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Lando Norris reminded Max Verstappen of his world championship credentials by taking a brilliant pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix. The British driver, who trails Verstappen by 78 points in the standings with 10 rounds still to go, saw off his rival by 0.356sec to silence the 100,000 spectators hoping to see the Dutchman start the Zandvoort race from the front.
Verstappen, without a win from his last four appearances, will start alongside Norris on the front row. Oscar Piastri took third, half a second down on McLaren team-mate Norris. Mercedes’ George Russell finished fourth as Lewis Hamilton endured an afternoon to forget after he failed to make it out of Q2. He will line up from 12th for Sunday’s 72-lap race but faces an investigation by the stewards for blocking Sergio Perez.
Norris might have been much closer to Verstappen in the title race but for a catalogue of mistakes by driver and team. However, the 24-year-old brought his A-game to qualifying with a scintillating final effort to provide himself with the best shot of kicking off the second half of the season with just the second win of his career.
Verstappen temporarily bumped Norris off the summit to huge cheers, only for Norris to knock the home favourite, who had taken three poles and three wins since the sport returned to the Netherlands in 2021, off his perch. Hamilton headed into the summer break with his second win of the campaign after Russell was disqualified in Belgium.
But the seven-time world champion was no match for Russell here after qualifying four-tenths behind his team-mate to leave him way down the order for Sunday’s race. “Okay, Lewis, I am afraid, mate, that is P12 so we have been bumped,” said Hamilton’s race engineer Peter Bonnington. “Just four-and-a-half tenths to P1 so very tight in that mid-pack.”
It marked the second successive year that Hamilton has been eliminated in Q2 in Zandvoort, and the first time since China – a streak of 10 races – that he has failed to make the concluding part of qualifying. Hamilton is also under investigation for impeding Sergio Perez.
American driver Logan Sargeant watched from the sidelines after he was involved in a heavy crash in final practice which saw him jump out of his burning Williams. Sargeant lost control of his car through the banked third corner in the wet conditions as he bounced off the barrier and back on to the track.
The 23-year-old suffered extensive damage to his car, as his right-rear tyre came loose and bounced along the asphalt, before it suddenly caught fire. Sargeant emerged from his wrecked machine before slumping over the barriers. He was taken to the medical centre for precautionary checks but Williams were unable to repair his car in time.
PA Sport
“It all went badly from when the situation with Perez happened” 📉Lewis reflects on being knocked out in Zandvoort Q2 for a second year running ❌ pic.twitter.com/NYYIODIkhC
Ride on board Lando Norris’ IMPRESSIVE lap that secured him POLE in Zanvoordt 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/AvYnpOKswK
Hamilton summoned to the stewards at 17:00 local time (so in just under an hour) for alleged impeding of Perez in Q1 #F1 #DutchGP
Pole #4 for Driver #4 👏👏#F1 #DutchGP pic.twitter.com/DJdpyhmvwc
Just one win from three poles and a few other good positions feels like a bit of a poor return.
An amazing day. Nice to be back and start with a pole. The qualifying was always pretty smooth and put in some nice laps. Great job by the team and very happy today. It’s harder than it looks. It’s tricky; it’s not easy out there. I felt comfortable out there, the car was feeling amazing – we’ve got some upgrades on the car for the first time in a while. I’m excited for tomorrow, I’m sure it’s going to be tough. Max has been quick all weekend and he’s going to be putting up a good fight, especially at his home race.
Just didn’t do a good enough job really… the second half [of the lap] wasn’t quite what I needed. A little disappointing not to be a little higher up but we can get some decent points and hopefully some trophies tomorrow.
We just lacked a bit of pace. I tried the best I could, I’m still very happy to be on the front row. It’s very tricky with the wind. I think after yesterday as well this is a good result. Hopefully the car is OK tomorrow in the race.
Piastri doesn’t improve from third. It will be Lando Norris and Max Verstappen on the front row. Russell puts in a good lap to go fourth for Mercedes, with Sergio Perez in fifth.
It’s a commanding pole for Norris, 0.356sec ahead of Verstappen over a lap that is 70 seconds long. That is, in percentage terms, half a percent. Significant.
But how long will that last? Not very long! Norris beats it by 0.356sec. What has Piastri got? He has only just started his lap…
What’s his first sector like? The car doesn’t look hooked up and he’s 0.357sec down after two sectors. He has a chance of the front row but needs a good final sector.
A tenth or two down. Norris improves in sector one, though. Verstappen massively improves in the middle sector, though, 0.222sec up on Verstappen but Norris is a tenth up on that so it comes down to the final sector!
