Norris beats Russell for pole position at the Dutch Grand Prix

Lando Norris secured pole for the Dutch Grand Prix on his final lap of Q3, ahead of the two Mercedes of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, in a qualifying session held under the threat of rain, hours after Russell had won the Sprint from pole.

That Sprint had seen Russell lead from start to finish, with Norris under pressure from Charles Leclerc, who found a way past him for second place on lap 18. Norris finished the short race in third, while Antonelli, who closed in during the final laps, remained fourth without finding the space to overtake.

Photo By Mclaren

Between the Sprint and qualifying, McLaren made setup changes to Norris' car. The adjustment did not fully resolve what the driver himself described as a lack of performance in certain sectors during the morning, but it restored enough confidence to fight for pole in the afternoon.

Q3 took place under the threat of rain for the final minutes, which forced the ten drivers to put down a competitive lap on their first attempt rather than saving everything for the end. Russell found an improvement on his final lap and pushed to the limit, but Norris responded with a better time and secured first place just minutes before rain began to fall on the circuit.

Russell will start second on Sunday, with Antonelli behind in third. For Mercedes, the result carries extra weight in the championship, because Antonelli arrived at Zandvoort leading the overall standings and will now have to carve his way through two cars that are not his own if he wants to maintain that advantage over Hamilton in Sunday's race.

Oscar Piastri was a real threat for pole throughout much of the session, with the second McLaren leading in Q2, but he could not find the necessary time on the decisive lap and ended up fourth. That position leaves McLaren with both cars on the first two rows, albeit split by the two Mercedes.

Ferrari placed Hamilton fifth and Leclerc sixth, a different outcome from what was shown hours earlier in the Sprint, where Leclerc used the soft tires to take second place. Hamilton, who sits second in the championship behind Antonelli, will need to make up ground from fifth if he is to close in on the title fight.

Photo By Mclaren

Max Verstappen advanced to Q3 but could not match the pace of Mercedes, McLaren, or Ferrari, and ended up seventh in what will be the last Dutch Grand Prix held at Zandvoort under the current calendar. Liam Lawson took eighth in the second Red Bull, just one tenth behind his teammate, and continues to deliver solid performances since returning to the senior team due to Isack Hadjar's injury.

Gabriel Bortoleto qualified ninth for Audi, and Arvid Lindblad rounded out the top ten for Racing Bulls, the only two cars outside of Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari, and Red Bull to make it into the final qualifying phase.

Pierre Gasly missed out on Q3 by the narrowest of margins and qualified 11th for Alpine, ahead of Yuki Tsunoda in the Racing Bulls. Nico Hülkenberg was 13th for Audi, followed by Franco Colapinto in the second Alpine, Esteban Ocon in the Haas, and Alex Albon in the Williams, all eliminated in Q2.

Photo By Mclaren

Eliminated in the first qualifying phase were Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll, Oliver Bearman, Valtteri Bottas, and Sergio Pérez. Sainz once again had a difficult Friday and Saturday with Williams, knocked out by the narrowest of margins behind his own teammate Albon, while Alonso and Stroll continue to struggle to find the expected performance from the new Honda engine that Aston Martin brought to Zandvoort.

Since Zandvoort returned to the calendar in 2021, the driver starting from pole has won every edition of the Grand Prix held so far, a statistic that favors Norris ahead of Sunday's race at 3:00 p.m. local time, which will also mark the circuit's farewell under the current championship format.

Qualifying

Pos.	No.	driver	team	Q1	Q2	Q3
1	1	Lando Norris	McLaren	1:12.695	1:11.628	1:11.163
2	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1:12.924	1:11.959	1:11.265
3	12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1:13.022	1:11.915	1:11.296
4	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	1:12.610	1:11.641	1:11.305
5	44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	1:12.673	1:11.970	1:11.494
6	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:13.064	1:11.910	1:11.558
7	3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	1:13.290	1:11.874	1:11.618
8	30	Liam Lawson	Red Bull Racing	1:13.392	1:12.301	1:11.733
9	5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	1:13.142	1:12.433	1:12.079
10	41	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	1:13.074	1:12.525	1:12.185
11	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	1:13.115	1:12.616
12	22	Yuki Tsunoda	Racing Bulls	1:13.085	1:12.627
13	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	1:13.188	1:12.797
14	43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	1:13.322	1:12.800
15	31	Esteban Ocon	Haas F1 Team	1:13.544	1:13.137
16	23	Alexander Albon	Williams	1:13.552	1:13.182
17	55	Carlos Sainz	Williams	1:13.574
18	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	1:13.650
19	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	1:13.818
20	87	Oliver Bearman	Haas F1 Team	1:13.826
21	77	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	1:14.371
22	11	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	1:14.600