Norris takes pole position at Dutch GP; ‘Checo’ will start 5th

Sandvort. British driver Lando Norris (McLaren) will start on Sunday from the pole position of the Dutch Grand Prix, the 15th round of the F1 World Championship, after being the fastest driver on the Zandvoort coastal circuit on Saturday.

On a dry but windswept track, the Briton crushed the competition, beating the reigning triple world champion, Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull), and his Australian teammate Oscar Piastri (McLaren) by 356 and 499 thousandths of a second respectively.

The 24-year-old Englishman thus achieved the fourth pole position of his career and the third this season after Budapest and Barcelona. In the race he will try to seal the victory, something he failed to achieve on the three previous occasions.

“It’s amazing. I had a great lap right at the end so I’m really happy, the team did a great job. The feeling in the car was great, the new features added this weekend seem to work really well. It’s going to be a tough race but I’m looking forward to it,” said Norris.

For the first time since 2021, with Formula 1 returning to the beautiful track on the North Sea, local hero Max Verstappen was outclassed, after three consecutive years with pole and victory in front of his “orange tide”.

Hamilton and Sainz eliminated in Q2

Piastri, who was hot on the heels of Norris in Q1 and Q2, was unable to repeat that performance in Q3 and will have to settle for third place on the grid. He will start ahead of Britain’s George Russell (Mercedes), who has confirmed his current good form.

Mexican Sergio Pérez, who suffered on Friday, unexpectedly achieved fifth place at the wheel of the second Red Bull and will start ahead of Monaco’s Charles Leclerc (Ferrari).

He Top 10 They are completed by the Spanish veteran Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), the Thai Alex Albon (Williams), the Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) and the Frenchman Pierre Gasly (Alpine).

The big surprise of this qualifying was the elimination in Q2 of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes).

The Briton, who had been very comfortable since the start of the weekend, was surprised at the end of the session and will start Sunday from 12th position, just behind the Spaniard Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), who was also unexpectedly eliminated in Q2.