F1 Dutch GP: Norris revels in beating Verstappen to pole

Lando Norris beat Red Bull driver Max Verstappen to pole position for Formula 1’s 2024 Dutch Grand Prix, stating afterwards that McLaren “got him today”.

Oscar Piastri completed the top three, while George Russell finished just behind for Friday practice pacesetter Mercedes, which had Lewis Hamilton fail to progress from Q2.

It was a session where all the drivers were struggling to build tyre temperature on the cool track surface that was very green after further rain hit the event earlier on Saturday, which provided a big track evolution factor for the session.

Wind picking up and then increasing throughout the session also made things tricky for the drivers, with a strong tailwind into Turn 1, then crosswind snaps through Turns 9 to 12.

Norris led Q3 throughout – his initial 1m10.074s on the first runs putting him ahead of Piastri and Verstappen at this stage.

Verstappen led the pack around for the final go and improved significantly to rise to provisional pole with a 1m10.029s, gaining particularly from a very strong middle sector, but Norris’s final sector was very strong and allied with a small slip from Verstappen at Turn 11.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38 (Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images)

Norris roared to a 1m09.673s – the only driver to crack that barrier – as Verstappen was pushed to 0.356s adrift.

“Qualifying was always pretty smooth and I put in some good laps – especially the one at the end, which is always the most important,” Norris said afterwards. “So, great job by the team and happy with today.

“I’m excited for tomorrow. I’m sure it’s going to be tough. Max has been quick all weekend and I know we got him today, but he’s still second. And he’s going to be putting up a good fight. Especially at his home race. So, looking forward to it.”

Piastri could not knock the home hero off the front row as he paid the price for not going quicker than before in the middle sector and finished 0.499s down on his team-mate despite putting in a personal best time.

Russell did enough to beat Sergio Perez to fourth, with Charles Leclerc the lead Ferrari in sixth.

Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll ran offset to the rest in the middle of Q3 as they only had one set of new tyres left for the final segment – as did everyone except the McLarens, Verstappen and Russell.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20 (Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images)

Alonso took seventh and Stroll ninth, with Alex Albon getting in between them and Pierre Gasly behind in 10th.

In Q2, Leclerc’s last-gasp improvement knocked out his Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz, who had not driven on the softs this weekend pre-qualifying due to his Friday gearbox issue and the rain seen so far at this event, while Hamilton missed the cut behind in 12th.

Then came Yuki Tsunoda and the Haas pair Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen.

In Q1, Perez’s jump from the drop zone to head the segment using an extra set of softs shuffled Daniel Ricciardo to a swift exit for RB.

Perez’s extra lap was required after his first attempt was scuppered coming across Hamilton going slowly on the outside of Turn 9 in an incident that will be investigated after qualifying.

Esteban Ocon could not find the same improvements as others amid the track evolution factor and was out in 17th despite setting a personal best time on his last Q1 lap, with Sauber pair Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu also out after doing their final efforts ahead of many others.

Logan Sargeant missed qualifying for Williams as his car could not be repaired in time after his fiery FP3 crash.

F1 Dutch GP - Qualifying results

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Time	km/h
1	L. Norris McLaren	4		McLaren	Mercedes	1'09.673	220.062
2	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	+0.356 1'10.029	218.943
3	O. Piastri McLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	+0.499 1'10.172	218.497
4	G. Russell Mercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	+0.571 1'10.244	218.273
5	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11		Red Bull	Red Bull	+0.743 1'10.416	217.740
6	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	+0.909 1'10.582	217.228
7	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Mercedes	+0.960 1'10.633	217.071
8	A. Albon Williams	23		Williams	Mercedes	+0.980 1'10.653	217.009
9	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Mercedes	+1.184 1'10.857	216.385
10	P. Gasly Alpine	10		Alpine	Renault	+1.304 1'10.977	216.019
11	C. Sainz Ferrari	55		Ferrari	Ferrari	+1.241 1'10.914	216.211
12	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44		Mercedes	Mercedes	+1.275 1'10.948	216.107
13	Y. Tsunoda RB	22		RB	Red Bull	+1.282 1'10.955	216.086
14	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27		Haas	Ferrari	+1.542 1'11.215	215.297
15	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20		Haas	Ferrari	+1.622 1'11.295	215.055
16	D. Ricciardo RB	3		RB	Red Bull	+2.270 1'11.943	213.118
17	E. Ocon Alpine	31		Alpine	Renault	+2.322 1'11.995	212.964
18	V. Bottas Sauber	77		Sauber	Ferrari	+2.495 1'12.168	212.454
19	Z. Guanyu Sauber	24		Sauber	Ferrari	+3.588 1'13.261	209.284
20	L. Sargeant Williams	2		Williams	Mercedes
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