Oscar Piastri wins dramatic Dutch Grand Prix

Piastri once again drove superbly under intense pressure to capture his seventh race win of the 2025 season, leading all the way from pole position in a wild race interrupted by three safety cars following a series of crashes.

The Australian managed to avoid all the carnage and fully deserved his race victory but got an unexpected bonus to his championship prospects when his McLaren teammate Norris retired seven laps from the end with smoke coming from his car.

With Piastri gaining the maximum 25 points and Norris collecting none, the Australian’s lead in the standings has ballooned out to 34 points, a huge gap with just nine races to go.

“It feels good obviously, I controlled the race when I needed to and obviously it was incredibly unfortunate for Lando at the end,” Piastri said.

“I felt like I was in control in that one and felt like I used the pace when I needed to, it was a bit of a different race to 12 months ago.

“I’m very happy with all the work I’ve done to try and improve around here and very satisfied to come out on top.”

Bidding to become the first Australian in 45 years to win the biggest prize in motorsport, the timing of Piastri’s good fortune could not have been better.

The season has only just resumed after a four-week break to allow teams and drivers to recharge their batteries for the final 10 rounds of the 24-race year.

All the momentum was with Norris after he had won three of the four previous races to cut the margin to Piastri to nine points and dominated the timesheets in each of the practice sessions at Zandvoort circuit in the Netherlands.

But when the pressure was on, Piastri delivered, taking pole position then controlling the race from the front to register his ninth career win, equalling his manager Mark Webber.

The only Australian drivers to have won more F1 races are Jack Brabham (14) and Alan Jones (12).

Norris was in trouble from the start when he made a slow getaway from the front row of the grid, immediately losing second spot, but he got back behind Piastri and was challenging for an unlikely win when his engine blew up, allowing Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to finish runner up and Racing Bull’s impressive Isack Hadjar to take third to become the fifth youngest podium finisher of all time.

“That was always the target since I was kid, so this is the first step, my first podium and hopefully much more,” Hadjar said.

“Unfortunately for Lando Norris we took advantage but we made no mistake and the car was unreal all weekend.”

Verstappen remains third in the championship standings but is 104 points behind Piastri and needing a miracle to win a fifth straight title.

“We just had to do our own race, unfortunately we didn’t have the pace of the McLarens. We got a bit lucky with one retiring,” the Dutchman said.

Piastri wasn’t taking anything for granted even after his win, saying it was harder than it looked and there was still a long way to go.

“I need to keep pushing and trying to win races still. I wouldn’t say it’s a very comfortable margin,” he said.

“As we saw today, it can change with one DNF very, very quickly. So this far out from the end of the year, it’s not a comfortable gap.

“The start of this weekend was looking like a difficult one and I managed to get it together in qualifying and I was happy with the pace I had today.

“There were a couple of safety cars that spiced it up a little bit. I’m very proud of the whole team and it wasn’t just myself who improved to get here. It was the whole team around me and without them, none of this is possible.

“Starting out on top is a good way to go. If we can keep it running then that would be great but there’s a long way to go yet and we will try and keep it one race at a time.“

Norris was understandably distraught after the race, saying he: “just wants to go have a burger and go home.”

“I don’t know what the actual issue was, the engine just shut off and that was it,” Norris said.

“I think it was pretty instant. It’s not my fault, nothing I can really do. Just not my weekend, a little bit unlucky yesterday with the wind and unlucky today.

“It’s a tough one, of course it’s frustrating, it hurts a bit for sure in a championship point of view. It’s a lot of points to lose so quickly and so easily. Nothing I can control, so I just take it on the chin and move on.“

Norris admitted his chances of overhauling his 24-year-old Australian teammate for the title were a lot more difficult after his second DNF of the season but he wasn’t giving up hope.

“The only thing I can do is try to win every race. That’s going to be difficult, but I’ll make sure I give it everything I can,” he said.

“It’s just close. I have a good teammate, he’s strong, he’s quick in every scenario, so it’s hard to get things back on someone who’s just good in pretty much every situation. But yeah, it certainly hasn’t helped.

“It’s only made it harder for me and put me under more pressure, but it’s almost a big enough gap now that I can just chill out about it and just go for it.”

Despite Norris’ retirement, McLaren still extended its almost unassailable lead in the constructors’ championship to 324 points after both cars from their nearest rival, Ferrari, failed to complete the race.

McLaren team boss Andrea Stella said it was a bittersweet day for the McLaren team.

“W experienced the two sides of motorsport. On one side we have the joy and satisfaction for another victory for McLaren and a deserved victory for Oscar], he ran a very strong and clean weekend,’ Stella said.

“On the opposite side we had the disappointment and the pain and the retirement. Lando was in contention to try and win the race, it was certainly a possible one-two today from McLaren. Joy and pain at the same time but this is racing.”

Asked what happened to Norris’ car when he was on course to at least finishing second, Stella said: “We don’t know yet, it would be unfair to speculate if it’s a chassis problem or an engine problem.

“We are one team, we go together, there is no difference in terms of where the responsibility lies, we will review and see what the problem is. We will fix it and we will go again.”

Even with Piastri holding a big lead, McLaren’s position remains that both drivers are free to compete for the title without team orders. Stella said that hasn’t changed even with the Australian now a long way in front.

“I think if possible we will see even the best of Lando as he tries to recover the points he missed,” Stella said.

“We would like to give same opportunities to both drivers but I’m sure Lando will give his best and we will definitely try and recover the points that we missed today.”

The next race is the Italian Grand Prix in a week’s time.