Verstappen excels at home in chaotic wet-dry qualifying session

Max Verstappen stepped up to the challenge in the final crucial moments of a chaotic qualifying session in the Netherlands, with the home hero deservedly starting the Dutch Grand Prix from pole position alongside Lando Norris. 

Qualifying 1:

As a result of commencing their qualifying campaigns on a damp Circuit Zandvoort, the entirety of the safely opted to run the Intermediate tyre for their first Q1 runs.

Alex Albon led the queue out for their first lap of the session, testing the track conditions and preparing to make the most of the momentary pause of rainfall.

On their first attempts, Albon, Nico Hulkenberg and Max Verstappen all took trips through the gravel, with the latter two falling victim to the lap of grip into Turn 1. 

Verstappen was audibly frustrated, complaining of his usually flawless RB19’s handling and grip levels across the lap.

The McLarens were the first to light up the timing sheets, quickly overtaken by the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

At the halfway point in Q1, McLaren found themselves in P1 and P2, Oscar Piastri holding the quickest time of 1:22.059, three-tenths ahead of Lando Norris.

Sergio Perez managed to split the papaya cars, going a tenth quicker than Norris. 

Not too far down the order, Albon managed to insert his Williams within the top ten, while Logan Sargeant lacked with the slowest time of all.

Williams started their qualifying campaign under the radar, with their session eventuating to see a double Q3 appearance.

After tangling in Belgium prior to the summer break, Piastri and Sainz nearly had another incident as the Spaniard blindly exited the pitlane unaware of the McLaren on the inside of the track.

Piastri eased off the throttle despite being on a cool-down lap, diminishing the threat of an early Q1 exit for both drivers.

Lewis Hamilton encountered a roadblock in the form of Lance Stroll, ruining his last flying lap attempt before the rain began to fall.

Sainz was one of the last drivers to secure a time before the rain fell.

The Spaniard improved to within the top 5 quickest times, leaving him a sure bet to advance to Q2, with his teammate not being able to say the same.

Leclerc only just scraped through to Q2, putting their issues down to poor tyre warmup and timing with traffic. 

Not for the first time, Hamilton was again blocked by an Aston Martin, this time the #14 of Fernando Alonso, however, there was no further action on the incident. 

Albon ended the session with the fastest time of 1:20.939, just 0.026 seconds ahead of Verstappen who led the McLarens.

In his first-ever Formula 1 qualifying session, and with rain making the challenge even more difficult, Liam Lawson ended the session in P20, set to start his debut F1 Grand Prix from the back of the grid tomorrow.

The Kiwi driver’s fastest time was just over 2 seconds from the quickest of the session and 1 second from a Q2 appearance in only his second outing with AlphaTauri. 

Joining Lawson in the knockout zone were Zhou Guanyu, Esteban Ocon, Kevin Magnussen and Valtteri Bottas.

 Qualifying 2:

With the sun appearing and aiding massively with track conditions, the drivers again eagerly made their way out onto the seaside circuit led by the Williams of Sargeant.

The Red Bull duo followed closely behind, 

After the first round of flying laps had been recorded, it was Verstappen who claimed the top spot with a time of 1:21.921.

Verstappen improved on his own time, breaking his benchmark by over two-tenths. 

Pierre Gasly took a trip through the mud on the exit of Turn 3, not only roughing up his Alpine but also leading to a lap deletion of his first attempt. 

Norris found his way onto the provisional front row, however, as the Dutchman continued to improve, he was still a second back from P1.

Onboards shortly began to reveal the formation of a dry racing line, with Sainz adding that the track was drying “super quickly” and a new intermediate tyre would be needed for his final run.

Ferrari’s lack of pace this weekend carried on into qualifying, seeing both drivers repeatedly at risk of an early exit.

Further down in the knockout zone, Sainz sat nervously in P15, with Leclerc not too far ahead in P11.

With just three minutes on the clock, the Spaniard emerged from the pits to start his final run, a lap in which he abandoned and restarted to ultimately end his session in P9. 

Albon again stunned in his Williams, setting the fastest time of 1:19.392 with a minute remaining, with his rookie teammate down in P8.

