Charles Leclerc’s Dutch Grand Prix ended in bitter disappointment after a collision with Kimi Antonelli forced him out of the race, compounding a disastrous day for Ferrari as both their cars failed to finish at Zandvoort.
The Monegasque driver had just emerged from the pits on fresh soft tyres when he found himself battling Antonelli into the banked Turn 3. The Mercedes rookie, running the low line, drifted up into Leclerc’s path, sending the Ferrari spinning hard into the barrier. While Antonelli limped back to the pits and was handed a 10-second penalty for his part in the incident, Leclerc’s race was over on the spot.
That crash brought out a late Safety Car and set the stage for a dramatic finale in which Oscar Piastri held his nerve to claim victory. Starting from pole, the Australian had controlled much of the race ahead of Lando Norris and Max Verstappen. Norris initially fought back to second after losing out on Lap 1, and McLaren looked set for a dominant 1–2 until smoke began pouring from Norris’ car with just a handful of laps remaining, forcing the Briton to pull over and retire.
Piastri survived the restart to take his seventh win of the season, extending his championship lead to 34 points over his stricken teammate. Verstappen finished second on home soil, while rookie Isack Hadjar delivered a sensational maiden podium for Racing Bulls in third.
George Russell salvaged fourth for Mercedes, ahead of a charging Alex Albon who climbed from 15th to fifth for Williams. Haas made an unlikely one-stop work as Ollie Bearman surged from the pit lane to sixth, with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso collecting seventh and eighth. Yuki Tsunoda and Esteban Ocon rounded out the top ten.
Ferrari’s double DNF, with Lewis Hamilton crashing out earlier in damp conditions at the same corner that claimed Leclerc, leaves the Scuderia reeling as the championship heads into its next phase. For Leclerc, who had shown flashes of pace before the incident, it was another weekend where fortune deserted him at a crucial moment.
