Here is Giles Richards qualifying report from Zandvoort is here and with that I’m going to sign off on today’s live blog. Dom Booth will have full coverage of the race tomorrow. Thanks for following along!
It all flipped for the McLaren drivers in the final qualifying session. Piastri had trailed Norris in practice and the first two qualifying sessions, but came through in Q3. The Australian was feeling pretty happy with the timing of his best lap.
Piastri said: “That was the definition of peaking at the right time, the whole weekend I felt pretty good but there have been a couple of corners that I’ve not been able to go any faster.
“I didn’t really go any faster in those corners but I found some more elsewhere so I’m super happy to come away with the result.
“Obviously we’ve still got all the points tomorrow but it was looking like a tricky weekend so far, so to come out with that I’m pretty stoked.”
Norris, despite losing out to his teammate at the last didn’t seem too concerned: “It was close. It has been close all weekend so could easily go one way or the other. Yes I could be a little disappointed not on pole but not the end of the world either.
“With the wind like this a lot of it is down to luck. I had a good lap. I am in a good position and we are in a good fight.
“We will have some fun tomorrow. We both had terrible starts last year, we will see. It is a long race with a lot of laps.”
Max Verstappen was pretty after taking P3. He told Sky post-qualifying: “This weekend so far was quite tricky for us but qualifying was basically the best I’ve felt all weekend and that’s exactly what you want. To get P3 here I’m very happy with that.
“The energy of the crowd the whole weekend has been amazing, to see so much orange on the grandstand is always very special.”
On the race: “Let’s see what we can do, the McLarens have been very fast all weekend so it’s also important to just focus on our own race and see what we can do.
“This has been a good step forward so I hope we can keep that up going into the race tomorrow.”
Final grid placings for Dutch Grand Prix
1. Piastri (McLaren)
2. Norris (McLaren)
3. Verstappen (Red Bull)
4. Hadjar (Racing Bulls)
5. Russell (Mercedes)
6. Leclerc (Ferrari)
7. Hamilton (Ferrari)
8. Lawson (Racings Bulls)
9. Sainz (Williams)
10. Alonso (Aston Martin)
11. Antonelli (Mercedes)
12. Tsunoda (Red Bulls)
13. Bortoleto (Sauber)
14. Gasly (Alpine)
15. Albon (Williams)
16. Colapinto (Alpine)
17. Hulkenberg (Sauber)
18. Ocon (Haas)
19. Bearman (Haas)
20. Stroll (Aston Martin)
Q3: Great drive Hadjar to take fourth ahead of Russell and Leclerc. Hamilton is seventh, followed by Lawson, Sainz and Alonso.
Piastri takes pole
Neither McLarens are able to improve their times on the final runs and that means Piastri will be P1. Verstappen really pushed it in his final to secure third place.
Updated
Q3: The McLarens are out and we have around one minute to go. It’s nip and tuck between them Norris will come in first.
Q3: Hadjar (7th), Alonso (8th), Sainz (9th) and Lawson (10th) make up the rest of the placings so far.
Q3: Piastri’s time was just 0.012secs quicker Norris.
Q3: Hamilton has gone quicker that Leclerc, Russell was third on the grid but Verstappen has just come through to better the Mercedes.
Q3: Piastri posts a new track record to go fastest and sit provisionally on pole. Norris cannot go quicker. With one run to go Norris has to find some fractions of a second if he is to take pole. That is the first time all weekend that Piastri has bettered his teammate - that’s clutch.
Q3 underway
Piastri is out for his first run of the final qualifying session. Can he pip Norris to P1?
Updated
Albon is raging on the radio about his tyres. His teammate Sainz made it into Q3 but there appears to have been mistakes made with the Thai driver’s vehicle in that session.
End of Q2
Lawson and Alonso are the last cars to post times and both are significant as they eliminate the last two drivers on the bubble. Albon, Gasly, Bortoleto, Tsunoda and Antonelli all drop out.
Q2: Albon out as he can’t post a quicker time than his first go around.
Q2: Russell goes P6 and could be in trouble come the end of the session.
Updated
Q2: Four minutes to go, most of the cars getting prepped for final runs. Currently in jeopardy are Gasly, Bortoleto, Sainz, Lawson and Albon.
Q2: Good effort from the Ferraris, who are now fourth and ffith quickest overall. Hamilton ahead of Leclerc.
Q2: Norris isn’t as quick in the Verstappen in the middle sector but he rips through the final third to post the fastest lap of all time at Zandvoort. Piastri is 0.090secs slower.
Q2: Verstappen is going well through the first two sectors and posts a time half a secon quicker than his best in Q1. He’s now ahead of Antonelli, Tsunoda and Russell.
Q2: Leclerc and Hamilton do look like they’re going to try to get three runs in. They are the only two cars to set a time so far. Leclerc quickest.
Q2: Leclerc gets on the radio to report a fox on the track. Not the brightest move from the local wildlife.
Updated
Q2 underway
The Ferraris have darted out of the garage. Are they trying to get three goes at this?
End of Q1
The bottom five is confirmed as Stroll, Bearman, Ocon, Hulkenberg and Colapinto. Sainz scrapes through and Liam Lawson has a storming final hot lap to go fifth quickest.
