Lando Norris (McLaren) has secured pole position for the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix. In qualifying at Zandvoort, the Briton played to the strengths of his completely revamped McLaren on dry roads and finished first ahead of local hero Max Verstappen (+0.356) and his teammate Oscar Piastri (+0.499).
Q3 was a pretty exciting affair right up until the end: After the first run, Norris was 0.119 seconds ahead of Piastri and 0.148 ahead of Verstappen. George Russell (Mercedes) was already 0.436 seconds behind in P4 and had thus said goodbye to the very narrow circle of favorites at that point.
Verstappen’s first lap was not perfect. During his in-lap he reported: “Check the underbody when I come in. I went a bit too wide in turn 13.”
Cheered on by the Dutch fans, Verstappen picked up the pace again in the finish and improved to 1:10.029 minutes – a time that was briefly enough to put him in the lead and caused an outcry among his fans.
But the joy only lasted a few seconds, as Norris improved his time to 1:09.673 minutes with an outstanding final lap and thus secured pole position with ease. At least Verstappen managed to overtake Piastri and prevent a first row entirely in McLaren orange.
Sergio Perez’s performance in the second Red Bull was solid this time, losing “only” 0.387 seconds to Verstappen and finishing fifth. Behind him, Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), Alexander Albon (Williams), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) and Pierre Gasly (Alpine) rounded out the top 10.
Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) missed out on the third qualifying this time.
Were there any negative surprises in Q2?
The first big surprise of qualifying came in Q2. Hamilton was in fifth place after the first run and was able to improve to 1:10.948 minutes in the second. But that wasn’t enough to make the cut.
In the end, he was in 12th place, 0.103 seconds behind the saving P10 time of Alonso in the Aston Martin and 0.396 seconds behind teammate Russell in P3. In the first sector, the two Mercedes drivers were almost equally fast. In the second and third, however, Hamilton was significantly slower than Russell.
With Sainz in P11, another of the top stars was caught out in Q2. The other three drivers who were able to pack up early were less surprising: Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls) in 13th place, Nico Hülkenberg in 14th place and Kevin Magnussen (both Haas) in 15th place.
Why were there only 19 cars at the start in Q1?
Logan Sargeant’s crash in the third free practice session had repercussions: the Williams driver was unable to take part in qualifying because the damage from the accident was too extensive. As a result, he was eliminated in 20th place and last without a time.
Daniel Ricciardo (Racing Bulls), Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou (Sauber) were also eliminated in Q1. Ricciardo was 0.111 seconds behind Hülkenberg’s saving P15 time.
Why was Perez so upset on the pit radio?
Q1 was only a few minutes old when the first controversy broke out. Perez had caught up with the slow-driving Hamilton on a fast lap and felt held up. “What the hell is that idiot doing?” the Red Bull driver complained. Hamilton countered: “I was nowhere near in his way.”
The race management noted the incident as an obstruction and will refer the matter to the race stewards after the end of qualifying. The situation initially had no sporting consequences. Hamilton moved into Q2 in fifth place, and Perez was the fastest, with a best time of 1:11.006 minutes.
Source: www.sport.de
