Norris retires, Piastri wins, Verstappen takes P2 and Hadjar makes history!

Oscar Piastri won the F1 Dutch Grand Prix ahead of Max Verstappen in P2, with Isack Hadjar, the youngest ever Frenchman to stand on the podium in P3.

How it happened

At the start Max Verstappen, who'd donned on soft tyres for the start, as opposed to the mediums that all the front runners chosen was able to leapfrog Lando Norris at the start.

However going into Turn 3, the Dutchman lost control of his car in a bid to keep Norris behind. Nevertheless, the Red Bull Racing driver was able to regain command of his RB21 and keep the place ahead of Norris and behind Piastri.

Messages from the teams to their drivers suggested rain was coming, as Piastri ran away with the lead setting purple lap times. The reported rain was understood to last 7-10 laps.

Gabriel Bortoleto having lost six places lost another one to Lance Stroll as headed into Turn 11, the Canadian driver took the Brazilian on the outside. In the Sauber driver's bid to keep the position, contact ensued, which would be investigated by the Stewards, as announced by Race Control.

On lap 10 with Verstappen suffering with worn soft tyres, Norris took P2 back around the outside of Tarzan corner, using the extra grip from his medium tyres and the superior pace in his MCL39.

By lap 14 Piastri reported picking up rain drops in his visor, with Norris closing in on his teammate at a rather significant rate, bringing the gap down from nearly 5 seconds to just over 3.

By lap 17 the rain started to fall more intensely with ponchos and umbrellas popping up throughout the grandstands. By then Verstappen was almost 13 seconds adrift from the leader.

Hamilton crash and safety car prompted strategy calls

Shortly after, Lewis Hamilton urged Ferrari to make the call to undercut his rivals. Moments later the cameras picked the Brit up after having crashed into the barriers on the outside of Turn 3.

Leclerc, having made his pitstop before safety car period, lost out to Russell who took advantage of his former teammate's accident.

When the race went green again, contact ensued between Liam Lawson and Carlos Sainz which resulted in a puncture for both.

Then Leclerc made a bold move on the outside of Russell into Turn 11 with a late lunge, pushing his way past the British driver with bumping wheels and all. The collision was noted by the Stewards. It was later announced that it would be investigated after the race.

Whilst Leclerc argued Russell did not leave him space, the Brit's case was that the Monegasque had overtaken him off the track.

Sainz was handed a ten-second penalty for the incident with Lawson.

Pitstops, Leclerc-Antonelli crash, more pitstops and race finish

With 27 laps to go, Norris kept gnawing at Piastri's gap, bringing it down from nearly two seconds to just over DRS activation range. Verstappen slipped back to 8.3 seconds from Norris.

Surprising the gap to Red Bull's sister team driver in P4, Hadjar, was just 2 seconds, demonstrating the great potential available in Racing Bull's VCARB02.

The Haas cars driven by Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman placed P10 and P11, holding off from making their required pitstops, hoping for a miracle to bring them back into the proper fray for points.

Leclerc, as he came out of the pits to cover off from an undercut by Antonelli, was tapped by the Italian into a race ending spin. Antonelli was handed a ten-second time penalty for the incident.

After the subsequent safety car, action resumed with both McLarens fighting for the lead of the race. Antonelli was then investigated for a speeding in the pit lane violation, as per Race Control's messages.

Verstappen then reported his ride being completely deteriorated, nevertheless his P3 was not under threat from any pursuers.

Norris then issued a worrying message over the radio, "there's smoke in the cockpit