– George Russell won the F1 Sprint in Zandvoort. After securing the sprint pole on Friday, the Mercedes driver delivered a commanding performance on Saturday noon and won the 24-lap race ahead of Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) and Lando Norris (McLaren) – earning eight points for the 2026 Formula 1 World Championship.
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While Russell drove a relatively uneventful race at the front (“For some reason, sprint races seem to be a strength of mine this year”), Norris and Leclerc battled for second place until lap 18. Ultimately, Norris couldn’t quite maintain his pace and had to be content with finishing third.
World Championship leader Kimi Antonelli gained a position at the start against Oscar Piastri (McLaren) and was thus in fourth place. In the end, he put pressure on Norris but – probably also considering his championship situation – avoided any reckless mistakes. “It didn’t make sense to take a risk for a small point,” said Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff in an interview with Sky.
Max Verstappen (Red Bull) finished sixth, 10.5 seconds behind Russell, ahead of Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) and Pierre Gasly (Alpine). This completed the top 8, who earned points in the F1 Sprint.
Liam Lawson, Red Bull’s substitute for the fitness-boxing injured Isack Hadjar, finished eleventh. Yuki Tsunoda, who moved up to Lawson’s cockpit at Racing Bulls, finished 13th.
Interesting side note: As Russell crossed the finish line as the winner, rain suddenly started. “It was a hairy last lap,” Russell radioed during his cooldown lap. “We would have needed that ten minutes earlier; then it would have been really entertaining,” said ServusTV commentator Andreas Gröbl during the live broadcast.
“If the rain had come just 90 seconds earlier, it could have been a completely different race. That wouldn’t have been nice for me,” Russell grinned. And: “I knew if Charles got past Lando, I had to increase the pace. I did that, and then Charles and I pulled away a bit.”
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Start on Soft: Was that really an advantage?
In the front field, there was only one driver who started on the soft tires. Leclerc could not use this theoretical advantage in the first lap and remained third. Russell (Medium) had a flawless start, confidently held the lead, and came out of the first lap 1.1 seconds ahead of Norris.
World Championship leader Antonelli passed Piastri in lap 1 and was fourth, while local hero Verstappen settled in sixth place. This did not dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd in Zandvoort.
“The only one who might gain a place is Kimi against Leclerc. Because Leclerc’s tires could degrade at the end,” said Formula 1 expert Mathias Lauda in live commentary on ServusTV. “But otherwise, I don’t think much will change.” Because overtaking is considered particularly difficult on the twisty track in Zandvoort.
How did the race develop after the start?
Initially, the field remained close together. By lap 7, the top 7 were within eight seconds. Norris was able to maintain pressure on Russell somewhat and stabilized the gap at one second. Behind them, Antonelli was so close to Leclerc in the first laps that it was clear Lauda’s prediction might be correct. Piastri in fifth had to drop back early and was already 2.9 seconds behind Antonelli by lap 9.
Ten laps had been completed when Norris radioed: “I have no rear anymore.” Just at a time when Leclerc was getting bigger in his rearview mirror – although the Medium on the McLaren should have theoretically degraded slower than the Soft on the Ferrari. A phase Russell used to extend his lead to 1.7 seconds (lap 11).
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On lap 18, it was finally time: Leclerc closed in on Norris – and executed the overtaking maneuver without too aggressive resistance. Norris now looked compromised and had to focus on keeping Antonelli behind him, whose pressure was also increasing.
“It would have been nice to be a bit faster, but Charles was simply faster,” Norris analyzed. “I think it was the tires. We are very good in the fast corners but not so much in the slow ones. I struggle to be superior when I drive ahead of Charles like that. Our progress is good, and the upgrades do exactly what they are supposed to do. But we still need a bit more. We still have weaknesses. In Hungary, our strengths simply came to the fore.”
Leclerc, meanwhile, considers it a “good decision” to have started on Soft: “We did our homework in free practice. But when you are the only driver on Soft on the grid, you naturally think about it briefly. I didn’t expect to gain a position at the end. If anything, it would have been at the start. But that wasn’t good.”
Especially impressive for Mercedes: Leclerc “not only survived,” but “he also got faster at the end. That was surprising. We don’t think we could have done that,” Wolff analyzed.
Although a possible rain shower approached in the final phase (which came too late to turn the race upside down), there were no significant changes in the field in the last laps.
Where did Nico Hülkenberg finish in the F1 Sprint?
For Nico Hülkenberg (Audi), the Zandvoort sprint was over after just five laps. The German had fallen back early on until the radio message came: “Box, to stop the car.”
Audi explained during the F1 Sprint: “There was a power problem with Nico’s car, which the team is still investigating. As a result, we decided to call the car into the pits.”
Hülkenberg later reported that he “did not have full power. Obviously some problem. Let’s see what was going on.”
He remained the only retirement in the race.
Zandvoort schedule: What’s next?
Zandvoort is the fifth of six sprint weekends in the 2026 Formula 1 season (Here is the complete Formula 1 calendar!). After the F1 Sprint ends, the regular qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix continues on Saturday at 4:00 PM. The race start on Sunday is scheduled for 3:00 PM.
The race weekend will be broadcast on TV on Sky (Germany), ServusTV (Austria), and SRF (Switzerland) (Here is the complete TV overview for Formula 1 in Zandvoort!).
The usual Formula 1 livestreams can be followed by fans on Saturday and Sunday evenings on the YouTube channel of Formel1.de. With a summary of the events and analyses well beyond the end of the TV broadcasts. After the summer break, host Kevin Scheuren will present the streams again with the regular team including editor-in-chief Christian Nimmervoll as expert.
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The provisional start time of the livestreams is set for 9:00 PM CEST.
