George Russell wins first Zandvoort Sprint to close in on F1 title battle

Zandvoort (the Netherlands), Aug 22 (IANS) Mercedes driver George Russell on Saturday won the Sprint race at Zandvoort on F1’s return from the summer break as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc pipped McLaren driver and reigning world champion Lando Norris.

Russell closed in on the championship gap after collecting the most eight points at the Dutch GP, which is in its final year of running, as current title leader Kimi Antonelli and second-placed Lewis Hamilton came fourth and seventh, respectively.

Russell led the race from start to finish despite early pressure from Norris, who had to settle for third place after Leclerc went past him to take second.

Antonelli was close to getting Norris too, but he ran out of laps as the Italian took fourth ahead of Oscar Piastri in fifth, Max Verstappen in sixth, Lewis Hamilton in seventh and Pierre Gasly in eighth, wrapping up the eight point scorers from the first Dutch GP Sprint.

Russell, meanwhile, has closed his gap in the championship battle after winning his third Sprint of the season. Coming into the weekend, he had 160 points and was nine points adrift of the second-placed Hamilton, who had 169 points to his name. Antonelli holds the lead in the title battle and gained five more points to tally 224 in the season.

Russell was impressive at the front of the grid and led from the start to the finish as others battled behind him for places. He had to fend off an early attack from Norris at the start of the race.

Norris put Russell under the pump in the initial few laps of the 24-lap race but began to unwind a little later as Leclerc closed in on him from third. Antonelli made a move in his Mercedes on the other McLaren of Oscar Piastri early in the Sprint to take fourth place from him and then pile the pressure on Leclerc, who was third.

Leclerc, who was one of the two racers on soft compound tyres along with Gabriel Bortoleto, kept pushing the pedal and also waited for his chance. It arrived in the final few laps, and he stormed past the struggling Norris for second.

It wasn’t a pleasing outing for Piastri, who did not find the pace to challenge the top four. Four-time champion Verstappen had some nervy moments too, once when he was close to getting surpassed by eight-time F1 winner Hamilton and then when he himself was close behind Piastri. While the Ferrari of Leclerc posed a significant challenge, hinting at a possible intense battle in the near future, Hamilton did not have a great outing either.

Here are the point winners from the Dutch GP Sprint:

1 – George Russell: 8 points

2 – Charles Leclerc: 7 points

3 – Lando Norris: 6 points

4 – Kimi Antonelli: 5 points

5 – Oscar Piastri: 4 points

6 – Max Verstappen: 3 points

7- Lewis Hamilton: 2 points

1 – Pierre Gasly: 1 point

–IANS

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