The 2026 Dutch Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2026) was a Formula One motor race held on 23 August 2026 at Circuit Zandvoort in Zandvoort, the Netherlands. It was the twelfth round of the 2026 Formula One World Championship and the fifth of six Grands Prix in the season to utilise the sprint format. The event was the final scheduled running of the Dutch Grand Prix before its departure from the Formula One calendar.
George Russell (Mercedes) secured pole position for the sprint and converted it into victory ahead of Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) and Lando Norris (McLaren). Norris took pole position for the main race, ahead of Russell and Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes). The race began on a damp circuit following pre-race rain and was red-flagged at the end of the opening lap after Max Verstappen (Red Bull) lost control at the banked final corner and crashed heavily. Antonelli overtook Norris for the lead at the standing restart and led for much of the race, Norris extended his penultimate stint to gain a tyre-life advantage. After rejoining behind Antonelli and the out-of-sequence Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), Norris overtook both drivers on lap 54 and retained the lead. He won ahead of Antonelli and Russell, securing his second consecutive victory following the Hungarian Grand Prix, the thirteenth victory of his Formula One career and his second at Zandvoort.
Background The event was held at Circuit Zandvoort in Zandvoort for the 36th time in the circuit's history, across the weekend of 21–23 August. It was the 36th running of the Dutch Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship. It was also the fifth of six Grands Prix in the season to utilise the sprint format and the first time that the Dutch Grand Prix featured it. This was the last scheduled Dutch Grand Prix, after the promoter elected against extending the contract in 2027.
Championship standings before the race Following the previous round in Hungary, Kimi Antonelli led the Drivers' Championship with 219 points, 50 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton in second and 59 ahead of his teammate George Russell in third. Mercedes, with 379 points, led the Constructors' Championship from Ferrari and McLaren, which were second and third with 307 and 220 points, respectively.
Entrants
The drivers and teams were the same as published in the season entry list, with the exception of Isack Hadjar at Red Bull, who injured his wrist leading into the weekend and was therefore unable to compete. He was replaced by Liam Lawson, marking his first appearance with Red Bull since the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix. Red Bull reserve driver Yuki Tsunoda, who last raced at the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as a Red Bull driver, replaced Lawson at Racing Bulls, his first appearance for Racing Bulls since swapping seats with Lawson after the first two rounds of 2025.
Tyre choices
Tyre supplier Pirelli selected its C2, C3, and C4 compounds—the middle three in its range—for the event, designating them as hard, medium, and soft, respectively.
Practice The sole free practice session was held on 21 August 2026, at 12:30 local time (UTC+2), and was topped by Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) ahead of Lando Norris (McLaren) and teammate George Russell.
Sprint qualifying Sprint qualifying was held on 21 August 2026, at 16:30 local time (UTC+2), and determined the starting grid order for the sprint.
Sprint qualifying report The 12-minute opening segment (SQ1) saw the medium compound tyres mandated. Kimi Antonelli and George Russell (Mercedes) set the opening timed laps. Antonelli carried too much speed into the penultimate corner on his first flying lap, lost the rear of his car and travelled through the gravel before returning to the pits. Although Mercedes initially reported that no damage was visible, Antonelli later revealed that the excursion had left holes in the floor and caused a substantial loss of downforce; the Mercedes mechanics repaired the floor sufficiently for him to continue, and he recovered to finish SQ1 in eighth place. Russell established the early benchmark before Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) and Lando Norris (McLaren) successively moved to the top. Leclerc ultimately finished SQ1 fastest, ahead of Norris, Oscar Piastri (McLaren), Hamilton and Russell. Liam Lawson (Red Bull), who had returned to the team in place of the injured Isack Hadjar, took sixth ahead of teammate Max Verstappen. At the other end of the order, Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) locked his brakes at turn 1 and ran wide, while a malfunction of his car's straight-line mode contributed to him finishing last, despite receiving a tow from a Cadillac. Late improvements by Esteban Ocon (Haas) and Alexander Albon (Williams) displaced their respective teammates Oliver Bearman (Haas) and Carlos Sainz Jr. (Williams), who were eliminated in 17th and 18th, respectively. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), the Cadillac drivers Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Pérez, and Alonso were also eliminated.
SQ2 (the second part of sprint qualifying) was again contested on medium tyres. Norris initially moved to the top before Piastri produced the fastest lap of the segment. Leclerc and Hamilton subsequently improved, but neither Ferrari nor the Mercedes drivers could displace Piastri. Ferrari and Mercedes returned to the pits after completing their runs, whereas McLaren remained on track and ended the segment first and second, with Leclerc third ahead of Russell, Hamilton and Antonelli. Pierre Gasly (Alpine), Verstappen, Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) and Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) secured the remaining four places in the final part of sprint qualifying (SQ3). Bortoleto's final improvement lifted him into the top ten and displaced Lawson into the elimination zone. Lawson finished 11th after failing to make the same improvement as the other drivers as track conditions evolved, narrowly ahead of Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls), who had taken Lawson's regular seat for the weekend. Franco Colapinto (Alpine), Nico Hülkenberg (Audi), Ocon and Albon completed the group eliminated before SQ3.
