Winners and losers from the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix

Between the threat of rain, countless crashes, and a retirement for one of the F1 2025 championship’s key players, the Dutch Grand Prix made for a fascinating return from Formula 1’s summer shutdown.

Race winner Oscar Piastri is clearly an overall victor this weekend, but the chaotic Dutch Grand Prix gave us a compelling blend of winners and losers at Zandvoort’s penultimate race.

Winners and losers from the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix

Winner: Oscar Piastri

Championship leader Oscar Piastri has extended the gap between himself and McLaren teammate Lando Norris to a season high 34 points as we head into the final nine races of the F1 2025 season, thanks to his victory at the Dutch Grand Prix.

Now, the points gap leaping from nine to 34 points between the start and end of the Zandvoort race has less to do with Piastri’s mastery behind the wheel — although he certainly controlled the race with ease — so much as it relates to Lando Norris’ unfortunate retirement. But because Piastri had put himself in a strong position at Zandvoort, he was able to make the absolute most of a weekend in which his teammate failed to finish.

That means Piastri has notched his seventh victory of the 2025 season, and the ninth of his career, bringing him level with the total scored by his mentor and manager Mark Webber. It was also his first F1 grand slam: pole position, fastest lap, and led every lap.

There are still plenty of races to go, with plenty of opportunities for the tides of the championship to change. But Piastri’s win at Zandvoort is one more step toward F1 crowning its third Australian champion.

Loser: Lando Norris

After holding court at the top of the timing sheets in practice, Lando Norris‘ weekend at Zandvoort took its first dip when he lost out on pole position to his teammate Piastri by just the blink of an eye come qualifying on Saturday. And things only continued to go downhill from there.

At the start, Norris lost second to a fast-starting Max Verstappen; over the next nine laps, the Briton was forced to battle the reigning world champion for position while his championship-leading teammate continued to build a gap over second place.

After getting around Verstappen on Lap 9, Norris set to work chopping down the 4.5-second gap between himself and his teammate. He tried to leap into the lead during two restarts, but ultimately, Norris couldn’t get his nose ahead.

Then, on Lap 65 of 72, his second-place finish vanished in the smoke that filled his cockpit and prompted him to retire immediately beside the track. Meanwhile, his main rival, Piastri, went on to win.

Only nine points separated Norris from Piastri coming into this race. Now, heading into the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, the gap has widened to 34 points, and the threat of a grid penalty looms if McLaren needs to add another power unit to his pool.

It was the worst case scenario for Norris; now, his shot for a title will come down to his ability to put his head down and focus solely on the task at hand.

More McLaren analysis from the F1 2025 Dutch Grand Prix:

? Uncovered: McLaren deploy update tactic for Dutch GP performance gains

? Data highlights incredible details of Oscar Piastri pole lap in Zandvoort

Winner: Isack Hadjar

From a career-best fourth-place start to a podium in the race, Isack Hadjar made history by becoming the youngest French driver to finish on the podium in F1’s 75-year history.

Part of it was indeed luck; Hadjar wasn’t able to challenge the much faster drivers in front of him and netted a surprise promotion to the podium when Lando Norris’ McLaren ground to a halt. But that shouldn’t take anything away from the pace he displayed in qualifying, or from his ability to defend against drivers like Charles Leclerc and George Russell.

“Oh my god!” Hadjar cried over the radio. “What have we done? The pace was unreal. We’re on the podium, I can’t believe it!”

In the post-race interview with Giedo van der Garde, Hadjar pointed out that his ability to maintain that fourth was the “most surprising” part of the race.

“The car was on rails the whole weekend and I’m really happy about myself, because I really maximised what I had,” he said. “Made no mistakes and brought home the podium, so I’m so happy for my guys.”

Hadjar has launched up the championship standings, snagging tenth overall with 37 points courtesy of the 15 he earned for the podium. While he’ll have plenty of work to do to catch up to the highest-placed rookie Kimi Antonelli (64 points), Hadjar has nevertheless established himself as a driver to watch moving forward in his career.

Loser: Ferrari

Both Ferrari drivers fell victim to misfortune in Turn 3, leading to the Scuderia’s first double-DNF since the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix.

First went Lewis Hamilton, who took too much speed into the banked turn and lost control of the rear of his car after dipping a tyre onto the painted trackside advertisements on Lap 23. The seven-time champion cracked into the barrier, retiring on the spot.

