Rain in the final lap

LIVE NOW: Who will win the Sprint at Zandvoort?

George Russell celebrates at Zandvoort.(Bild: GEPA)

George Russell has made an impressive comeback in the championship battle! The Mercedes driver won Saturday’s Formula 1 Sprint race at Zandvoort. Behind him, Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) and Lando Norris (McLaren) finished in second and third place, respectively. Just as the race was ending, rain suddenly set in.

With his third sprint victory of the season, Russell cut his deficit to championship leader Kimi Antonelli—who finished fourth in the second Mercedes—by three points to 56.

Here are the final results:

Hamilton Finishes Only Seventh
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen finished sixth in his home race behind Oscar Piastri (McLaren). His interim teammate Liam Lawson, who is filling in for Isack Hadjar—who is out with a wrist injury—in the Red Bull, finished eleventh. World Championship runner-up Lewis Hamilton had to settle for seventh place in his Ferrari and now trails by 53 points.

Here are the championship standings:

Qualifying (4 p.m.) for what is currently the final Dutch Grand Prix will take place on Saturday, with the race itself on Sunday (3 p.m.; both live on the sportkrone.at live ticker).

Few Passes 
In the first race following the four-week summer break, Russell easily defended his lead after the start. Behind him, Antonelli moved up one position to fourth place. Shortly before the end of the race on the dune circuit along the North Sea coast—where passing is a difficult feat—Leclerc managed to get past Norris.

“That would have caused chaos”
A rain shower on the final lap had no further impact. “One more lap and there would have been chaos,” Russell said with relief. For Leclerc, it was “a good start to the second half of the season”; the Monegasque driver was the only one in the leading group to have chosen the softest tire compound.