Mercedes driver held the first position from the start and won in Zandvoort, with Leclerc and Norris completing the top 3. Bortoleto pressured Gasly at the beginning but finished ninth, one position outside the points zone.
Read more F1 today? Find out how to watch the Sprint and qualifying of the 2026 Dutch GP
George Russell won the Sprint race of the Dutch GP, held this Saturday (22) in Zandvoort. The Mercedes driver started from pole position and remained in the lead throughout the 24 laps, while Charles Leclerc advanced to second and Lando Norris completed the top 3. Championship leader Kimi Antonelli finished fourth.
Oscar Piastri finished fifth, followed by Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, and Pierre Gasly, who secured the last available point. Gabriel Bortoleto finished ninth after spending much of the Sprint trying to catch the Frenchman. Arvid Lindblad completed the top 10.
The Sprint
George Russell started the Dutch GP Saturday with the mission to turn the pole position earned on Friday into important points in the championship battle. The Mercedes driver started ahead of Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc, while Kimi Antonelli, the World Championship leader, had a more complicated situation starting only from fifth place.
Antonelli had suffered from a lack of downforce during the Sprint Shootout after a trip through the gravel slightly damaged the floor of his Mercedes. With Russell starting in front, therefore, an opportunity arose for the Brit to reduce some points from his teammate’s wide championship lead.
Gabriel Bortoleto also started Saturday in an interesting position. After an excellent Sprint qualifying, in which he advanced to SQ3 and comfortably beat Nico Hülkenberg in the first two phases, the Brazilian started from ninth place, just one position behind the points zone.
The Sprint was scheduled for 24 laps. Almost the entire grid chose medium tires for the start, with only Leclerc and Oliver Bearman betting on softs.
Before the start, there was also the change made by Red Bull for this weekend. Isack Hadjar is out of the Dutch GP after fracturing a wrist during the holidays. Liam Lawson took over his car in the main team, while Yuki Tsunoda returned to the grid for Racing Bulls.
When the lights went out, Russell did exactly what he needed: he started well and maintained first position.
Norris threatened an attack but ended up losing more time than gaining in the attempt. Right behind, Antonelli had an excellent start and overtook Oscar Piastri, taking fourth place.
Sergio Pérez could not even start normally. The Cadillac driver returned to the pits and only managed to effectively enter the race two laps later.
Bortoleto also started the Sprint pressing. The Brazilian stayed glued to Pierre Gasly, eighth place, knowing that position represented precisely the last available point in the short race.
In the first laps, Audi seemed capable of fighting for the top 8. Bortoleto was practically tucked in behind Gasly’s car, but the natural difficulty of overtaking in Zandvoort made the mission quite complicated.
Up front, Antonelli quickly showed he had pace. The Italian set a 1m14.990 lap and took the fastest lap, closing in on the group fighting for the top positions.
While Bortoleto tried to find a way to pass Gasly, the situation of the other Audi car collapsed.
Hülkenberg began losing positions rapidly and fell to the back of the pack. On lap 6, he entered the pits, and it soon became clear it was not a normal stop. Audi identified a power issue and decided to retire the car.
Besides the compromised result, Hülkenberg lost something precious in a Sprint weekend: mileage. With only one free practice done on Friday, every lap could help the team prepare the car for qualifying and the Sunday GP.
Meanwhile, the fight up front began to take shape.
Antonelli caught up to Leclerc, who in turn was very close to Norris. The three started running practically together, turning second place into a potential battle between McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes.
Bortoleto remained behind Gasly but could not find space for an overtake. As the laps went by, the Brazilian began to lose contact with the Frenchman. Besides making the fight for the point harder, staying several laps in Alpine’s dirty air could start to take a toll on his tires.
On lap 13, Carlos Sainz received a warning from race control for a start procedure infraction after being out of position on the Safety Car line.
Further ahead, Piastri began to suffer pressure from Verstappen. The Dutchman tried to close in on fifth place while Hamilton also started to enter that fight.
Read more Dutch GP 2026: the live of the F1 Sprint Race in Zandvoort
On lap 15, Audi definitively confirmed Hülkenberg’s problem and decided to keep him in the garage due to power loss.
The fight for second place, on the other hand, began to heat up. Norris initially increased the pace and closed in on Russell again, but Leclerc was also growing right behind.
On lap 17, the Monegasque was already glued to the McLaren. One lap later, he attacked.
Leclerc put his Ferrari on the inside at the braking of Turn 1, stayed ahead of Norris throughout the corner, and exited the turn in second place. The strategy of starting on soft tires helped the Monegasque advance to second place.
The overtake immediately changed the group’s dynamic. Norris fell to third and had Antonelli quickly closing in. The championship leader now saw the possibility of recovering another position and reducing the damage to Russell.
Behind them, Hamilton had also caught up to Verstappen and was pressuring the Red Bull driver for sixth place.
With five laps remaining, Russell continued controlling the Sprint in the lead, while the main battles were concentrated behind.
Verstappen managed to increase his pace, opened a small gap again to Hamilton, and closed in on Piastri in the fight for fifth place.
At the same time, the possibility of rain began to appear for the last laps.
Antonelli kept chasing Norris. The Italian managed to stay close to the McLaren but lacked the final approach needed to put the car alongside and attempt an overtake. On the penultimate lap, the situation remained the same.
Hülkenberg still returned to the track in the final minutes, allowing Audi to check if they had managed to solve the power problem that had interrupted his participation, but with no chance of recovering the result.
Bortoleto, meanwhile, remained ninth. Unable to catch Gasly, he also started looking in the mirrors as Arvid Lindblad began closing in during the last laps.
At the start of the 24th and final lap, Russell was comfortably leading.
Antonelli still tried a last approach on Norris but again could not get close enough to attack. Bortoleto also saw Lindblad arrive, but the Racing Bulls driver did not have enough time to effectively threaten his ninth position.
Russell crossed the finish line and confirmed the victory in the Dutch GP Sprint.
Leclerc finished second after the overtake on Norris, who completed the top 3. Antonelli finished fourth and, despite losing points to Russell, remains the championship leader.
Piastri finished fifth, with Verstappen sixth and Hamilton seventh. Gasly held eighth place and secured the last available point.
Bortoleto finished immediately behind, in ninth. The Brazilian spent the first laps pressuring Gasly and even threatened to enter the points zone but found no space to overtake and then lost contact with Alpine. Still, he held off Lindblad at the end to finish inside the top 10.
Lindblad was tenth, followed by Lawson, Colapinto, Tsunoda, Ocon, Bearman, Albon, Stroll, Alonso, Bottas, Sainz, Pérez, and Hülkenberg.
And the rain, which had threatened to interfere in the last laps, arrived too late.
Almost as soon as the checkered flag appeared, it started raining heavily in Zandvoort. The Sprint escaped the change in conditions by minutes, but the message was clear for the rest of the weekend: Dutch weather can still play an important role in qualifying and the Dutch GP.
2026 Dutch GP Sprint Result:
1. George Russell (Mercedes)
2. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
3. Lando Norris (McLaren)
4. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
5. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
6. Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing)
7. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
8. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
9. Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi)
10. Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls)
11. Liam Lawson (Red Bull Racing)
12. Franco Colapinto (Alpine)
13. Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls)
14. Esteban Ocon (Haas)
15. Oliver Bearman (Haas)
16. Alexander Albon (Williams)
17. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
18. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
19. Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac)
20. Carlos Sainz (Williams)
21. Sergio Pérez (Cadillac)
22. Nico Hülkenberg (Audi)
Read more F1: Check out the provisional grid for the Sprint of the 2026 Dutch GP