Exactly 20 laps later, Charles Leclerc exited the pit lane only to end up racing alongside Kimi Antonelli. The Mercedes driver looked committed to the low line, but it wasn’t long before he washed up into Leclerc and put the Monegasque driver out of the race.

As things currently stand, Ferrari is second overall in the World Constructors’ Championship, but only by 12 points over the closing Mercedes team thanks to its failure to score at Zandvoort.

The Prancing Horse will be hoping for greater success at its home race next weekend, but its performance in Zandvoort sets a uniquely challenging tone for the Italian team’s home race.

Winner: Alex Albon

Alex Albon’s qualifying session didn’t go to plan on Saturday after he was caught waiting to exit the pit lane and therefore was stuck setting his fast lap on cold tyres. It was clear the Williams had speed, but Albon’s 15th-place start didn’t show it.

But when the five lights went out to signal the start of the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix, the Thai-British driver was ready.

On the first lap alone, Albon leaped from 15th to 10th, then continued to climb until he crossed the line in a stunning fifth position.

Speaking to media, including PlanetF1.com, after the race, Albon pinpointed his impressive start as putting him in contention for the remainder of the race — a race that the Williams team thought would be something of a boring event requiring it to make its own luck!

And lucky it was. Albon worked his way up to sixth overall, then earned a promotion to fifth when Lando Norris retired with mechanical failure.

The impressive finish sees Albon tied with Kimi Antonelli in the championship, both level with 64 points as we head into the remainder of the year.

Loser: Kimi Antonelli

While Kimi Antonelli was able to bring his Mercedes to the finish of the Dutch Grand Prix, he ended up outside of the points thanks to a collision with Charles Leclerc. The Italian driver netted a 10-second penalty for the collision, plus an additional five-second penalty for speeding in pit lane.

The Leclerc collision is the kind of event that is likely to make Antonelli cringe when he looks back on it in a few years. He was holding position on the track when Charles Leclerc exited the pit lane. As the two headed into the banked Turn 3, they were side-by-side, with Antonelli trying to hold onto the bottom lane.

Unfortunately, Turn 3’s design makes holding that line almost impossible, as the forces of the banking wash the cars up into the top lane. In fact, in the pre-race press conference, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen pointed out that driving in the low lane is “not possible” because “the apex basically is too flat. They should have banked that as well; then it gives you an opportunity.”

Antonelli proved Verstappen’s prediction correct: Holding the low lane in the banking isn’t possible.

Winner: Haas

It’s fair to say no one was expecting much from the Haas F1 duo after Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman qualified 18th and 19th on the grid, respectively, and after Bearman opted to take a pit lane start. Yet both drivers took the chequered flag in the points: Bearman in sixth, Ocon 10th.

In a video shared by the Haas team, Bearman reflected on his career-best finish by saying that he’d anticipated a 10th place finish at best, but the safety cars came at “the right time” to allow the duo to make up positions.

The American outfit currently sits ninth in the constructors’ standings with a total of 44 points, and it’ll be hoping it can translate this Zandvoort momentum into a better showing for the rest of the season in order to take a higher finish in the WCC.

The points Dutch GP points boost means Haas is only seven points in arrears of Sauber, 16 behind Racing Bulls, and 18 behind Aston Martin. Those are big gaps to surmount for those rear-of-the-field teams, but a few more impressive results could go a long way.

Loser: Carlos Sainz

While Alex Albon brought home his Williams in fifth place, things weren’t so easy for teammate Carlos Sainz.

The Spaniard was hit with a 10-second penalty for causing a collision with Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson on Lap 27 — a penalty he felt he was unfairly handed.

Sainz attempted to overtake Lawson coming into Turn 1, but Lawson didn’t cede enough ground to allow the move to happen. As a result, the two made contact, and the stewards determined that Sainz was at fault due to his not being fully alongside Lawson.

When the team told Sainz that he had been hit with a penalty, the Spaniard was incredulous, first checking that he had indeed heard the team correctly before replying, “Are you joking?! You’re joking. I mean, it’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in my life!”

Sainz ultimately ended up outside of the points in 13th, but he’ll be wondering just how much better he could have performed had the collision and penalty never happened.

He remained miffed after the race, telling media that he had gone to see the stewards but was turned away. That was because they were busy looking at other incidents, with PlanetF1.com understanding the Spaniard returned later to discuss the matter.

Read next: Dutch GP: Piastri clinches Zandvoort win as Norris retires, Ferrari suffers double DNF