Max Verstappen snatched pole position for his home grand prix by beating Charles Leclerc by just 0.021s in a tight qualifying session at Zandvoort.
What appeared to be a tiny mistake at turn nine on his final Q3 lap cost Leclerc a tenth of a second, which allowed Verstappen to pip him for pole by just two-hundredths of a second. Carlos Sainz Jnr will start from third on the grid, with Lewis Hamilton, Sergio Perez and George Russell behind.
Q1
It was a beautiful summer afternoon at Zandvoort as the green light at the end of the pit lane signalled the beginning of the qualifying hour. The opening minutes of the session were fairly quiet, with none of the expected pole position contenders heading out of their garages in the first minutes.
That allowed the two Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel to set the early pace, Stroll going quickest with a 1’12.505. That was beaten by Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren, who pipped Stroll by just 0.015s, before the frontrunners began their first laps of qualifying.
Max Verstappen immediately went fastest, setting a blistering benchmark of a 1’11.317. The Ferrari of Carlos Sainz Jnr managed to get just within half a second of Verstappen’s time, but Fernando Alonso beat his fellow Spaniard by one tenth of a second.
The Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton headed out onto the circuit and moved into second and third respectively, both around a quarter of a second slower than Verstappen. They were both beaten by Charles Leclerc, who improved on his best time to go just over a tenth of a second off Verstappen in second place.
With five minutes remaining in the session, the drop zone consisted of Vettel, Ricciardo, Alexander Albon, Mick Schumacher and Nicholas Latifi. Albon took advantage of a clear track to improve from 18th to seventh, bumping Kevin Magnussen into danger of elimination in 16th. The Haas driver improved on his final attempt to jump safe, as did team mate Schumacher, which dropped Esteban Ocon and Lando Norris into the drop zone.
Bottas appeared to move himself clear with a lap good enough for 12th, dropping Pierre Gasly into danger. Ocon improved to go safe, as did Norris and Gasly. That bumped Bottas back into elimination in 16th place and ended his chances of progressing.
The Alfa Romeo driver was therefore eliminated, while Ricciardo joined him in 17th, half a second slower than team mate Norris. Magnussen was also knocked out in 18th after his final lap was deleted for track limits at…
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