Dutch GP: Lando Norris storms to pole as Lewis Hamilton investigation launched

McLaren’s Lando Norris.

Lando Norris pulled out a stormer of a lap to clinch pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix, seeing off Max Verstappen.

It was a gain of eight-tenths for Verstappen in Q3, but a 1:09.673 from Norris proved simply untouchable, Verstappen forced to settle for second spot on the front row, with Oscar Piastri completing the top three on the grid. Lewis Hamilton was a shock Q2 casualty, and also faces a post-qualifying impeding investigation.

Lando Norris unleashes stunning Dutch GP pole lap

It was a dry, but green track for the start of qualifying that earlier rain, but the wet tyres could not be packed away just yet, with the radars showing a threat of further rain later into qualifying.

But a dry Q1 was expected, promising an almighty scrap to avoid the bottom five and elimination zone, while Williams remained hard at work trying to get Logan Sargeant out on track after his huge FP3 shunt.

A 1:13.062 from Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg – who has been plagued by braking issues all race weekend so far – got the timing screens up and running, though the times soon ramped up, Piastri upping the pace to a 1:11.541, before Hamilton took over top spot on a 1:11.375. Piastri’s McLaren team-mate Norris fell just 0.002s short of that Hamilton benchmark.

Focus now switched to the home hero Verstappen as he set off on his first push lap and duly muscled his way into P3. That top three was covered by just 0.018s!

Hamilton meanwhile was noted for potentially impeding Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez down at Turn 9. “What the f*** is this idiot doing?” Perez vented. Hamilton countered that he was “well out of his way”.

The stewards later confirmed that this incident would be investigated after qualifying.

Down at the danger end, with four minutes left on the Q1 clock, Sargeant was yet to appear, with the Saubers of Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas, along with VCARB’s Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo, needing to improve to progress to Q2.

“Unbelievable sliding” prompted Verstappen to abort his final push lap, but Red Bull did top Q1 thanks to Perez as the track rapidly gripped up, while for Sargeant, Zhou, Bottas, Esteban Ocon and Ricciardo, it was qualifying over.

Ocon blasted his Alpine team for a “disaster” of a car so far this weekend, though Perez was perhaps the most frustrated driver despite topping Q1, as he continued to rage over that Hamilton encounter.

After being told he was fastest and through to Q2, he came back on the radio with: “Yeah but we **** waste a set [of soft tyres] so… please. For worse than that I’ve been penalised, so I don’t expect any less.”

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But it was time to focus on Q2 as Red Bull confirmed to Verstappen that rain was still “in the air”. Would it find its way to the track?

It was nice and dry for the opening runs, which saw McLaren establish a one-two, Norris on a 1:10.496 and just 0.009s up on Piastri.

Alex Albon, Hulkenberg, Tsunoda, Pierre Gasly and Kevin Magnussen needed better times if they wanted to feature in the Q3 top 10 shootout for pole.

No rain for the all-important seconds runs either, as Hamilton – the winner last time out in Belgium – became a shock Q2 casualty, dropping out with Sainz, Tsunoda, Hulkenberg and Magnussen. McLaren held on to their one-two, as Sainz slammed a “not very generous” Hulkenberg, feeling his presence ahead on the track did him no favours.

On we moved to Q3 for what felt like a wide open pole battle, with less than two-tenths having covered the top six from Q2. Opportunity knocked.

And Norris was again leading a McLaren one-two – his gap over Piastri up to 0.119s – after the first runs, with Verstappen slotting into P3 and asking for a check of the floor after running “a little bit wide” at Turn 13. Could Norris secure a fourth career pole?

The Aston Martins ran out of sync with the leaders, Fernando Alonso popping up to P5 and Lance Stroll P7, Alonso declaring “I cannot do more than this” after that effort.

But now the leaders were back out there for their final pole push, where Norris truly shone, unleashing a stunning 1:09.673 to take pole by north of three-tenths over Verstappen, who will join his title rival on the front row.

Q3 times

1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:09.673
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +0.356
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.499
4 George Russell Mercedes +0.571
5 Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing +0.743
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.909
7 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +0.960
8 Alexander Albon Williams +0.980
9 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1.184
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1.304

Q2 times

1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:10.496
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.009
3 George Russell Mercedes +0.056
4 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +0.165
5 Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing +0.182
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.193
7 Alexander Albon Williams +0.272
8 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +0.315
9 Pierre Gasly Alpine +0.319
10 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +0.349
—
11 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +0.418
12 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +0.452
13 Yuki Tsunoda RB +0.459
14 Nico Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team +0.719
15 Kevin Magnussen Haas F1 Team +0.799

Q1 times

1 Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing 1:11.006
2 George Russell Mercedes +0.043
3 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +0.321
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.364
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +0.369
6 Lando Norris McLaren +0.371
7 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +0.387
8 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +0.487
9 Alexander Albon Williams +0.497
10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +0.512
11 Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.535
12 Yuki Tsunoda RB +0.597
13 Kevin Magnussen Haas F1 Team +0.624
14 Pierre Gasly Alpine +0.712
15 Nico Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team +0.826
—
16 Daniel Ricciardo RB +0.937
17 Esteban Ocon Alpine +0.989
18 Valtteri Bottas Kick Sauber +1.162
19 Guanyu Zhou Kick Sauber +2.255
20 Logan Sargeant Williams NO TIME

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