#DutchGP Qualifying: @Max33Verstappen storms to home pole position. #F1

Dutch GP Pole – Red Bull’s Max Verstappen stormed to pole position for his home Dutch GP in a double red-flag affected Q3 session by 0.537 seconds clear of McLaren’s Lando Norris who was second and Mercedes’ George Russell who completed the top three.

 

 

The flying Dutchman hammered in 1:10.567 hot-lap, which remained unbeatable in the closing moments of Q3 to score his 28^th-career pole at his local race in-front of his fans.

 

Although the McLaren pairing headed the order before Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc brought out the second red flag towards the end of qualifying, Verstappen had no worries setting up his final flying lap and posted a difficult benchmark to beat.

 

Norris came close and had been up on the Red Bull driver at sector one, but the Briton lost time in the middle sector to see his chances of a pole slip away.

 

In Q3, an already wild qualifying session assisted by a fast-drying Circuit Zandvoort came to a head for the final qualifying stage, where two red flags compressed the final hot-laps into a two four-minute window.

 

Williams Racing’s Logan Sargeant produced the initial red flag in Q3 having crossed the line to slot in behind team-mate Alexander Albon a the top of the time-sheets, after suffering a heavy shunt at turn tour after losing the rear of his Mercedes-powered FW45 racer to cause the stoppage.

 

The restart came following an eight-minute delay, and although Albon looked on course to better his effort, he instead opted to return to the pits and gave Russell the chance to move to the head of the pile.

 

But the McLaren’s moved to the top as Norris hit a 1:12.049 and was 0.199 seconds quicker than team-mate Piastri whilst Verstappen was a further 0.340 seconds adrift of the Briton in third.

 

Then the red flags came out following Charles Leclerc’s shunt with four minutes and 13 seconds remaining as the Ferrari driver understeered onto the wet, muddy grass and slid sideways into the barriers at the exit of turn nine.

 

Verstappen’s final flyer proved unbeatable for Norris, whilst Russell snatched third from Albon at the very end of the session at the Williams driver had been on solid form throughout both Saturday sessions.

 

Albon had earlier topped Q1 and made it into the final qualifying stage with ease despite Williams’ cool expectations for this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix.

 

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso qualified fifth ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, whilst the other Red Bull RB19 entry of Sergio Perez could only manage seventh in the classification, 1.3 seconds behind team-mate Verstappen’s pole-benchmark.

 

McLaren’s Piastri took eighth quickest in-front of Q3 crashers Leclerc and Sargeant.

 

In the middle segment, which was topped by Verstappen, Williams Racing’s Sargeant pipped Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll with a very late improvement to knock out the Canadian by 0.054 seconds meaning the latter wound up 11^th.

 

Alpine F1 Team’s Pierre Gasly qualified 12^th and in-front of shock eliminatee Lewis Hamilton who was 13^th for Mercedes.

 

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg ended Q2 in 14^th and 15^th respectively.

 

In the opening qualifying stage, which was topped by Albon, Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu was the quickest of the Q1 eliminatees in 16^th and in-front of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who took 17^th and Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen who qualified 18^th.

 

The other Alfa Romeo C43 racer of Valtteri Bottas placed 19^th whilst AlphaTauri’s Liam Lawson (replacing the injured Daniel Ricciardo) brought up the rear.

 

The incidents between Sainz impeding Piastri and Stroll impeding Hamilton is currently being investigated by the stewards.

 

You can see the full Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2023 Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1217/netherlands/qualifying.html

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2023 Dutch GP – The Top Three

 

 

2023 Dutch GP Pole Position – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing – Honda-RBPT, RB19, 1:10.567:

“It was a very tricky qualifying. It was all about putting your laps in but also staying out of trouble. We had to risk it a bit, but that last lap was very enjoyable. First time here in these conditions, we underestimated with the wind and the sun how quick it dried.”

 

2^nd Place – Lando Norris, #4, McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL60, +0.537:

“I’m happy still, P2 is a good result. In these conditions, you hope Max [Verstappen] makes a mistake but he doesn’t. Chaotic qualifying, but good fun. Qualifying is always stressful, the first half of my lap was mega, but the second half was one of the worst second halves we’ve ever done.”

 

3^rd Place – George Russell, #63, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, F1 W14, +0.727:

“Really great session, quali was one of my strengths at the start of the year but it’s been going wrong recently so great to have a refresh, a break and try some new things. The lap was okay to be honest, we struggle with the crossover onto slicks but hopefully [tomorrow] we can have a good fight. I’m really happy for Williams and Alex [Albon], I flew over here with Alex, and he said he thought they were going to be rubbish!”

 

In the earlier damp and red flag-inflicted FP3 session, reigning champion Verstappen topped the time-sheets and ahead of Mercedes’ Russell who took second, his Red Bull team-mate Perez who placed third, whilst Aston Martin’s Alonso and Hamilton rounded out the top five in the other Silver Arrow F1 W14 entry. You can see the full Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2023 Free Practice Three Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1217/netherlands/practice-3.html

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