Dutch GP Qualifying: Verstappen clinches home pole position.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen stormed to a home pole position beating Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton by 0.038 seconds in qualifying at the Dutch GP.

Max Verstappen, #33, Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16B, Qualifying, Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2021, Circuit Zandvoort, Zandvoort, Netherlands. Image credit to Sutton Images. Verstappen Dutch GP pole, 2021 Dutch GP Qualifying.

The Dutchman used his final hot-lap in Q3 to post a 1:08.885 benchmark at the Circuit Zandvoort and the Red Bull driver managed to hold on as Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and Hamilton completed their runs.

Bottas was next to finish his flyer, but could only set a 1:09.222 to wound up 0.337 seconds adrift of Verstappen, whilst Mercedes team-mate Hamilton split the duo.

The championship leader delivered a 1:08.923 to join Verstappen on the front row and ended up a narrow 0.038’s off his title-rival.

Verstappen initially was a full eight tenths clear after the opening runs in the final segment of qualifying, his 1:09.702 pulled the Dutchman well clear of Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso.

Bottas made short work of the Alpine drivers for provisional second place before Hamilton edged the Finn by 0.04 seconds, but was still sevenths off FP3 time-topper Verstappen.

Verstappen rapidly improved to a 1:08.923 on his following hot-lap before setting up his final run for pole at his home Grand Prix.

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly scored an impressive fourth place, his best effort wounded up only 0.25 seconds behind Bottas as the Frenchman completed the second row of the grid.

The Ferrari pairing occupied the third row with Charles Leclerc getting the better of his team-mate Carlos Sainz, with the latter able to resume following a shunt in final practice.

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi progressed smoothly into the final qualifying stage and took seventh, whilst Ocon snuck ahead of Alpine team-mate Alonso and McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo completed the top ten.

In the second qualifying stage, the session ended early after a red flag due to Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi suffering a crash into the barriers at turn eight.

The Canadian lost the rear of his Mercedes-powered FW43B racer after carrying too much speed into turn eight and flew across the gravel into the barriers.

The other Williams FW43B entry of George Russell also brought out a red flag after losing the rear at the penultimate corner and crashing into the barrier, but the Briton managed to recover and bring his car back to pit-lane.

Russell wound up 11th and ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who qualified 12th, and McLaren’s Lando Norris was the surprise eliminatee in Q2 ending up 13th.

The aforementioned Latifi was 14th in the second Williams and in-front of AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda who was the slowest of the runners in 15th.

In Q1, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel were the shock eliminatees of the session in 16th and 17th respectively with the former being shuffled down into the drop zone by McLaren’s Norris whilst the latter was impeded on his final flyer by Haas F1 Team pairing’s Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher at the penultimate corner with the incident currently being investigated by the stewards.

Alfa Romeo’s Robert Kubica (filling in for Kimi Raikkonen due to the Finn testing positive for COVID-19) qualified 18th and ahead of Haas F1 Team’s Schumacher and Mazepin who brought up the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix Qualifying Results Classification here at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1075/netherlands/qualifying.html

2021 Dutch GP Qualifying – The Top Three

Max Verstappen, #33, Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16B, Free Practice 3, Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2021, Circuit Zandvoort, Zandvoort, Netherlands. Image credit to Sutton Images. Verstappen Dutch GP pole, 2021 Dutch GP Qualifying.

Dutch GP Pole Position – Max Verstappen, #33, Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16B, 1:08.885:

“It’s an amazing feeling to get pole position here. The crowd is incredible, the car is really nice to drive and this track as well – it’s really cool. It’s the best starting position, as passing will be difficult. Today was good, so I hope we can finish it off tomorrow.”

2nd Place – Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, +0.038:

“So close. First I just want to say a big thank you to all the orange fans here, what an amazing venue and track. I love coming to this country. Max did an amazing lap, yesterday’s session missed made it difficult but I gave it everything. I think strategy will come into it but to see a crowd like this – we haven’t seen a crowd like this for a while. I hope the track let’s us provide a good race, it’s a very tough circuit.”

3rd Place – Valtteri Bottas, #77, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, +0.337

“It’s definitely an enjoyable track, with a good atmosphere so it’s been fun. Red Bull were a bit out of reach today but two cars in the top three, still all to play for. Race start is always an opportunity.”

In the earlier FP3 session it was Red Bull’s Verstappen on top and in-front of Mercedes pairing Bottas and Hamilton who were second and third respectively, his Red Bull team-mate Perez who was fourth and Alpine’s Alonso who rounded out the top five. You can read the full Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2021 Free Practice 3 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1075/netherlands/practice-3.html

#DutchGP FP2: @CharlesLeclerc heads @ScuderiaFerrari one-two. #F1

#DutchGP FP1: @LewisHamilton quickest ahead of @Max33Verstappen. #F1

#Formula1 @Heineken #DutchGP 2021 Preview. #F1 #DutchGrandPrix