Verstappen tops dramatic wet-dry Zandvoort qualifying to extend run of Dutch GP poles
Max Verstappen made it three pole positions in a row at the Dutch Grand Prix with another imperious display during Saturday’s qualifying session at Zandvoort, pulling out a stupendous final lap to beat Lando Norris and George Russell at the end of a crash-filled, wet to dry affair.
In the dying moments of a pole shootout that was red-flagged twice due to crashes for Williams rookie Logan Sargeant and Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, the passionate home crowd were sent wild by Verstappen’s ultimate table-topping time of 1m 10.567s, Azernews reports via F1 website.
That put him a whopping half a second clear of his nearest rivals, the McLaren of Norris and Mercedes of Russell, who led the Silver Arrows’ charge after team mate Lewis Hamilton suffered a shock Q2 elimination.
Alex Albon was another star of qualifying as he put his Williams up in fourth, ahead of Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin, Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari and the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez, who was 1.3 seconds slower than Verstappen.
Oscar Piastri had been in the hunt for a maiden F1 pole but dropped down the timesheets during the final laps, leaving him eighth on the grid in front of Leclerc and Sargeant, who watched the rest of Q3 from the sidelines after their shunts.
Hamilton had to settle for 13th after his aforementioned Q2 exit, slotting behind Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin and the lead Alpine of Pierre Gasly, leaving the seven-time world champion with a challenging recovery drive at the tight, twisty Dutch venue.
Yuki Tsunoda followed in 14th, with stewards set to investigate a potential impeding incident between the AlphaTauri man and Hamilton after the session, while Nico Hulkenberg was the slowest of the Q2 runners en route to 15th.
Alfa Romeo lost both cars at the first qualifying hurdle as Zhou Guanyu, having spun out of FP3 earlier in the day, narrowly missed the cut in 16th via a slide through the penultimate corner, with team mate Bottas all the way back in 19th.
Esteban Ocon was a lowly 17th in the other Alpine, having lost out with the timing of his final run, while Haas driver Kevin Magnussen, who had a crash of his own in final practice, went too deep at Turn 1 on his final run and wound up 18th.
Liam Lawson marked his first qualifying session with 20th and last, a second adrift of the pack, after the young New Zealander was thrown in at the deep end as the replacement for the injured Daniel Ricciardo with just one practice hour in wet conditions.
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