Dutch Grand Prix – Qualifying: Lando Norris takes pole, proving he’s a force to be reckoned with!

Qualifying session taking place in dry weather, but with a lot of wind.

Q1: McLaren and Mercedes are showing themselves in view of the final result

From the first significant timing attempt in this first part of the session, we can see that Mercedes, McLaren, and Red Bull are very close. Indeed, Lewis Hamilton takes the lead with a 2-millisecond advantage over Lando Norris and 18 over Max Verstappen. The rest of the pack remains very close, and all the teams are well mixed, except for the two Racing Bulls and the two Stake teams, which dominate the bottom of the table.

For the second attempt, a cork is created in the pit lane but all the drivers will eventually manage to set one last lap time.

This is how Carlos Sainz temporarily propels his Ferrari to the top of the timesheets, followed by his teammate Charles Leclerc.

The track is starting to get faster and lap times are improving for everyone. Except Max Verstappen who was struggling with used tires. Neither Norris nor Hamilton completed their second attempt. Therefore, Russell and Perez were able to move up to the top of the standings.

Note that like last year, Alex Albon feels comfortable on this track and places his Williams in 9th position.

Pierre Gasly and the two Haas drivers tumble to 14th, 13th, and 15th place, but will barely make it into Q2.

The eliminated in Q1: 20th Sargeant, 19th Zhou, 18th Bottas, 17th Ocon, 16th Ricciardo.

Q2: Gasly in Q3, Hamilton in trouble!

For this second part, it is the Ferrari drivers who are the first to go out to test the grip of the track. This run is done on worn tires.

The rest of the peloton comes out a few minutes later, but with new tires. Indeed, the clouds are getting threatening, the risk of rain is very real.

Under these conditions, it’s Oscar Piastri who stands out and beats last year’s pole position time by a few hundredths, leaving Max Verstappen three tenths behind. The Australian driver is quickly joined by his teammate who falls short by nine thousandths. Then by George Russell by 56 thousandths. Lewis Hamilton, having made a slight mistake, stays behind the reigning world champion. He is just ahead of a group led by Charles Leclerc followed by Stroll, Perez, Alonso, and Sainz.

At this moment, the Haas, Yuki Tsunoda, Gasly and Albon would be eliminated.

In order to save new tires for Q3, Norris, Piastri, Russell, and Verstappen choose not to go back out of the pits. A bold choice for the reigning world champion.

The track is greatly improving and Pierre Gasly sets a very fast lap, he finishes in fifth place just 4 milliseconds behind Verstappen. The risk is real for the local driver! Who eventually finishes 8th.

Alex Albon continues to impress with the seventh fastest time.

The bad surprises come from Carlos Sainz, but especially Lewis Hamilton who fails to make it to Q3.

The eliminated in Q2: 15th Magnussen, 14th Hülkenberg, 13th Tsunoda, 12th Hamilton, 11th Sainz.

Q3:

The ultimate performance must be found for these last two timed attempts. In this game, it is the McLarens that prove to be the fastest. Lando Norris leads his young Australian teammate and Max Verstappen. The latter fights like a lion at home to go conquer another pole position, but his Red Bull is too unstable to catch up with the papaya-colored cars.

Behind them, George Russell, Charles Leclerc, and Pierre Gasly are far away.

As for Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez, and Alex Albon, they choose to qualify on a single lap. They are far from the leaders’ times.

For a few seconds, Dutch fans thought their idol would be in pole position as Max Verstappen managed to improve Lando Norris’ best time. But Norris quickly regained the lead with a stellar lap in 1:09.673.

Nevertheless, the Red Bull driver regains a position by overtaking Oscar Piastri and will be on the front row for the race.

The results

Ranking to come.