{"id":11020,"date":"2022-09-03T17:10:26","date_gmt":"2022-09-03T16:10:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/f1vault.co.uk\/?p=11020"},"modified":"2022-09-03T17:10:26","modified_gmt":"2022-09-03T16:10:26","slug":"dutch-gp-max-verstappen-beats-charles-leclerc-to-pole-by-two-hundredths-as-sergio-perez-spins-in-closing-moments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/dutch-gp-max-verstappen-beats-charles-leclerc-to-pole-by-two-hundredths-as-sergio-perez-spins-in-closing-moments\/","title":{"rendered":"DUTCH GP \u2013 Max Verstappen beats Charles Leclerc to pole by two hundredths, as Sergio Perez spins in closing moments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Max Verstappen has beaten his championship rival Charles Leclerc by two-hundredths of a second to take pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver took back-to-back poles for his second home race having crossed the line before his teammate Sergio Perez made a mistake and brought out the yellow flags.<\/p>\n

The Dutchman and Sainz were the only drivers who managed to improve on the final Q3 runs before Perez dipped the wheel onto the gravel at Kumhobocht on his final lap. That sent the Mexican into a spin across the gravel bringing out the yellow flag and that brought an anti-climax in what was set to be a very close session.<\/p>\n

The Red Bull driver looked to be in formidable form early in qualifying but Leclerc went faster on the first runs in the final session in his Ferrari. Throughout qualifying the track ramped up and while Leclerc did manage to improve he was then pipped by Verstappen, meaning that the Dutchman secured pole.<\/p>\n

Verstappen, who holds a ninety-three point title lead and is well on his way to defending his crown, will be aiming for his tenth win of the season on Sunday. Carlos Sainz had to settle for third eight hundredths behind his teammate Leclerc. Leclerc also looked to struggle with his Ferrari in the middle sector, which gave Verstappen the edge.<\/p>\n

The session like at Spa and Budapest once again appeared to be a geniuning three team battle for pole, though the spin prevented both Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes teammate George Russell from improving.<\/p>\n

Perez explained he dipped into the gravel as he tried to pick up the throttle, but he managed to keep it out of the wall. It also prevented Russell, who looked to be improving from going fastest. Hamilton would eventually finish three-tenths off in fourth, while George Russell was also hampered by Perez’s error and finished behind the other Red Bull in sixth.<\/p>\n

As Perez spun Sainz was able to sneak into third ahead of Hamilton.\u00a0 Mercedes looked also to be challenging, Hamilton going fastest early on in the opening sector of his final run and five hundredths up, before aborting the lap when Perez brought out the yellow flags.<\/p>\n

Verstappen said, \u201cWorked really well overnight, the whole team turned it around and today we had a quick race car again but it was very close but the pole lap was insane. We changed a lot, yesterday was a bit rushed in FP2 to get the car together, but today the car was enjoyable to drive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leclerc added: “It was very, very close. Max did a great lap in the end. Our car was getting better and better through qualifying. At the beginning, I was pretty scared because Max was much quicker than us on used tyres. But in the end I managed to get it together for the final session.”<\/p>\n

Hamilton was left over four tenths ahead of Perez, the Mexican splitting the two Mercedes after going seven tenths ahead of Russell.<\/p>\n

Mercedes had been having their most competitive qualifying session of the year – Hamilton was second behind Verstappen in the first session and Russell in the same place behind Leclerc by just a hundredth in the second. However, Russell\u2019s representative lap in Q3 was wrecked by Perez\u2019s spin.<\/p>\n

The session appears not to have come together given the yellow flags, perhaps costing the team one of their best Saturdays of the season. The incident also meant Russell failed to complete a representative lap in the final session, as his first run was on used tyres, and he came across Perez on his second.<\/p>\n

Lando Norris put his McLaren seventh fastest going around three hundredths behind Russell, but he was ahead of the Haas of Mick Schumacher by three and a half tenths. Norris continues to lead McLaren\u2019s charge, the battle behind the top six was ever so and even more competitive than normal, with four different cars into Q3.<\/p>\n

While he didn\u2019t live up to his words on Friday evening, Norris underlined his single lap pace. The Englishman suggested that McLaren could be fighting at the front.<\/p>\n

Schumacher had one of the best qualifying\u2019s of his career going over a tenth faster than the Alpha Tauri of Yuki Tsunoda. Lance Stroll didn\u2019t set a time in Q3, after Aston Martin was seen inspecting the front damper area of his AMR2022 before Q3 began that left him tenth.<\/p>\n

There are questions however about the conduct of fans, Q2 had to be red-flagged after a flare was thrown onto the track through the stadium section. The FIA, which said the person who threw the flare “identified and removed by event security”, suspended the action until it went out and could be removed.<\/p>\n

During the stoppage, the marshals at Masterbotch attempted to clear pigeons that had settled on the inside of that corner, which Alex Albon had noted as he ran solo at the start of the middle segment before the flare had to be cleared.<\/p>\n

Pierre Gasly was unable to challenge his Alpha Tauri teammate Tsunoda for a place in Q3 going eleventh, nearly a tenth ahead of Esteban Ocon. While the two Frenchman were able to improve on their final runs, it was not enough to get them out of the drop zone, After scraping through Q1. Ocon going nearly a hundredth faster than Alpine teammate Fernando Alonso.<\/p>\n

Alpine a surprise early causalty given the bizarre sequence of events, with the flare incident. Alex Albon was the only driver out at the start of Q2 when red flags were waved due to an orange flare being thrown from the stands onto the track, while the Williams driver also complained that pigeons were disrupting him.<\/p>\n

The flare, and the perpetrator, were quickly removed, while an F1 marshal also chased away the pigeons.<\/p>\n

Guanyu Zhou put his Alfa Romeo fourteenth going nearly a tenth faster than Albon, the Williams running a different run plan to other teams meaning he wasn\u2019t on track right as the track improved at the end of Q2, leaving the British-Thai driver fifteenth.<\/p>\n

Gasly\u2019s late improvement at the end of Q1 saw Valtteri Bottas knocked out along with Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian struggling still to get to grips with his McLaren as he fights for his future after being replaced by Oscar Piastri for 2023. Kevin Magnussen could only manage eighteenth, the Haas driver having exceeded track limits at Hugenholtz.<\/p>\n

Sebastian Vettel was left nineteenth the Aston Martin driver had gone fastest in sector one and a personal best in the second, but that was thrown away when he had oversteered at Kumhobocht. The four time champion could not save the car, and then slid wide into the gravel. Nicolas Latifi rounded the field six hundredths behind Vettel.<\/p>\n

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