Red Bull takes yet another pole, with Mercedes finishing second and third.
ZANDVOORT, The Netherlands—Max Verstappen did not set the fastest times Saturday in the opening qualifying session for Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix. Still, the home hero came through in the second and final ten minutes, clocking a 1:08:895 fastest time, to take pole ahead of the Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.
Pierre Gasly improved his performance by taking fourth in his Alpha Tauri, with Charles Leclerc and his Ferrari teammate, Carlos Sainz Jr., finished fifth and sixth, respectively. Still negotiating a contract for next season, Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi proved he could still improve by placing his car in an impressive seventh. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso were eighth and ninth, with McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo tenth.
Max Verstappen: It’s an amazing feeling to get a pole position here. The crowd is incredible. Today was good. I hope we can finish this off.
For Hamilton, it was a matter of what might have been. “It was so close,” he said, “but, first, I want to say a big thank you to all of the orange fans, the Dutch fans. Great support from the fans here, and I appreciate it.” Then Hamilton went on to congratulate their favorite son. “Max did an amazing lap.” Bottas felt similarly. “I was so close, and I gave it everything. It’s great to see so many people here. It’s an enjoyable track and a nice atmosphere.”
Verstappen set the quickest time right at the start of the final session. The Red Bull driver was the first out of the pits, trying to avoid too much traffic as it normally occurs on such a small circuit. With the assistance of the orange-clad Dutch fans, Verstappen was unstoppable, edging out Hamilton by 0.03 seconds.
The qualifying also produced surprises. Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel were knocked out early, along with the Haas duo of Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher. Also knocked out was Alfa Romeo’s Robert Kubica, who substituted for Kimi Raikkonen, who tested positive for COVID-19 earlier in the day and will sit out the next two races.
Both Williams drivers–George Russell and Nicolas Latifi–crashed into the barriers in the second session. Russell lost control of his car at turn 13 but managed to return to the pits. On the other hand, Latifi could not manage to do what his teammate did, striking the barriers at turn seven, and that incident ended the session with under two minutes left.
Besides the two Williams drivers, Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and McLaren’s Lando Norris also failed to advance.
Sunday should produce an interesting result with a circuit that has not been used for formula one since 1985.
