Verstappen beats Norris to Dutch GP pole, Hamilton only 13th
The Red Bull driver was sitting third behind both McLarens after the opening runs of Q3, but produced a 1m20.965s to usurp Norris by a commanding 0.537s in a truncated qualifying held in challenging, changeable conditions.
It marks Verstappen’s eighth pole in 13 races this season. The reigning world champion could claim a record-equalling ninth successive victory on Sunday to give his home crowd even more to cheer about.
George Russell was third-quickest for Mercedes, over seven-tenths down on Verstappen, while Alex Albon was the star of qualifying as he claimed an impressive fourth on the grid for Williams with a stunning lap.
Fernando Alonso was fifth for Aston Martin, ahead of Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Oscar Piastri’s McLaren.
A heavy Q3 crash for Charles Leclerc left the Ferrari driver ninth on the grid for Sunday’s race to bring out the second red flag of qualifying.
The first was waved when 10th-placed Logan Sargeant, in his first Q3 appearance, shunted at Turn 2.
Lewis Hamilton suffered a shock Q2 elimination and could only qualify 13th after being frustrated by traffic throughout qualifying.
The seven-time world champion had already complained twice of being impeded by both Aston Martins in Q1, before AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda appeared to hold up Hamilton when the track was drying out in the second segment.
Liam Lawson, a last-minute replacement for Daniel Ricciardo, who broke a bone in his hand in a crash on Friday and was ruled out of the weekend, was slowest on his F1 qualifying debut for AlphaTauri.
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