Formula 1 returned to racing after the summer shutdown for its final two European races of the season — before the last eight flyaway races round out the 2025 World Championship. The first of the two took place at the seaside resort of Zandvoort in the Netherlands. And it was here that saw a dramatic twist in the battle for the drivers’ crown.
Heading to the Dutch Grand Prix, Lando Norris was just nine points behind his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri, but at the conclusion of the event, the gap had increased to 34 points. Piastri delivered a perfect performance — pole, victory, fastest lap and every lap led — to score his first-ever ‘Grand Slam’ across a weekend.
Piastri had the on-track advantage after beating Norris to pole position by just 0.012 seconds. In the closing stages the British driver was hunting down his team-mate for the win when smoke started to appear from the cockpit of the number four machine. Just eight laps from home, an oil leak forced Norris to retire from the race. It was a cruel blow to his world title aspirations.
“I was a bit disappointed, but there’s nothing I could really do about it in the end,” said Norris after the race. “Frustrating, but it’s out of my control. To follow within two seconds for pretty much the whole race was a good drive. There was nothing more I could really ask. I thought I did a good job, but it doesn’t help much…”
But often in motor racing, one man’s despair can lead to another’s joy. On this occasion it was Isack Hadjar, the Racing Bulls rookie, who — through Norris’ retirement — moved up a place and finished third. It was an overwhelmingly popular first podium of the 20-year-old’s career.
The Frenchman had qualified a career-best fourth on the grid, and held off a queue of quicker cars to achieve his result. It’s been a remarkable season for the youngster, who famously failed to make the start of his debut race in Australia, after crashing on the way to the grid.
“It feels a bit unreal,” said Hadjar after his P3. “What was most surprising for me was keeping that fourth place for the whole race. Unfortunately for Lando, we took advantage of his retirement, but we made no mistakes. The car was on rails the whole weekend, and I’m really happy about myself because I really maximised what I had, made no mistakes and brought home a podium, so I’m so happy for my guys.”
Fast forward seven days, and Norris finished ahead of Piastri at Monza, but only after a team order caused them to swap positions in the closing stages of the Italian Grand Prix. Norris was running second, with Piastri in third, but after a slow pit stop the British driver emerged from the pits behind his team-mate. McLaren, who are giving both drivers equal treatment, decided to swap the cars to give Norris back the advantage he had.
“It’s not how I want things to go, I don’t plan for them, but it’s the most fair thing,” said Norris in Monza. “If I was behind and Oscar had the same thing, I would have to give up my position. It was a team mistake, which happens every now and then, and that cost me. I know it doesn’t look [like] the best thing, but it’s the most fair.”
At the end of the European leg of races, Piastri holds a 31-point lead over Norris with eight races to go. In the Constructors’ Championship, McLaren have scored 617 points, with Ferrari 337 behind on 280. That means the British team can clinch the Constructors’ title at the next round in Azerbaijan, on the streets of the capital, Baku. With plenty to play for, there could yet be more twists and turns in this intriguing points battle as the 2025 season heads for a dramatic conclusion.