The final eight-minute SQ3 segment was run on soft tyres and became a one-lap shootout, with all ten drivers remaining in their garages until the closing four minutes. Norris was the first to complete a representative lap and took provisional sprint pole. Antonelli was unable to improve on Norris's effort, Russell moved ahead. Leclerc subsequently qualified third ahead of Piastri, leaving the four fastest drivers separated by less than one tenth of a second. Antonelli finished fifth, with the earlier floor damage continuing to affect his performance. Verstappen qualified sixth, while Hamilton encountered oversteer at turn 1 and difficulty rotating his Ferrari through turn 9 on his way to seventh. Gasly headed the midfield runners in eighth, followed by Bortoleto and Lindblad. Russell had finished fifth in SQ1 and fourth in SQ2 without leading either segment, but secured his third sprint pole position of the season.
Sprint qualifying classification DriverConstructorSprintgridSQ1SQ2SQ3163 George RussellMercedes1:13.2781:12.235 1:11.567121 Lando NorrisMcLaren-Mercedes1:13.0711:12.1891:11.6082316 Charles LeclercFerrari1:13.0111:12.1901:11.6223481 Oscar PiastriMcLaren-Mercedes1:13.1261:12.0261:11.6664512 Kimi AntonelliMercedes1:13.6681:12.5111:11.794563 Max Verstappen1:13.5851:12.7711:12.0946744 Lewis HamiltonFerrari1:13.1511:12.4451:12.1917810 Pierre GaslyAlpine-Mercedes1:13.9771:12.7201:12.578895 Gabriel BortoletoAudi1:13.7301:12.7861:12.58391041 Arvid LindbladRacing Bulls-Red Bull Ford1:14.0571:12.7851:12.737101130 Liam LawsonRed Bull Racing-Red Bull Ford1:13.4201:13.136N/A111222 Yuki TsunodaRacing Bulls-Red Bull Ford1:14.4901:13.145N/A121343Alpine-Mercedes1:14.6181:13.439N/A131427 Nico HülkenbergAudi1:14.2841:13.616N/A141531 Esteban OconHaas-Ferrari1:14.5031:13.893N/A151623 Alexander AlbonAtlassian Williams-Mercedes1:14.5961:14.294N/A161787 Oliver BearmanHaas-Ferrari1:14.728N/AN/A171855 Carlos Sainz Jr.Atlassian Williams-Mercedes1:14.738N/AN/A1918 Lance Stroll1:15.391N/AN/A182077 Valtteri BottasCadillac-Ferrari1:15.472N/AN/A192111 Sergio PérezCadillac-Ferrari1:15.545N/AN/A202214 Fernando Alonso1:16.014N/AN/A107% time: 1:18.121Sources: Notes – Carlos Sainz Jr. qualified 18th, but was required to start the sprint from the pit lane as his car was modified under parc fermé conditions. – Fernando Alonso qualified 22nd, but was required to start the sprint from the pit lane as his car was modified under parc fermé conditions.
Sprint The sprint was held on 22 August 2026, at 12:00 local time (UTC+2), and was run for 24 laps.
Sprint report George Russell (Mercedes) started from pole position, with Lando Norris (McLaren) alongside him and Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) and Oscar Piastri (McLaren) on the second row. Before the start, Carlos Sainz Jr. (Williams) and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) were required to begin from the pit lane after their teams made set up changes under parc fermé conditions. A technical problem on Sergio Pérez's (Cadillac) car was discovered before the formation lap, prompting the team to return it to the pit lane and leaving his grid position vacant. The sprint began in dry and overcast conditions, with most drivers using the medium compound tyres; Leclerc and Oliver Bearman (Haas) were the only drivers to select the soft compound.
Russell retained the lead at the start and resisted Norris's initial challenge. Behind them, Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) swept around Piastri through the opening corners to take fourth place, the only change of position among the top ten on the opening lap, while Leclerc remained close behind Norris and Max Verstappen (Red Bull) followed by Piastri in sixth. Further back, Franco Colapinto (Alpine) passed Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls) for twelfth, while Pérez joined the sprint from the pit lane after three laps. Nico Hülkenberg (Audi) encountered a power unit problem during the early stages and returned to the pits; although he later rejoined the track, he completed too few laps to be classified.
Norris remained within range of Russell during the opening laps, as Russell conserved his tyres through the high-speed corners. On lap 10, Mercedes told Russell that he could increase his pace, after which he opened a more secure advantage over Norris. Norris began to struggle with rear grip and came under sustained pressure from Leclerc, whose soft tyres continued to perform without the anticipated loss of pace, while Antonelli remained close behind. The order also remained closely contested further back: Piastri held off Verstappen for fifth, with Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) behind, while Pierre Gasly (Alpine) defended the final points-paying position from Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi). Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) stayed ahead of Liam Lawson (Red Bull) in the contest for tenth. Despite several cars running within overtaking range, the narrow circuit and the similar pace of the leading group limited changes of position.
On lap 18, Leclerc successfully overtook Norris around the outside of the first turn. Leclerc pulled away once ahead, while Russell increased his pace sufficiently to retain control of the sprint. Norris then came under pressure from Antonelli, who attempted to challenge into the first corner on the final lap but was unable to complete a pass. Piastri similarly resisted Verstappen for fifth, while Hamilton remained seventh and Gasly secured the final point in eighth. Russell won, giving him his third sprint victory of the season, ahead of Leclerc and Norris. Antonelli finished fourth and extended his championship lead over Hamilton to 53 points, while Russell reduced his deficit to Antonelli to 56 points.
Sprint classification