Norris denies Verstappen a fourth consecutive home pole at Zandvoort · RaceFans

Lando Norris beat Max Verstappen by three tenths of a second to take pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.

Norris denied Verstappen his fourth successive pole at his home grand prix with his final lap in qualifying. Oscar Piastri will start the race from third on the grid, with George Russell fourth for Mercedes.

Q1

The track was dry as drivers prepared to head out on track for the start of Q1. However the radars showed signs of rain moving in from the west and race control declared a 40% chance it would hit the track before qualifying ended.

Everyone who headed out onto the circuit with new soft tyres, that they had no opportunity to use in final practice. However, one driver who did not take to the track when the pit exit opened was Logan Sargeant. Despite a commendable effort from the Williams mechanics, his car could not be repaired in time for qualifying, meaning that he would not participate in the session and will start Sunday’s grand prix last on the grid.

Lewis Hamilton set the early pace with a 1’11.375, just two-thousandths of a second quicker than Lando Norris in second with team mate Oscar Piastri behind him. Max Verstappen’s first effort put him third between the two McLarens, while Pierre Gasly put his Alpine into the top five after the early runs.

Sergio Perez was unhappy with Hamilton after coming across the Mercedes at the exit of turn nine on his hot lap, which he abandoned soon after. The stewards confirmed they would investigate the incident after qualifying.

As the cars prepared to leave the pits in the final minutes, there were four drivers facing elimination thanks to Sargeant occupying the final slot of the grid – the two RBs of Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda as well as the Sauber duo, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu.

While both Bottas and Zhou improved on their final attempts, both remained rooted to the bottom of the standings and were out. Tsunoda managed to go safe in 12th place, which dropped Esteban Ocon out in his Alpine in 17th. But while Ricciardo improved with his last effort, he missed the cut by just over a tenth of a second, meaning he was also knocked out in 16th.

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Q1 result

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Q2

The skies were beginning to darken as the second segment of qualifying began, but there was no rain in the air for now. The two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jnr were the only drivers to head…