Leclerc was the first to end his Q2 campaign with a time provisionally good enough for P3, and ultimately safe enough in P5.

Hamilton, despite following a similar run plan to Leclerc with an early double-push lap, failed to make it through to the top ten shootout for the second time this season by a slim 0.084 seconds after overheating his tyres.

His teammate made it through in P6, impressively accompanied by both Williams drivers.

Albon ended Q2 with the third quickest time of the grid, just five-tenths behind Verstappen’s benchmark of 1:18.856, with Logan Sargeant scraping through to his maiden Q3 appearance as the driver at risk.

Along with the #44 car, Stroll was a surprise exit given the pace he and Alonso’s Aston Martin displayed.

Joining the two Mercedes-powered cars in a Q2 exit were Gasly, Tsunoda and Hulkenberg.

Qualifying 3:

Slicks were the tyre of choice for the final ten drivers in their fight for pole position, with those who left on the intermediate rapidly returning to don the soft compound for what turned out to be a wasted run. 

Sargeant’s high from his first Q3 appearance was short-lived when he speedily sent his Williams hurling into the barrier at Turn 2.

The mistake from the American prompted a red flag, with the clock paused with 8 minutes remaining.

As for the impact on the rest of the grid, the extended delay to repair the barriers was helpful in further drying and warming the track, expanding the dry line for the final fight for pole.

Logan Sargeant was the first of two drivers to bring out the red flags in Q3, with Charles Leclerc shortly following suit.

The top ten shootout resumed under a full bath of Dutch sun, with the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz heading the pack as they rejoined the session, all on new soft tyres.

On his first attempt, the #55 car backed out after a lacklustre first sector saving his tyres for a redo on the following lap. 

Albon also aborted his lap, ducking into the pits after failing to meet the targets needed for an impactful lap.

Of the remaining drivers who completed their flying laps, Norris ended on top with a time of 1:12.049, two-tenths ahead of Piastri and over three-tenths ahead of Verstappen.

The red flag chaos wasn’t over for the day, with Leclerc bringing out the second of Q3 alone for an early end to his session. 

The Monegasque driver understeered into the advertising boards at Turn 9, after losing grip immediately as he slid across the damp grass, seeing him relying on his time in P5 for tomorrow’s race. 

Marshalls worked quickly to remove his Ferrari from the side of the track, seeing the session shortly restarted with 4 minutes remaining.

With drivers running very specifically orchestrated strategies for the short time remaining, a queue ceased to form in the pit lane.

Red Bull were the first team to send their drivers trundling down the pit lane, with Perez followed by Albon and Alonso setting off. 

With one final flying lap deciding the order for the Dutch Grand Prix, mistakes were not an option for the remaining eight contenders. 

Verstappen immediately thrilled before having his purple first sector stolen by Norris, however, it wasn’t enough to outperform the Dutchman.

Being cheered on by the sea of orange in the grandstands, Verstappen made it an incredible end to his lap, improving beyond anything attainable for the rest of the grid to claim pole position.

His pole time of 1:10.567 sat over five-tenths ahead of Lando Norris, the driver set to line up alongside Verstappen for tomorrow’s Grand Prix.

Alex Albon momentarily found his Williams in a miraculous P3 before being knocked down a position by George Russell.

The Thai driver will start from fourth place, ahead of the Spanish duo of Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz on Row 3.

Row 4 will be made up of Sergio Perez, who qualified a huge 1.3 seconds behind his teammate, and Oscar Piastri who fell to a disappointing P8.

Lights out for the Dutch Grand Prix will take place at 11:00 PM, Sunday night (AEST), with Max Verstappen chasing a home victory and the rest of the grid hoping for an upset.

Qualifying Results:

Download the full AUTO ACTION F1 Dutch Grand Prix event guide HERE with track stats and facts and a full event schedule, plus our extensive driver profiles.

Listen to our latest podcast episode here or on your podcast app of choice.

Auto Action, Australia’s independent voice of motorsport.

Listen to our latest podcast episode on your podcast app of choice or here on Apple Podcasts.

For more of the latest motorsport news, pick up the  latest issue of AUTO ACTION.