Lewis Hamilton would likely have beaten Max Verstappen to pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix had he not been forced to abandon his final flying lap, Toto Wolff has claimed.
The Dutchman delighted the home crowd by narrowly beating Charles Leclerc to pole on Saturday afternoon. But he might not have topped the time sheets had it not been for a bit of inadvertent help from his Red Bull team-mate.
Sergio Perez was hoping to put in a huge lap of his own, but lost control of his car on the final banked corner and span. That saw the yellow flags waved, which meant everyone else on their final flying laps had to slow down and abandon all hope of snatching pole.
Hamilton was one of them, and was forced to settle for a place on the second row alongside Carlos Sainz, behind Verstappen and Leclerc. Had it not been for the yellow flags, Mercedes chief Wolff claimed, the seven-time world champion might have been on pole for the first time this season.
"It's very frustrating. We were a tenth up on Verstappen and on Leclerc, so Lewis played for the pole here," he told Sky Sports. Asked to clarify that he was sure that Hamilton had been on course for the fastest time, he added: "Yes, we were ahead [of Verstappen and Leclerc].
"It's not the case at the end. I think he [Perez] pushed it a lot and lost it. It's not he's fault. You lose the pole because of a yellow or you lose the pole by a few hundredths if you run first. Afterwards, you always know better."
Hamilton is still in a good position for the race, though, and has team-mate George Russell just behind in sixth. An optimistic Wolff continued: "Everything is possible. We have a strong race car, starting on the second row. So, let's see where that can get us tomorrow."
Sandwiched between the two Mercedes drivers is Perez, who has some catching up to do to help Verstappen to fend off the two Ferraris breathing down his neck. Lando Norris starts seventh after a strong qualifying, while there were places in top 10 for Mick Schumacher, Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll.
It was not a good day for most of the sport's veteran drivers, though. Fernando Alonso had to settle for just 13th, while Sebastian Vettel, Valtteri Bottas, Daniel Ricciardo and Kevin Magnussen all failed to make it out of Q1.
