Oscar Piastri's Dutch Grand Prix record was, for three years, the neatest little staircase in this whole series. Ninth, then fourth, then first. The fourth visit is the one that interrupted it.
He has only raced here since 2023, so there is no long history to sift through. What there is instead is three years of a very clear line pointing straight up, and then a flat one. Here is how the climb went.
Pole and win in 2025 Dutch GP
The 2025 Dutch Grand Prix was the breakthrough. Piastri put his McLaren on pole, controlled the race from the front and won, while teammate Lando Norris retired from second. On a track where track position is everything, converting pole into victory was exactly the kind of clean weekend a title challenge is built on.
It was his first Zandvoort pole and his first win here, and it came at the most valuable possible moment in a championship year.
The two races before tell you why 2025 was not a fluke. On debut in 2023 he qualified eighth and came home ninth, a sensible rookie afternoon. In 2024 he jumped to third on the grid and fourth at the flag, right on the fringe of the podium. The pace was building visit by visit.
2026: the first step backwards
Piastri arrived as the defending winner and qualified fourth, which at Zandvoort is usually enough to stay near the front. He finished sixth, losing out to both Ferraris and never getting close to teammate Lando Norris at the head of the race.
Eight points is a perfectly ordinary Sunday. It is only notable because the three visits before it had each improved on the last, and this is the first time that pattern has broken.
Oscar Piastri's Dutch GP record year by year
Three rows in one direction, then a fourth that steps back. The table makes both halves impossible to miss.
| Year | Team | Grid | Finish | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | McLaren | 8th | 9th | 2 |
| 2024 | McLaren | 3rd | 4th | 12 |
| 2025 | McLaren | 1st | 1st | 25 |
| 2026 | McLaren | 4th | 6th | 8 |
Oscar Piastri's F1 journey is far from over
Most drivers in this series arrive with six years of Zandvoort history. Piastri arrives with four, and a win already banked. That makes his the most open-ended record of the lot. If the McLaren stays this strong, the 2025 victory may end up as the first of several rather than the highlight of a short run.
Ninth, fourth, first, sixth. Piastri needed only three attempts to master a circuit that has humbled far more experienced drivers, and the 2026 result does nothing to take that away. It just means the staircase has a landing on it.
