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Max Verstappen’s perfect Q3 lap secures his sixth pole position of the season and an ever-important one in front of his home crowd.
The Dutchman will line up on the grid with a clear view into turn one with a chance of clinching a maiden home Grand Prix victory in front of his adoring Dutch fans.
Q1
The first drivers to take to the track in qualifying were Nikita Mazepin followed by his Haas teammate Mick Schumacher and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda.
Not long after that, home hero Verstappen came out onto the circuit, much to the delight of his fanbase. The Dutchman set his first time of the session with a 1:10.036 under the smoky haze of bright orange flares.
Shortly after, both Mercedes drivers set their banker times. Lewis Hamilton’s time was a tenth-and-a-half slower than Verstappen’s fastest time with Valtteri Bottas, who was momentarily third, just under three-tenths slower than his championship-leading teammate.
With just over six minutes remaining and the drivers’ first runs coming to an end, Carlos Sainz and Tsunoda broke into the top 10.
George Russell, fresh from his qualifying heroics in Spa, placed himself into fifth with an astounding 1:10.382 with three minutes on the clock.
Heading into the session’s final minute, cars took the track once more for a one-lap dash to solidify their qualification for Q2, including Daniel Ricciardo who at that point was 17th.
As the flag dropped, Charles Leclerc went to the top and became the first driver of the weekend to drop into the 1:09’s with his Ferrari teammate Sainz jumping up into second.
Ricciardo sealed his spot in Q2 as he went fourth, only behind the two Ferrari’s and Verstappen, but he was soon displaced by Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi.
Sebastian Vettel left it late to set one final time of the session, but his flying lap was impeded at turn 13 by Mazepin, who was dawdling in the final sector looking for clear track space.
The drivers that were eliminated from Q1 were: Sergio Perez, Sebastian Vettel, Robert Kubica, who’s standing in for Kimi Raikkonen who tested positive for COVID-19, Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.
Q2
Nicholas Latifi and Verstappen were the first drivers to leave the pit lane at the start of Q2. The session’s first time was set by the Canadian, but the Red Bull man soon blew that time out of the water, going over two seconds quicker with a 1:09.071.
Russell went second with another impressive lap, but the Brit was sent tumbling down the order after impressive times from Bottas and Hamilton, but the Mercedes duo were still over six-tenths slower than Verstappen’s blistering pace.
Both Ferrari cars set times soon after as Leclerc jumped up to second with Sainz going fifth before he was displaced by Gasly who went third fastest.
Mercedes duo Hamilton and Bottas went fourth and fifth respectively with six minutes to go, as the drivers’ first runs came to a close.
With five minutes to go, the Williams duo began their second runs with both drivers in the elimination zone. Russell’s projected time would’ve seen him through to Q3, but his aggressive approach saw him go into the barrier at turn 13 which brought out the red flag. The Brit was able to keep his car alive as he trundled back to the pits but his Q3 hopes were over.
10 minutes later, the session resumed as Latifi fronted the field for their final push lap of Q2. Identically to his Williams teammate, the Canadian was sent spinning at turn eight which bought out the sixth red flag of the weekend, bringing a premature conclusion to the session.
The drivers that were eliminated from Q2 were: George Russell, Lance Stroll, Lando Norris, Nicholas Latifi and Yuki Tsunoda with Antonio Giovinazzi making it through to Q3.
Q3
The green light shone at the end of the pit lane as the pole position shootout got underway. Ricciardo was the first driver to head out onto the track, followed by Giovinazzi and Verstappen.
Verstappen became the first driver of the weekend to drop into the 1:08’s with an electrifying 1:08.923, over a second quicker than Alonso in second and Giovinazzi in third.
Bottas jumped up to second, three-tenths behind Verstappen with Hamilton over three-tenths slower than the home hero in third.
AlphaTauri’s Gasly was the next driver to set a time as he went fourth as the first runs came to an end with six minutes of Q3 left.
The Frenchman set another impressive time to return to P4 with the Ferrari’s failing to make the top three as the pace of the Mercedes cars and Verstappen proved too much.
The flag dropped and Verstappen improved with a 1:08.885 which confirmed his pole position. Bottas went second but was immediately knocked down to third by Hamilton who snatched the front row spot away from his teammate.
Pierre Gasly, Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, Antonio Giovinazzi, Esteban Ocon, Fernando Alonso and Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top 10 ahead of Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix.
What’s Next?
Max Verstappen lines up on the front row of the grid alongside championship protagonist Lewis Hamilton as the Dutchman looks to reclaim the lead at the top of the drivers’ standings.
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