Two stars out in Q2
Who will take pole position in Zandvoort?
Lando Norris has claimed his first pole position in the second half of the Formula 1 World Championship season. The McLaren driver relegated local hero and world champion Max Verstappen to second place in qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix on Saturday.
The Red Bull star was a considerable 0.356 seconds behind his British rival. Third in a gusty affair was Oscar Piastri (+0.499) in the McLaren ahead of Mercedes man George Russell (+0.571 sec.).
Mercedes had recently bounced back with three wins in four races before the summer break. In Zandvoort, the Silver Arrows had to struggle for the time being. Spa winner Lewis Hamilton surprisingly failed in the second qualifying segment (12th). The record-breaking world champion was also pushed back three places on the grid after an obstruction against Perez. The Ferraris were also weak. Charles Leclerc had to make do with sixth place (+0.909) behind Sergio Perez (Red Bull), while Carlos Sainz retired from Q2 in 11th place.
Here are the final results:
The Ferraris were also weak. Charles Leclerc had to make do with sixth place (+0.909) behind Sergio Perez (Red Bull), Carlos Sainz retired in 11th place in Q2.
200th Grand Prix start
Verstappen will be making his 200th Grand Prix start on Sunday (3pm). In the championship standings, he still has a comfortable 78-point lead over Norris, who is on pole for the fourth time, ahead of the 15th of 24 races this season. Verstappen has won the last three editions in his home country, but the triple champion has been waiting four races for a Grand Prix victory.
"A fantastic day, it's nice to be back and start with a pole. It was a nice lap and everything went pretty smoothly in qualifying," said Norris. Despite his dominance on the timesheets, he expected a close duel with Verstappen. "He'll put up a good fight, especially in his home race."
For the first time since Formula 1 returned to Zandvoort, Verstappen did not take first place in front of the 'Orange Army' in the grandstands. In 2021, 2022 and 2023, Verstappen also won the race from first place on the grid. On Saturday, the three-time world champion refrained from making a challenge to Norris. "We will try, but if you are more than three tenths behind in qualifying, we have to be realistic," said the Dutchman. "We lacked a bit of pace throughout qualifying."
This article has been automatically translated,
read the original article here.
Kommentare
Liebe Leserin, lieber Leser,
die Kommentarfunktion steht Ihnen ab 6 Uhr wieder wie gewohnt zur Verfügung.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
das krone.at-Team
User-Beiträge geben nicht notwendigerweise die Meinung des Betreibers/der Redaktion bzw. von Krone Multimedia (KMM) wieder. In diesem Sinne distanziert sich die Redaktion/der Betreiber von den Inhalten in diesem Diskussionsforum. KMM behält sich insbesondere vor, gegen geltendes Recht verstoßende, den guten Sitten oder der Netiquette widersprechende bzw. dem Ansehen von KMM zuwiderlaufende Beiträge zu löschen, diesbezüglichen Schadenersatz gegenüber dem betreffenden User geltend zu machen, die Nutzer-Daten zu Zwecken der Rechtsverfolgung zu verwenden und strafrechtlich relevante Beiträge zur Anzeige zu bringen (siehe auch AGB). Hier können Sie das Community-Team via unserer Melde- und Abhilfestelle kontaktieren.