“I cannot do more than this,” he says. After all those podiums last year it is a shame to see the Aston Martin slip back from the front of the pack.
Stroll crosses the line and goes sixth… not great, 0.783sec off Norris. Alonso is looking a little sharper but not by an enormous amount. The Spaniard crosses the line and goes fifth, 0.559sec off Norris, who has just left the pit lane.
A few tenths slower than Verstappen so it is perhaps safe to assume he will not be challenging for pole position. Leclerc on used softs a full 0.684sec off Norris’s pace.
Verstappen cannot beat him, but Norris can! He moves 0.119sec faster than his team-mate. Verstappen just 0.029sec slower than Piastri.
Verstappen not far away either…
They shouldn’t really be in the position of celebrating Q3 appearances with their resources but that team has been a metaphorical bin fire in the last few years especially.
🟢 Green light for Q3 🟢C’mon @PierreGASLY pic.twitter.com/7CyTJlm0Bj
McLaren the strong favourites for this, I’d say. You cannot rule out Verstappen as I think he has left a few tenths out there without really nailing any of his laps today.
Alexander Albon does make it through to Q3 which is a good effort from him, out-qualifying a Ferrari and a Mercedes. Verstappen makes it through in P8 but was only a tenth or so from being eliminated but not being sent out again was the right call in the end by Red Bull. Risky, though. James Vowles, Williams team principal calls Albon’s lap a “strong effort”.
He was 0.3sec down and never really made that up. That’s disappointing. Russell makes it through with a good lap after looking a bit dodgy in Q1.
He is in the drop zone… only ninth. Is that going to be good enough? Stroll goes fourth as he crosses the line. Hamilton needs to improve and he cannot improve enough to get into Q3! He’s 11th at best. Toto Wolff’s face says it all:
Toto can’t believe it #F1 #DutchGP pic.twitter.com/90h0YExT6H
Leclerc into sixth with demotes Sainz into 11th and out of qualifying!
Norris leads Piastri as it stands. Perez improves to go fourth, 0.182sec off Norris. Stroll with the fastest first sector of anyone so far as the track continues to ramp up.
Albon into fifth proves that, ahead of Verstappen for now.
0.3sec or so off Piastri but Norris then posts a time fast enough to lead the pack, by just 0.009sec over his team-mate. Perez a full 0.604sec off that time when he completes his first flying lap of this session.
And indeed the fastest second sector, more than a second faster than Charles Leclerc. Ferrari not very impressive so far today.
Its a 1:10.505 from Piastri to go faster than Leclerc by 1.160sec. Verstappen and Norris also with decent first sectors, though Verstappen’s middle sector is not so good, losing a tenth or so.
Doesn’t mean rain is imminent, mind you. Leclerc goes fastest early on, 0.170sec ahead of Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc. Sainz, who will be driving for Williams in 2025, is not too happy with his car.
Albon makes it through to Q2 which is decent. That has not always been the case this season, when it was more often than not in 2023.
“I don’t know what’s going on but something’s going on in this session. Car’s a disaster from the start of the weekend,”.
Sergio Perez not happy about having to burn a set of soft tyres to go fastest in Q1. He was also still not happy with Hamilton over this incident.
A close call between Lewis and Checo 👀 pic.twitter.com/moBAHQZgTB
All these men have made it through to Q2.
He is 0.043sec ahead of Russell. The track improvement was enormous there and that will continue to be the case assuming no further rain.
Ricciardo, Ocon, Bottas, Zhou and Sargeant are eliminated.
Sainz only just up on where he needs to be after one sector but plenty of time to be made up later on in the lap.
He does find plenty of time in the final two sectors, going fastest of all. Russell then beats that by nearly three-tenths. Perez now in the drop zone but is improving…
Verstappen abandons his hot lap and, like Russell, complains about the amount of sliding. Bottas gets out of the bottom five for now, putting Sainz in the drop zone, though he is improving on his current lap.
Ricciardo, Tsunoda, Bottas, Zhou and Sargeant, who has yet to leave the garage.
Or even poor. 0.529sec off Hamilton’s leading time and only good enough for 10th. Meanwhile, Hamilton has been noted for impeding Perez.
“What the f— is this idiot doing?!” Perez says. “I was well out of his way,” is what Hamilton says.
0.018sec off Hamilton’s time. Decent.
His time of 1:11.375 is just 0.002sec ahead of Lando Norris in the McLaren, who looks like he left some time out there. The track evolution, after plenty of rain over the weekend, will be large throughout qualifying.
