Can Hamilton challenge for victory? Verstappen not worried about Merc pace

The reigning world champion sent his home crowd wild by snatching a last-ditch pole position ahead of Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in a pulsating qualifying on Saturday. 

Verstappen beat Leclerc by just 0.021s on his final lap of Q3, with Sainz sneaking ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who was left 0.3s adrift in fourth after a spin for Red Bull's Sergio Perez prevented the Mercedes driver from improving. 

Asked if he was worried about the long run pace of the Mercedes, the Dutchman, who is cruising towards a second world title, confidently replied: “No.” 

Hamilton, who felt pole would have been out of reach even if he had been able to complete his last run at full speed, is hopeful of fighting for a first win of the season at Zandvoort. 

“We're close and I hope that we can fight these guys in the race,” said Hamilton. 

"It's a difficult race to overtake as we've seen in the past, but we've got nothing to lose, we've got to give it everything.

"If our single lap to race pace delta that we normally have transfers over, then we could be in a good place, and then it's down to the strategy and those sorts of things.

"I don't think it's going to be overtaking on track necessarily, but I'm just going to keep my hopes up and we'll see what I do.”

Leclerc believes Ferrari have a good chance of beating Verstappen to the win if the team works together. 

“I think our race pace looks quite strong,” said Leclerc. “It’s going to be close with the Red But but we just need to do a great start and then we'll see.”

He added: “It’s a track where it’s very difficult to overtake. 

"I hope that we will be as close as we were today, and hopefully we can play a little bit with Carlos and I to put Max under pressure.” 

On Mercedes’ pace, the Monegasque commented: “I think they will be closer in the race but I still believe that if we do everything perfect we will be stronger.”