Oscar Piastri claimed a sensational pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix, edging out McLaren team-mate Lando Norris by just 12 thousandths of a second in a qualifying session defined by blustery winds and razor-thin margins. The Australian’s time of 1min 08.662sec was enough to secure his first pole at Zandvoort and snap a run of five poles for Norris, who had topped all three practice sessions.
Max Verstappen could only manage third for Red Bull, two-tenths adrift, as the McLaren duo once again demonstrated their complete dominance of the season. The reigning champion continues to wrestle with grip and balance issues that have plagued his car all year. Behind them, Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar impressed with a career-best fourth place, half a second off the pace.
Norris admitted that the tiny margin came down to luck in the windy conditions. “With a wind like this, a lot of it’s down to luck as well,” he said. “I made a good lap in the first run of Q3 but just a smaller headwind down the straight on the final one, and I lost like one hundredth, so you could easily say that was that.”
Piastri, who now leads Norris by nine points in the drivers’ championship, remained composed after the session. “It felt good and like a good improvement from pretty much every other lap I did this weekend,” he said. “So it was nice to be able to pull it out but it took a lot of hard work, some patience in trying to find the time, and eventually I got there.”
George Russell qualified fifth for Mercedes, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was sixth, momentarily distracted by a fox darting across the track. Lewis Hamilton took seventh for Ferrari after a difficult practice spell that included two spins. The seven-time champion will hope for a stronger race day as the season resumes following the summer break.
