📍 ‘Zandvoort Bows Out in Style.’
▪️The Dutch Grand Prix said goodbye to Formula One with precisely the sort of afternoon it deserved: rain, strategy, team orders, a home hero in the wall
▪️And Lando Norris quietly winning the whole thing.
▪️Norris converted pole into his second consecutive Grand Prix victory, but it was anything but straightforward.
▪️Kimi Antonelli briefly took the lead after the restart before Norris, armed with fresher tyres, reclaimed it with 18 laps remaining.
▪️Behind them, the politics were almost as interesting as the racing.
▪️Mercedes played the championship game.
George Russell was instructed to allow Antonelli through, helping the Italian finish second and preserve his 59-point championship advantage.
Russell accepted the decision afterwards — perhaps through slightly gritted teeth.
▪️Ferrari hesitated. Lewis Hamilton believes a slower response to its own team-order situation cost him a podium.
He eventually finished fourth, just 0.849 seconds behind Russell.
▪️Verstappen’s farewell lasted one lap. In his final home Grand Prix at Zandvoort, Max lost control on the damp opening lap and hit the barriers.
He was unharmed, but the Orange Army’s hoped-for fairytale disappeared almost before the grandstands had settled down.
♔ And now Monza. Antonelli arrives at his home Grand Prix leading the World Championship by 59 points.
But Mercedes expects him to take a grid penalty of at least ten places following a planned power-unit change.
♔ There is something wonderfully Formula One about that.
▪️Zandvoort disappears from the calendar after attracting almost two million spectators since its return in 2021.
▪️Antonelli leaves as championship leader, Norris leaves believing the title may not yet be beyond reach.
And Ferrari heads home to Monza knowing another strategic conversation awaits.
📍 Bottom line: ‘Zandvoort may have closed its Formula One chapter, but it has left the 2026 championship considerably more interesting than it found it.’
