George Russell led from lights to flag to secure his third sprint race win of the season at Zandvoort on Saturday afternoon, finishing ahead of Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris.

Russell had earlier won Sprint races in the Chinese Grand Prix and the Canadian Grand Prix. This latest victory allows him to take three points out of his team-mate Kimi Antonelli’s 59-point championship advantage heading into Formula 1’s summer break, while also reducing Lewis Hamilton’s lead over him in second place in the standings from six points to three.

Russell had few problems in becoming the first Sprint race winner during what is set to be Zandvoort’s final regular Grand Prix weekend, taking the chequered flag 1.4 seconds clear of Leclerc. However, had the race run much longer, the situation could have changed dramatically with rain closing in.

As it unfolded, Leclerc and Ferrari’s call to run on soft tyres gave them an edge over Norris, who was never able to mount a serious challenge to Russell at the front. Norris felt he had lost rear grip early in the race, which limited his chances.

Leclerc came under pressure in the early stages from Antonelli, who started fifth and benefited from Ferrari’s decision to put Leclerc on softs, as that choice meant a longer warm-up phase than the rest of the leading group.

By lap 17, Leclerc had caught the defending champion, and early on lap 18 he moved into second place.

Russell drove the opening two-thirds of the race in a fairly controlled manner until Leclerc entered contention. Aware that the Ferrari had the pace to make a pass in a race where overtaking was difficult, he stepped up the pace in the closing laps.

“I knew if there were going to be any overtakes, it was going to be towards the end of the race,” Russell told F1TV. “So, I knew I just wanted to manage my tyres a little bit through the high-speed corners and have a bit more in the tank for the end of the race. And I knew if Charles got past Lando at all, he would have been quick. And as soon as I saw Charles behind, I sort of dropped the hammer a little bit, and the two of us pulled away.”

Norris had to settle for third, finishing ahead of current championship leader Antonelli, who gained one position during the sprint.

Oscar Piastri came home fifth ahead of Max Verstappen, who picked up three points to begin his final home Grand Prix weekend with a sixth-place finish. Lewis Hamilton and Pierre Gasly completed the points-scoring places in seventh and eighth respectively.

The on-track action will continue with qualifying for the final Dutch Grand Prix at 4 PM local track time, with showers still lingering around the circuit.