George Russell turned sprint pole into victory at Zandvoort on Saturday morning, then qualified second for the Dutch Grand Prix. Team-mate Kimi Antonelli took fourth in the sprint after passing Oscar Piastri on lap one, and lined up third on the grid. Both Mercedes drivers ended up just over a tenth of a second behind Lando Norris, whose McLaren claimed pole as rain closed in on the circuit.
Mercedes came away from Saturday at Zandvoort with a sprint win and both cars inside the top three on the grid for the Dutch Grand Prix. It was the team’s third sprint victory of the 2026 season, all of them scored by George Russell.
A controlled run to sprint victory
Russell had secured pole for the F1 Sprint on Friday and converted it on Saturday morning, managing his tyres and the gap behind him rather than chasing lap time. Kimi Antonelli made the better start of the two, passing Oscar Piastri’s McLaren on the opening lap to move into fourth. In the closing stages he closed on Piastri’s team-mate Lando Norris but ran out of laps, finishing fourth.
“It was good to start the day with a win in the sprint. It was a controlled race in which I mainly looked after the tyres and the gap to the cars behind. We saw how close the field is at the front, so track position was decisive.”
Russell added that returning from the summer break with competitive pace had given him and the team a confidence boost.
Warming the soft tyres before the rain
Much of qualifying revolved around getting heat into the soft tyres, with the team using a mix of preparation laps and slower out-laps. In Q3 Mercedes ran a preparation lap on the first attempt, then attacked immediately on the opening lap of the second set because rain was approaching.
Both drivers improved, but neither could match Norris. Russell said the first half of his final lap was the best of his weekend before a small mistake raised his tyre temperatures and cost him time, and that he believed pole had been possible.
Antonelli described a more difficult day. He said he never felt fully comfortable in the car, particularly in Q1, and struggled to find a rhythm until Q3. A mistake at Turn 1 on his final lap cost him around two tenths in the first sector, some of which he recovered in sectors two and three.
“Starting from the second row is not a bad position to be in, and everything is still open tomorrow,” he said, adding that the podium was within reach but that any opportunities would have to be taken intelligently.
The team expects a close race
Team principal and CEO Toto Wolff called it a solid Saturday, noting that Russell had endured a run of bad luck in the first half of the season and had come back strongly after the break. He said the team had initially feared ending up at the back of the top six in qualifying, and that second and third was a positive outcome even if neither driver was entirely satisfied.
Wolff pointed to the sprint as evidence of how important track position is at Zandvoort, where overtaking is difficult even with a pace advantage. According to the team, race pace looked solid but not the strongest in the field, making a win hard but not out of the question.
Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin said set-up changes were made to both cars before qualifying and that they worked reasonably well. The main questions, he said, were whether to run a preparation lap or go for a time immediately, and how to balance tyre preparation against a rain cloud threatening the final minutes of Q3.
A first F1 Academy win for Westcott
In the support programme, Mercedes-backed driver Payton Westcott won the first F1 Academy race of the weekend for her maiden victory in the series. She said her start was the strongest part of the race and that she built a comfortable lead before a safety car closed the field up again, after which she extended the gap at each restart and controlled the race to the finish. She shared the podium with Alba Larsen and Nina Gademan.
What it means
With McLaren quick in the sprint and Ferrari also showing pace but qualifying behind, Mercedes starts Sunday’s race with both cars ahead of one of its closest rivals and only Norris in front. On a circuit where passing is hard, the opening lap and strategy calls are likely to decide how much the team can convert from that grid position.
Facts: Mercedes at the 2026 Dutch Grand Prix (Saturday)
- F1 Sprint: George Russell 1st (from pole), Kimi Antonelli 4th
- Grand Prix qualifying: Russell 2nd, Antonelli 3rd
- Pole position: Lando Norris (McLaren), just over a tenth clear of both Mercedes
- Season sprint wins for Russell: three
- F1 Academy: Payton Westcott won race one, her first win in the series
The Dutch Grand Prix follows on Sunday at Zandvoort.
Source: media.mercedes-benz.com