Lando Norris put in a big lap to take F1 Dutch GP pole in a dominant run ahead of Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri.
Q1:
It was dry in first part of F1 Dutch GP qualifying at Zandvoort as opposed to a predicted wet session. Despite the valiant effort, Williams couldn’t get Logan Sargeant in the session but they had a good news of no chassis replacement needed.
The late improvement saw Red Bull’s Sergio Perez end up on top with a 1m11.006s lap ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. The Mexican was impeded by Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, which has been put under investigation.
The fag end saw Visa Cash App RB’s Daniel Ricciardo (1m11.943s) being knocked out in 16th ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon (1m11.995s), the Kick Sauber pair of Valtteri Bottas (1m12.168s) & Zhou Guanyu (1m13.261s), as Sargeant did not set a time.
Q2:
It was dry again in second part of F1 Dutch GP qualifying as Ferrari opted for an early first run. It was McLaren 1-2 at the front with Lando Norris (1m10.496s) on top by 0.009s over teammate Oscar Piastri, as Russell was not too far behind in third.
There were late improvements and it dropped Ferrari’s Sainz (1m10.914s) and Mercedes’ Hamilton (1m10.948s) to be knocked out in Q2. The Spaniard was 11th as he missed Q3 by 0.069s, with the Brit in 12th with an investigation to come.
Their drop allowed Williams’ Alexander Albon and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly make it in the Top 10, as Visa Cash App RB’s Yuki Tsunoda (1m10.955s) was 13th from Haas pair of Nico Hulkenberg (1m11.215s) and Kevin Magnussen (1m11.295s).
Q3:
The final part of F1 Dutch GP qualifying saw early laps for the front-runners where Norris set the pace to have provisional pole with a 1m10.074s lap ahead of Piastri (1m10.193s) and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, with Russell and Leclerc following in the Top 5.
The likes of Aston Martin pair of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll along with Perez and Albon ventured out of sequence for their one lap run. The final run saw improvement from Verstappen with a 1m10.029s to go the quickest for a brief period of time.
But Norris upped his pace with dominant pace after a 1m09.673s lap – the only one to dip in the 1m09s barrier – to take F1 Dutch GP pole by 0.356s margin. Piastri had an iffy lap to be third after a 1m10.172s lap with Russell (1m10.244s) in fourth.
Perez (1m10.416s) was fifth in a better show ahead of Leclerc (1m10.582s), with Alonso (1m10.633s) in seventh from Albon (1m10.653s), Stroll (1m10.857s) and Gasly (1m10.977s) in the Top 10.
UPDATE: Albon has been summoned by the FIA after the Technical Delegate found a legality issue with the floor of the Williams car. Here: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2024%20Dutch%20Grand%20Prix%20-%20Legality%20Issues%20with%20Car%2023.pdf
Also, Sargeant has been cleared to race despite not taking part in qualifying. Here: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2024%20Dutch%20Grand%20Prix%20-%20Decision%20-%20Car%202%20-%20107%25%20Time.pdf
UPDATE 2: The FIA stewards has handed a grid drop to Hamilton for impeding Perez. They felt that the Brit didn’t slow down enough to avoid impeding the Mexican despite having known that the Red Bull driver is fast approaching him on a fast lap.
A three-place drop means Hamilton has suffered a further jolt to be 15th, which could be 14th pending the decision regarding Albon.
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