 | 6 | ||
| 8 | 72 | +49.599 | 4 | ||
| 9 | 71 | +1 Lap | 2 | ||
| 10 | 71 | +1 Lap | 1 | ||
| 11 | 71 | +1 Lap | |||
| 12 | 71 | +1 Lap | |||
| 13 | 71 | +1 Lap | |||
| 14 | 71 | +1 Lap | |||
| 15 | 71 | +1 Lap | |||
| 16 | 71 | +1 Lap | |||
| 17 | 71 | +1 Lap | |||
| 18 | 71 | +1 Lap | |||
| 19 | 70 | +2 Laps | |||
| 20 | 70 | +2 Laps |