Max Verstappen leaves the garage for his first run in Q1.
He’s slower than Ocon and Gasly and a host of other people, too. Leclerc is faster but is only fourth. Piastri leads the way from Lance Stroll by just under three tenths.
Zhou is about six or seven tenths behind that as Carlos Sainz starts his first flying lap.
As is Valtteri Bottas. Difficult to overstate how poor a season Sauber are having this year. They are the only pointless team.
Who will be the five drivers eliminated? We will find out in 18 minutes’ time.
Softs strapped on. Time for some qualifying laps around this mega circuit. #DutchGP pic.twitter.com/GykdZsSy4A
Possibly, judging by these pictures…
All hands to the pump 👏#F1 #DutchGP pic.twitter.com/P2CZmGX2YV
Who will be on pole? The last four races have been Vestappen, Russell, Norris and Leclerc (though Verstappen was fastest at Spa but took a penalty).
#F1 #BBCF1 #DUTCHGP QUALIFYING: With 15 mins to Q1, air temp is 24.3C & the track 30.4C. Wind has shifted to SSW, with gusts to 25mph in the past 15 minutes. Dry; no showers currently in vicinity. Rain will arrive late this afternoon/evening. FIA risk of rain for Q is 40%.
It is very windy.
Max waiting for nobody to get back on track 💨 pic.twitter.com/hZTOnnrCkT
It is currently dry at Zandvoort but there is a reasonable (40 per cent-ish) chance of showers in the qualifying hour. That increases as the day goes on but, unless we get a significant stoppage, then the worst of the rain will be after the chequered flag. Tomorrow looks almost certainly dry with sunny spells.
Jack Doohan will drive full-time for Alpine’s Formula One team in 2025, replacing Esteban Ocon, who is headed to Haas.
The team made the announcement Friday morning in advance of the Dutch Grand Prix. Contract details were not announced.
Doohan, 21, will pair with Pierre Gasly on the F1 team. He has been with Alpine’s academy since 2022 and is the first academy graduate to be promoted to the team.
Doohan won three times in 2023, finishing third in the F2 championship. The Australian has been a reserve driver for Alpine the past two seasons.
“I am so happy to secure promotion into a full-time race seat in 2025 with BWT Alpine F1 Team,” he said. “I am very grateful for the trust and belief by the team’s senior management.
“There is so much work ahead to be prepared and ready and I will give my best in the meantime to absorb as much information and knowledge to be ready for the step up.”
Oliver Oakes, Alpine’s new team principal, said Alpine will work to develop the team.
“Alongside Pierre, we have a well-balanced driver line-up with a good combination between youthful energy, experience, and pure speed.
“We look forward to working with both Jack and Pierre in order to keep developing the car and bring the team up the grid.”
Not a great deal of laps on the board for anyone, with Piastri the only man in double figures due the rain and the red flag.
Logan Sargeant has suffered a difficult F1 season and that poor form continued with a hefty crash in FP3 earlier today. He escaped unhurt bit will not be taking part in qualifying today because his car was a total wreck. Read (and look) on more of that here.
Welcome to our coverage for qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix from Zandvoort. It’s the first race after the summer break and at the start of the year the hiatus could not come soon enough as Max Verstappen continued his dominance. The three-time World Champion won four of the first five races (and the other one he did not finish). Yet since Miami he has won just three times and none of the last four races, with his last win coming at the Spanish Grand Prix in June.
Unfortunately during most of this downturn in form for both driver and team he has managed to increase his lead in the drivers’ standings to 78 points over McLaren’s Lando Norris, with Charles Leclerc 100 points adrift in third. That means that any realistic hopes of a championship challenge rely on a few DNFs from the Dutchman or Red Bull’s development taking several wrong turns. Both seem unlikely.
Fortunately the outlook is competitive in the constructors’ championship. McLaren, who are chasing their first team’s title since 1998 are just 42 points behind Red Bull with Ferrari a further 21 points away. McLaren have, on balance, the best “package” out there – not just the car but the driver line-up, too. Some strategic, driver and operational errors have cost them points since they leaped to the front in spring, but they are probably favourites to claim that title.
Mercedes have also put themselves back into the winning picture, triumphing in three of the last four races, but had such a terrible start to the season that contending for the constructors’ is a distant dream.
As we return to Zandvoort after the summer break the conditions have been very much autumnal with strong wind and plenty of rain since running began yesterday. There’s a chance of that again during qualifying, which begins at 2pm BST. We will be here for all the updates and latest from it.
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