By Peter Habicht

Lando Norris delivered a remarkable performance to take pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix, outpacing local favorite Max Verstappen by an impressive margin. The McLaren driver’s stunning lap time of 1m09.673s in Q3 marked the only sub-1m10s lap of the session, putting him over three-tenths of a second ahead of Verstappen. This surprise result disrupted the expected narrative of Verstappen dominating his home race weekend at Zandvoort.

From the start of Q3, Norris was in commanding form. His initial lap time of 1m10.074s set the benchmark for the rest of the field. Even as the track began to evolve and improve, allowing drivers to gain more time in their final runs, Norris remained untouchable. Verstappen, who had been trailing in third after the first runs, managed to pull out a strong lap of 1m10.029s, briefly putting him on provisional pole. However, Norris responded with a blistering final sector to secure pole by 0.356s, leaving Verstappen to settle for second on the grid.

Oscar Piastri, Norris’s McLaren teammate, secured third place, capping off a strong qualifying session for the Woking-based team. Piastri’s lap of 1m10.172s was his best effort, but it wasn’t enough to displace Verstappen from the front row. Piastri’s performance was solid, though, as he ended up 0.499s behind Norris, emphasizing the British driver’s dominance.

George Russell continued his impressive form for Mercedes, taking fourth place, just ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who ended up fifth. Perez’s session was marred by an incident in Q1, where he was blocked by Lewis Hamilton, leading to an investigation by the stewards. Despite the setback, Perez recovered to make it through to Q3, although he was unable to challenge for the front rows.

Charles Leclerc was the leading Ferrari in sixth, though his teammate Carlos Sainz had a more challenging day. Sainz was knocked out in Q2, unable to improve sufficiently after a disrupted weekend due to a gearbox issue in Friday’s practice. Leclerc, however, managed a last-gasp improvement in Q2 to secure his place in the final qualifying segment.

Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll both opted for a different strategy, using their final set of new tires in Q3 after running older rubber earlier in the session. Alonso ended up seventh, with Stroll ninth, separated by Alex Albon, who put in an impressive performance for Williams to take eighth. Pierre Gasly completed the top ten for Alpine.

Hamilton’s struggles continued as he was eliminated in Q2, ending up 12th after failing to find the necessary grip on the cool, green track surface. He was joined on the sidelines by Yuki Tsunoda and the Haas drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen.

Q1 saw some surprising eliminations, with Daniel Ricciardo being knocked out after Perez’s late improvement. Esteban Ocon also struggled, finishing 17th, and the Sauber pair of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu were also eliminated early. Logan Sargeant did not take part in qualifying after a heavy crash in FP3.

Norris’s pole sets the stage for an intriguing race at Zandvoort, with the British driver now poised to challenge Verstappen on his home turf.