Dutch GP: Verstappen beats Leclerc by 0.021s to take home pole
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen edges out Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by 0.021s to take F1 Dutch GP pole with Carlos Sainz third.
Q1:
The first part of F1 qualifying in Dutch GP at Zandvoort saw Red Bull’s Max Verstappen lead the pack with a 1m11.317s lap with a safe distance to Ferrari pair where Mercedes’ George Russell and Lewis Hamilton got in to be second and third initially.
But Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc put in another quick lap to be second and close to Verstappen, with Russell retaining third. But late rumble saw the Dutchman still remain on top as Hamilton improved to second from AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda.
The late improvements put Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in danger in 14th, as Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu was the first to be knocked out in 16th with 1m11.961s lap as Haas’ Kevin Magnussen (1m12.041s) was 17th after a moment on his quick lap.
McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo (1m12.081s) also lost in the final sector to be only 18th as Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel (1m12.391s) was sadly 19th after his wide moment on what looked like a fast lap. Williams’ Nicholas Latifi (1m13.353s) ended up 20th.
Q2:
The second part in F1 qualifying at Dutch GP saw red flag to start it off after a fan threw a flare on track. He was removed by the organisers as the session resumed post that. The initial run had Verstappen on top with a 1m10.927s lap.
He headed Hamilton and Red Bull’ Sergio Perez in third, with the Ferrari pair far off in the second half of the Top 10. In the end, Sainz was fastest with a 1m10.814s lap after a late improvement with Russell slotting in second from Verstappen.
It was heavy knockout zone in Q2 with both Alpines out where Esteban Ocon (1m11.605s) led teammate Fernando Alonso (1m11.613s) in 12th and 13th, who had a moment on his final lap and complained of traffic but it didn’t look like one.
They slotted behind AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly (1m11.512s). Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu (1m11.704s) pitted eventually to be 14th while Williams’ Alexander Albon (1m11.802s) also did not venture out for a final lap to be 15th.
Q3:
The final part in F1 qualifying at Dutch GP saw Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc show some pace on his first quick lap of 1m10.456s which was 0.059s faster than Verstappen to take provisional pole, as Hamilton slotted in third from Sainz and Perez.
There was another flare moment but was quickly taken off as the final lap saw a big fight between Verstappen (1m10.342s) and Leclerc (1m10.363s) where the Dutchman took F1 Dutch GP pole by 0.021s, as Sainz (1m10.434s) rounded out the Top 3 positions.
Hamilton (1m10.648s) was fourth from Perez (1m11.077s), who spun off at the final corner bringing out the yellow flags. Russell (1m11.147s) was sixth from McLaren’s Lando Norris (1m11.174s), Haas’ Mick Schumacher (1m11.442s), Tsunoda (1m12.556s) as Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll did not take the track due to a mechanical issue.
