The 2025 Dutch Grand Prix, in its penultimate iteration, delivered a great show with plenty of drama, surprises, heartbreak, and intrigue.
Frankly, some of the stuff that happened during the Grand Prix on Sunday at Zandvoort cannot be scripted, which marked an interesting return to Formula 1 action following the summer break.
There are now nine Grands Prix remaining this season, and while it is still going to be a McLaren affair between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, the former's DNF in Zandvoort delivered a twist in the Championship battle.
Max Verstappen appears to accept that he is out of the title fight, and it is only the way he is wired—he wants to be fastest all the time - that keeps him dragging that hapless RB21 around F1 tracks these days.
With a double DNF for Ferrari, Isack Hadjar's podium, and the various incidents we witnessed over the course of the past weekend, we have plenty of stuff to talk about.
So here are the Takeaways from the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix.
Lady luck not smiling over Norris
Norris may have thought he was fighting for the win in Zandvoort, but he was not. It was clear early on that—unless Piastri made a mistake or broke down himself—second place was the best the Briton could achieve.
But he couldn't do even that, as his MCL39 decided to call it a day towards the end of the race, and he now finds himself 34 points behind his teammate in the F1 Drivers' Championship.
This is Norris' second DNF this season, which is not ideal when you are fighting for the Title, and while he cannot be blamed for this one, rear-ending Piastri in Canada and retiring was all on him, which will be the mistake to really hurt should he fail to win his maiden F1 Crown this season.
It was a dramatic end to Norris' weekend in the Netherlands, as he started it with utter dominance only for Piastri to nip pole from him and put him on the attack throughout the race.
Did Norris' power unit expire since he pushed too much in the race?
He did have to repass Verstappen early on after the Dutchman took second from him while also brilliantly holding a sand-induced snap and then went on chasing Piastri all race long, who in turn could cruise all race long, never putting any stress on his power unit.
We will probably never have an answer to this question, but now and in his own words, Norris has to push for the rest of the season, hoping to win every race.
34 points is not an insurmountable gap with nine races remaining, but now Norris has to be inch-perfect and mentally strong against the consistent machine Piastri is right now.
Ferrari's weekend horribilis
Ferrari were never in contention since they arrived in Zandvoort, and while they managed to make Q3 with both cars in qualifying with Lewis Hamilton running close to Charles Leclerc for the first time in a while, they left for Monza empty-handed.
Despite looking racy early on, Hamilton crashed after putting a wheel on the white line at Turn 3 and ended up in the barriers as light rain was coming down, which made the line the drivers took into the corner a bit tricky, but Lewis should've known that.
Over the summer break, all the talk was about the seven-time F1 champion's statements that he was useless and that Ferrari should replace him, but he then vowed to push, and it seemed he was in a better place in Zandvoort given his team's struggles, but then that crash changed everything as he now heads to Monza, Ferrari's home race, with the spotlight and all the pressure on him to deliver a decent showing in front of the Tifosi.
To add insult to injury, Hamilton has to serve a five-place grid penalty at Monza for failing to slow down under double Yellow flags. When it rains, it pours...
As for Leclerc, he cannot be blamed for his DNF, as that was on Kimi Antonelli's rookie move into Turn 3, which shows the Italian still has a lot to learn and that his promotion has been probably premature.
And while Leclerc labeled Antonelli's move as "overly optimistic", the same can be said about his move on George Russell earlier in the race, which damaged the Briton's car.
Leclerc was lucky not to get a penalty for that, which he would've had to serve at Monza, but the stewards decided that they couldn't decide whether the Monegasque had all four wheels off track when passing Russell. Interesting...
Should Hadjar be happy with his podium?
Kidding, of course, he should, but then, finishing third in the Dutch Grand Prix might mean that Red Bull may decide to promote him to become Verstappen's teammate, a job no F1 driver wants these days.
Joking aside, Hadjar has impressed in his rookie season and has admirably bounced back from his DNS in Melbourne and has shown his worth at the Racing Bulls team regardless of the teammate he had, be it the ever-improving Yuki Tsunoda or Liam Lawson, who is still shell-shocked following his two races at Red Bull.
In Zandvoort, Hadjar delivered a great qualifying to start the race from fourth and was under pressure from Lap 1, first from Leclerc and then from Russell, but he defended with all his might, making no mistakes, and managing to keep them both at bay.
It was a faultless drive from the French-Algerian driver, and while he may have lucked into the podium, he deserved such a boost in confidence.
It was also a well-earned result for the Racing Bulls team, who have delivered a car that is more benign and consistent than the one their senior team have managed to produce. Their race execution was also spot on.
Will Red Bull replace Tsunoda with Hadjar? Probably, but hopefully they do that next year; otherwise, they will risk the only serious talent they have in their current driver pool.
Dutch Grand Prix Quick Hits
- The manner in which Verstappen closed the gap to the McLarens from almost one second in practice to two and a half in qualifying after a brilliant middle sector is admirable, and how he held that first-lap snap while passing Norris was out of this world.
But Red Bull tried to attack all race long, always going one step softer than McLaren with their tyre choice, hoping Verstappen could pass them. He did it on Lap 1 and couldn't stay ahead, so repeating the same tactic after the stops was not smart, as it could've jeopardized his position.
Verstappen was lucky that Hadjar was blocking drivers behind him, to be honest. - Where did Aston Martin's early pace evaporate? They also managed to mess up Fernando Alonso's strategy, as he finished behind Lance Stroll, who appeared on a mission to test the safety levels of the AMR25. Maybe that was Aston Martin's ploy to stifle Stroll's critics. We at GrandPrix247 have experience with this firsthand.
- A great drive by Ollie Bearman from the pitlane to sixth. His best-ever result in the top flight.
- A strong result by Alex Albon as well, who was lagging behind Carlos Sainz, but the Spaniard had that incident with Liam Lawson for which he was penalized.
Sainz said he wanted to meet the stewards after the race. I wonder how that went. - An underwhelming weekend for Mercedes.
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