DUTCH GP – Oscar Piastri pips Lando Norris by just over a hundredth to take pole with Max Verstappen third
Oscar Piastri has beaten his McLaren teammate Lando Norris to take pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix. Piastri set a 09.662 on his first attempt to beat his teammate on their first runs in Q3, but neither driver managed to improve later despite Norris looking faster on the final attempts, despite topping all three practice sessions.
McLaren looked unthreatened throughout qualifying as Piastri showed his true form to narrowly beat his teammate, allowing him to try and extend his lead over Norris in the championship. Max Verstappen put his Red Bull third, but the Dutchman was over a quarter of a second off the McLaren’s.
In Q1, Piastri was suddenly ahead by over a tenth and, although Norris then nudged back clear by nine hundredths to top Q2, the Australian seized the early initiative on the first runs of Q3 to put himself on provisional pole. The first laps proved decisive as neither McLaren driver was able to improve on their second attempt, confirming Piastri’s fifth pole of the season but first since the Spanish Grand Prix, six races ago.
Piastri said, “That was the definition of peaking at the right time!” said Piastri. “The whole weekend I felt good, there had just been a couple of corners I had not been able to go any faster. I didn’t really go faster in those corners, but found some more elsewhere. Super happy to come away with this result. It was looking like a tricky weekend so to come out with that, I’m pretty stoked.”
Norris said the close nature of their battle means such duels can “easily go one way or the other. I guess a little bit disappointed that I’m not on pole, but it was close, was still some decent laps, so not the end of the world either
But the Englishman, who claimed pole last year and then ultimately won at a canter after losing and then regaining the race lead from Verstappen, believes it remains all to play for on Sunday. Verstappen failing to qualify on the front row at Zandvoort for the first time since it rejoined the calendar in 2021.
A brilliant effort saw Isack Hadjar from Red Bull’s sister team Racing Bulls go fourth, the French rookie delivered a strong final lap to move himself just under half a tenth ahead of George Russell and the two Ferrari’s. Hadjar’s performance was the stand-out in qualifying, almost three-tenths ahead of teammate Liam Lawson in eighth and ahead of both Mercedes and both Ferraris.
It was all the more eye-opening as he had missed much of Friday’s practice with a recurring engine problem.
Charles Leclerc had appeared to be on the backfoot compared to teammate Lewis Hamilton, that was until the final runs in Q3 when the Monacan found half a tenth to put himself fifth ahead of the seven-time champion. Hamilton needed a much stronger result after suggesting he should be replaced after being knocked out in Q2 in Budapest.
Liam Lawson put his Racing Bull eighth just over a tenth off Hamilton as he went ahead of the two Spaniard’s, Carlos Sainz putting his Williams a tenth and a quarter ahead of Fernando Alonso to complete the top ten. As expected the Aston Martin’s pace on Friday, which suggested he could have been challenging the McLaren’s faded in Q3.
But Alonso had looked in the hunt until Q3 when conditions changed and the track became slower, he had run used tyres on his first run in Q3, like everyone bar the McLarens and Verstappen. While Sainz made it through to the final part of qualifying for the first time since Imola.
He was able to drive the car back to the pit lane but the damage was too significant for the team to fix it in time for him to rejoin the session. Stroll’s mechanics had already worked beyond F1’s curfew late into Friday night to change the first survival cell on his AMR25 after the first crash – and now face another period of repairs.
Things didn’t get much better for Alonso’s teammate, Lance Stroll, his second crash of the weekend saw him out of qualifying on his first run when he spun and hit the gravel through the final corner Arie Lunyendyk, and crashed into the barrier.
Kimi Antonelli put his Mercedes eleventh as the Italian missed out on Q3 by two hundredths as he went around a tenth and a half ahead of Yuki Tsunoda. Gabriel Bortoleto was thirteenth going ahead of Pierre Gasly by a hundredth and a half. Alex Albon was slowest in Q3 as he complained about his tyres.
Franco Colapinto was sixteenth as the Alpine driver missed out on Q2 by sixteen hundredths, as he went nine hundredths faster than Nico Hulkenberg. Esteban Ocon was seven hundredths faster than Haas teammate Ollie Bearman, as Stroll’s crash left him unable to set a time.
Related
- DUTCH GP – Lando Norris makes a clean sweep of practice, topping FP3 by a quarter of a second from Oscar Piastri
- DUTCH GP – Lando Norris fastest ahead of Fernando Alonso by almost a tenth in second practice
- DUTCH GP – Lando Norris leads McLaren one-two three, tenths faster than Oscar Piastri in first practice
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- PRIXVIEW – Dutch Grand Prix