Max Verstappen took pole position on home soil at Zandvoort for the second year in a row ahead of Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.
Red Bull Racing’s Verstappen was pushed hard by both Ferrari and Mercedes during the three sessions, but had enough when it mattered to beat Leclerc by a slender 0.021s, with the top three separated by 0.092s.
Q1 – Verstappen leads Hamilton as Ricciardo’s struggles continue
Verstappen posted an early effort of 1m11.317s which was good enough to top the session. George Russell moved within 0.244s of the Dutchman on his first run, with team-mate Lewis Hamilton setting the third quickest time.
Leclerc then edged the Mercedes duo with a lap 0.126s shy of Verstappen’s benchmark.
Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda leapt up to second late on, but Hamilton improved to snatch the position away from him. Lando Norris secured his place in Q2 by setting the fifth quickest time on his final lap, but McLaren team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was not able to improve and was eliminated in 18th place.
Sebastian Vettel looked set to register a quick lap before the chequered flag, but the Aston Martin driver ended up 19th after a trip through the gravel at the penultimate corner.
Sainz scraped into Q2 with the 14th quickest time, as did Alfa Romeo’s Gaunyu Zhou in 15th, but Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen and Nicholas failed to progress.
Eliminated:
- Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo)
- Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
- Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren)
- Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin)
- Nicholas Latifi (Williams)
Q2 – Sainz edges Russell as both Alpines miss out
After a brief red flag period to remove a flare that had been thrown onto the track, Verstappen recorded a 1m10.927s to lead team-mate Sergio Perez by 0.387s. Hamilton then split the Red Bulls with a lap 0.148s adrift of the quickest time, while Russell moved into fourth.
As Verstappen remained in the pits, Sainz set a 1m10.814s to top the times with seconds remaining, with Russell improving to within 0.010s of the Spaniard. Leclerc moved up to fourth, while Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) and Mick Schumacher (Haas) made it into Q3 in eighth and ninth. Tsunoda also made it through in 10th, one place ahead of team-mate Pierre Gasly, who missed out. Both Alpine drivers as well as Zhou and Alexander Albon also failed to progress.
Eliminated:
- Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri)
- Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
- Fernando Alonso (Alpine)
- Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo)
- Alexander Albon (Williams)
Q3 – Verstappen delights Dutch crowd with pole
Verstappen set a 1m10.515s on his first flyer before Leclerc went 0.059s quicker to move into provisional pole. The pair were followed by Hamilton and Sainz after the first runs.
Despite improving on his final run, Leclerc was pipped to pole by home hero Verstappen with a 1m10.342s. Sainz climbed to third but Perez spun at the final corner, leaving him fifth. Yellow flags for the Mexican’s incident denied the Mercedes pair a chance to improve, with Hamilton finishing fourth and Russell sixth.
Norris was just behind Russell in seventh, with Schumacher eighth ahead of Tsunoda, while a technical issue kept Stroll in the garage.
Result:
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
- Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
- Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
- Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
- George Russell (Mercedes)
- Lando Norris (McLaren)
- Mick Schumacher (Haas)
- Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri)
- Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
Featured image credit: @f1 official twitter
