Dutch GP: Norris surges to Zandvoort pole ahead of Verstappen

McLaren Lando Norris claimed an emphatic pole position with a terrific final qualifying lap that put him 0.356s ahead of local hero Max Verstappen in the Red Bull, with Oscar Piastri and George Russell on row two. It's Norris' fourth career F1 pole, and the first time that Verstappen has missed out on pole at his home race since it returned to the calendar in 2021. There were earlier shock eliminations for Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz amid a flurry of fast laps at the end of Q2. Logan Sargeant was unable to take part in the session after his huge smash in final practice. 2024 Dutch Grand Prix - Qualifying results Although the rain that had blighted final practice had moved on, it was still far from beach weather at Zandvoort as the drivers embarked on qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix. While it was now dry and warm with some blue in the sky, the wind was back to keep everyone on their toes. Q1: Perez quickest as Ricciardo and Ocon miss the cut First out on track was Nico Hulkenberg, who had hit the wall ion Friday and also had a close encounter with the barrier this morning before Logan Sargeant's far more emphatic mishap which meant that the Williams was still in pieces and unable to take part in the session. It was Aston Martin's Lance Stroll who set the initial pace with a time of 1:11.832s putting him ahead of Alex Albon, but then Oscar Piastri put in a turn and leapt to the top by almost three tenths. He was duly displaced by Lewis Hamilton's 1:11.375s, and the Mercedes/McLaren battle for supremacy was back on. Norris missed out on snatching the top spot by 0.002s while there had been disappointing first efforts for Charles Leclerc (sixth), Sergio Perez (seventh) and George Russell (tenth). Carlos Sainz was only 17th in what was his first spell on soft tyres after being hampered by the weather and a gearbox problem in practice. Max Verstappen was last to set a lap and then went third to split the two McLarens. With everyone bar Sargeant having completed at least one timed lap, those at real risk of elimination were the RBs of Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda, and the Saubers of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu. The final minutes saw drivers queueing impatiently to start their last push laps. Tsunoda and Ricciardo both improved to move out of the drop zone, briefly imperilling Sainz who responded in style by going quickest of anyone on. The next riposte came from Russell who up to now ad been complaining of a lack of grip but who now found it in spades. Perez had been unhappy with what he perceived as impeding by Hamilton on an earlier run, but he got the last laugh when he went top by half a tenth from Russell. On the flip side, those left failing to make the cut were Ricciardo and Alpine's Esteban Ocon, together with the two luckless Saubers. Q2: Norris and Piastri take charge as Sainz and Hamilton miss out on final round Dark clouds were beginning to gather as the drivers headed out for the second round, drivers reporting rain in the air even though the official forecast still insisted the session should remain dry to the finish. Not hanging around just in case, the two Ferraris immediately headed out to set the first lap times on used tyres with Leclerc going 0.170s quicker than Sainz. A few minutes later Piastri was on top, quicker than Leclerc by more than a second with the two Haas cars of Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg finding more than enough space to take temporary refuge before the onset of the big names saw Norris go top by 0.009s with Russell third from Verstappen, Hamilton, Leclerc, Stroll and Perez. That left the two Haas cars in the bottom five an at risk of elimination along with Gasly, Tsunoda and Albon but there was still plenty of time for the cars to head back to pit lane, take fresh tyres and mount one last charge with five minutes still n the clock. Even though the weather was definitely taking a downhill slide, everyone left it as late as they dared before setting off. Norris, Piastri, Russell and Verstappen all felt confident enough to stay in the pits. Stroll, Leclerc and Albon made big improvements and moved up to P4, P6 and P7 respectively. That caught out Sainz and Hamilton who failed to make up time and duly missed the cut along with Tsunoda, Hulkenberg and Magnussen. Q3: Norris powers to pole ahead of Verstappen, Piastri holds on toe third from Russell The green light came on for the final round and the rain was still holding off as the cars streamed back out on track. The first time on the board of 1:10.193s went to Piastri, but Norris improved on that by more than a tenth to take provisional pole with Verstappen third ahead of Russell and Leclerc. Gasly was slowest of those to have set a time. Stroll, Perez, Albon and Alonso all sat out this initial flurry of push laps. As the first six pitted for fresh rubber, Aston Martin ushered Stroll and Alonso out onto a clear track but neither were able to get within half a second of Norris' target time. "I cannot do more than this" was Alonso's forlorn report over the team radio as he settled into P5. Norris could and did do better, extending his lead with a terrific new lap of 1:09.673s to keep him a comprehensive 0.356s fans ahead of Verstappen's final offer. Piastri couldn't match them but remained third ahead of Russell, with Perez slotting into fifth ahead of Leclerc and Alonso. Albon also put in a good run to claim eighth ahead of Stroll and Gasly. Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter The post Dutch GP: Norris surges to Zandvoort pole ahead of Verstappen appeared first on F1i.com.