#F1 #Qualifying: @OscarPiastri beats @LandoNorris to #DutchGP pole by 0.012s.
Oscar Piastri, #81, McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL39, celebrates in Parc Ferme after taking his fifth-career pole position, Qualifying, Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2025, Circuit Zandvoort, Zandvoort, Netherlands. Image credit to Sam Bloxham/LAT Images. Norris Dutch GP Pole, 2025 Dutch GP Qualifying, Dutch GP Qualifying Results, F1 Dutch GP Qualifying.
Piastri Dutch GP Pole – Championship leader Oscar Piastri beat McLaren team-mate Lando Norris to pole position in a thrilling qualifying session at the Dutch GP as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took third in front of his home crowd.
This was Piastri’s fifth-career pole and finally got the edge on his team-mate Norris who topped all three practice sessions and is having a solid weekend thus far.
This was McLaren’s 69th front-row lock-out pipping Ferrari to second on the all-time list.
In Q3, the initial flyers saw Piastri set a 1:08.662 with two purples in sectors one and three to take provisional pole as Norris slotted into second and was 0.012 seconds down and set the best sector two time.
Mercedes’ George Russell was next taking third with three personal bests with his 1:09.255 effort as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc then crossed the line to end up fourth with a 1:09.536 as Sir Lewis Hamilton then demoted his Ferrari team-mate down to sixth with his 1:09.526 flying lap. Both Ferrari’s were on a set of used C4 red side-walled softer tyres.
Home favourite Max Verstappen was last to set an opening hot-lap and pushed three personal bests to jump into third on a 1:09.048 knocking Russell into fourth.
The final flying laps saw Norris improve in sector two but could not pip team-mate Piastri to pole but came close by only 0.012 seconds.
Leclerc was next, but he could only remain in fifth whilst Hamilton could not better his team-mate and remained in sixth.
Russell followed but the Mercedes driver also could not improve and Verstappen who posted a brilliant purple middle sector and a personal bests sector three stayed in third.
Hadjar with three personal best efforts planted his Racing Bull to an impressive fourth demoting Russell to fifth.
The other VCARB02 entry of Liam Lawson ended up eighth as Williams’ Carlos Sainz and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso rounded out the top ten.
In the second qualifying stage, which was topped by Norris, late improvements from both Lawson and Alonso sent Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda out of Q2 with both drivers ending up 11th and 12th respectively.
Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto made a late improvement but was not enough as the Brazilian wounded up 13th and in-front of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly who took 14th and Williams’ Alexander Albon who was the slowest of the Q2 runners in 15th.
In the opening segment, which was topped by Piastri, a flurry of late improvements saw Tsunoda progress to Q2 and eliminate Alpine’s Franco Colapinto meaning the Argentine will start 16th on the grid and in-front of Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg who took 17th.
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman qualified in 18th and 19th respectively whilst Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll brought up the rear.
With 14 minutes to go, the yellows were brought out for Stroll who was seen limping back to the pits after hitting the barriers.
Replays showed the Canadian dip a wheel onto the grass. But that was enough to let the rear of his Mercedes-powered AMR25 racer step out, and he spun across the gravel and into the barriers damaging his front wing. The Aston Martin driver did not go out at the end to try and get out of the elimination zone with one last flyer as the team assessed the damage.
You can see the full Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2025 Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2025/races/1267/netherlands/qualifying
2025 Dutch GP Qualifying – The Top Three
2025 Dutch GP Pole Position – Oscar Piastri, #81, McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL39 – 1:08.662:
“That was the definition of peaking at the right time. I’m super happy to come out with this result, but obviously the points are tomorrow. It was looking like a little bit of a tricky weekend so far, so happy with that. You just keep chipping away. Still some things to try and work on, but overall, very happy. We are both trying to beat each other every weekend.”
2nd Place – Lando Norris, #4, McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL39 – +0.012s:
“It’s been close all weekend, could always go one way or other. Yes, a little bit disappointed not to be on pole. It’s tough – I had a good lap, but just a small headwind down the straight and I lost a hundredth. We’ll have some fun tomorrow. We both had terrible starts last year, so we’ll see!”
3rd Place – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Honda-RBPT, RB21 – +0.253s:
“This weekend so far was quite tricky for us, Qualifying was the best I’ve felt all weekend. I’m very happy with that, and the energy of the crowd has been amazing. The McLarens have been very fast well weekend, so it is very important to focus on our own race.”