Updated
Q1: Hamilton goes eigth fastest overall and Leclerc is one place back. They should make it through.
Q1: Stroll is out of qualifying as we near the final two minutes of the session. Piastri has posted a new quickest time, making up time on the middle sector to go ahead of Norris.
Updated
Q1: Hamilton will go again and so will Leclerc, who is in danger of elimination.
Q1: Stroll is out of the car and looks unlikely to get back in it. Most of the cars are back in the pits ahead of their second hot laps.
Q1: With little less than eight minutes to go, Stroll, Ocon, Tsunoda, Leclerc and Colapinto are in the elimination zone.
Q1: Norris has gone three tenths of a second quicker than anyone else in his first run. Piastri has posted a time just 0.158secs slower than his teammate.
Updated
Q1: Stroll’s Aston Martin may be recoverable to get him out again in the last 10 minutes of the session. if not we know who the backmarker will be.
Updated
Q1: Verstappen has gone quicker than Hamilton with a 1min 09.754secs lap.
Yellow flag
Lance Stroll loses control going into turn 12 and spins into the barriers. It’s not a huge crash and we will continue.
Updated
Q1: Ocon has been on the radio to remark about the strong winds across the track. Oliver Bearman sets the fastest time of the first batch of drivers out on the track. Leclerc cannot better it but Hamilton does.
Q1 begins
Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda is out on the track.
The cars are strating to emerge from their garages. Q1 underway shortly.
We’re about 15 minutes away from the start of Q1, what are you expecting from qualifying? Let me know via the link at the top of the page.
Updated
Final times after third practice
1 Lando Norris (GB) McLaren 1min 08.972secs
2 Oscar Piastri (AU) McLaren 1:09.214
3 George Russell (GB) Mercedes GP 1:09.858
4 Carlos Sainz Jr. (SP) Williams 1:09.913
5 Max Verstappen (NL) Red Bull 1:09.925
6 Charles Leclerc (MC) Ferrari 1:09.938
7 Alexander Albon (TH) Williams 1:10.099
8 Lance Stroll (CA) Aston Martin 1:10.103
9 Isack Hadjar (FR) RB 1:10.166
10 Fernando Alonso (SP) Aston Martin 1:10.232
11 Liam Lawson (NZ) RB 1:10.300
12 Yuki Tsunoda (JP) Red Bull 1:10.349
13 Gabriel Bortoleto (BR) Kick Sauber 1:10.361
14 Lewis Hamilton (GB) Ferrari 1:10.373
15 Oliver Bearman (GB) Haas F1 1:10.595
16 Nico Hulkenberg (DE) Kick Sauber 1:10.599
17 Andrea Kimi Antonelli (IT) Mercedes GP 1:10.697
18 Esteban Ocon (FR) Haas F1 1:10.801
19 Pierre Gasly (FR) Alpine 1:10.963
20 Franco Colapinto (AR) Alpine 1:11.054
Reports emerged this week of a potential superteam of F1 executives, Christian Horner, Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, combining forces to buy into Alpine. It was a report that got an approving nod from Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff but Briatore, who is running Alpine currently has poured cold water on those reports. The Italian told reporters at Zandvoort on Friday: “I’m not considering anything at this moment, and Christian is not in Formula 1 anymore. I hope he comes back soon but, for the moment, he’s not in the picture at Alpine.”
I have emotions, I still feel everything that everyone else feels. It’s just that, being blunt, I think a lot of emotions are not that helpful.
Oscar Piastri, the current drivers’ championship leader, spoke to Giles Richards ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix about how he is handling the pressure of trying to win a first world title.
Preamble
Lando Norris comes into qualifying at Zandvoort just nine points behind teammate Oscar Piastri in the drivers’ championship and hopeful of pole position after topping the standings in every practice session at the Dutch Grand Prix.
Piastri was only marginally slower than Norris but their McLarens were significantly quicker than George Russell’s Mercedes in final practice. For comparison, there was a similar gap between the McLarens as from Russell to Esteban Ocon’s Haas in 18th.
Norris said that this long stretch that now runs into the season’s climax will be “tricky”. He will need to cut out some of the errors that have cost him points so far during the campaign. When the margins are so tight between the two McLaren teammates, the destination of of the drivers’ championship will likely be decided by who makes the least mistakes. Norris accepts he has could have been in a better position at this stage but is not going to beat himself up about it. He said on Thursday: “Could I have at times made maybe better decisions? I think so.
“I wouldn’t say I regret it. But do I wish I could do it better and do it again, yeah. But I don’t regret making those decisions at the time. That’s life.
“Sometimes it goes your way and you get lucky and sometimes it goes the other way and you don’t make the best decisions but those are the times you learn the most.”
Further down the grid, Carlos Sainz in the Williams had good pace in the final practice, as did Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Despite looking closely matched on Friday, Lewis Hamilton in the second Ferrari was 0.435secs behind his teammate.
Hamilton appeared very downbeat after a poor showing in the last Grand Prix at the Hungaoring, but appears to have returned in a more positive mindset in the Netherlands, saying on Thursday that he is “focusing on my job that I love”.
We are expecting a McLaren one-two at the front of the grid but the other places are very much up for grabs.
