George Russell cruises to sprint race win at F1’s Dutch Grand Prix

ZANDVOORT, Netherlands (AP) — George Russell started the second half of the Formula 1 season in style as he eased to a sprint race victory on Saturday ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix.

Russell started from pole position, quickly built a gap to Lando Norris in second and managed the pace from there, taking his first win since the Austrian Grand Prix in June.

“Obviously a great start to the weekend,” he said.

Charles Leclerc snatched second off Norris with a daring pass into the inside of the first corner with six laps to go, but couldn’t get close enough to try passing Russell.

Norris held off a late charge from Russell’s Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli to stay third as Antonelli pulled out of a potential overtaking move on the final lap.

“We just don’t have the pace in general, especially in the slow-speed corners,” Norris said.

Fourth-place Antonelli, starting fifth after car damage in qualifying, still managed to extend his standings lead by three more points to 53 because his closest challenger Lewis Hamilton could only manage seventh for Ferrari.

F1 still hasn’t had a wet race this year but came tantalizingly close as rain fell as the drivers were heading back to the pits, seconds after the sprint finished.

“If there was one more lap it would have been a very, potentially, different end to the race so I’m glad the rain came when it did,” Russell said.

While it stayed dry, overtaking was difficult, even in a year where the cars’ electrical power has made back-and-forth passes common. The overtakes by Leclerc and Antonelli were the only changes of position anywhere in the top 11 finishers.

That should make grid position even more important than usual when qualifying takes place later Saturday for Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix.

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