Verstappen narrowly secures home pole for Dutch GP

Max Verstappen delighted his legions of home fans by clinching pole position for Sunday's Dutch Grand Prix, albeit by just 0.038s from Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton followed by Valtteri Bottas and Pierre Gasly.

Verstappen's team mate Sergio Perez had been unable to make a final run in Q1 and missed the cut at the end of the first round as a result. The Red Bull driver will start Sunday's race from a somewhat ignominious 16th place, just ahead of Sebastian Vettel.

Both Williams drivers suffered spins in Q2 that triggered red flags, catching out McLaren's Lando Norris and Vettel's Aston Martin team mate Lance Stroll who were prevented from improving their times, meaning both line up outside the top ten.

• 2021 Dutch Grand Prix - Qualifying results

It had already proven to be a busy morning in Zandvoort, starting with Kimi Raikkonen being the seventh Formula 1 driver to test positive for COVID forcing him to miss the rest of the weekend. That meant Robert Kubica would be taking over his seat at Alfa Romeo, and Williams principal Jost Capito having to self-isolate after being a recent close contact.

Meanwhile Max Verstappen's day had started with a trip to the race stewards to discuss overtaking behind red flags during Friday practice (fortunately appeasing the stewards who deemed no further action was required) before going on to blitz the field in final practice. Carlos Sainz hadn't fared so well, crashing during the session leaving the Ferrari pit crew scrambling to repair the car in time for the start of qualifying.

Q1: Leclerc and Sainz fastest as Perez and Vettel miss the cut

First into action when the lights went out was Haas rookie Nikita Mazepin, followed by his team mate Mick Schumacher, AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda and by Alfa Romeo short notice stand-in Kubica. In fact it turned out to be Williams' Nicholas Latifi who took the early honours with a time of 1:11.699s, a quarter of a second quicker than Tsunoda.

The rest of the drivers were not long in turning out for their own early flying laps, with Verstappen soon resuming his morning supremacy with a time of 1:10.036s on soft tyres putting him 0.147s ahead of Lewis Hamilton on mediums, with Pierre Gasly straight into third ahead of Charles Leclerc, Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez. Carlos Sainz was indeed able to get out on track without a gearbox penalty although his first run was only good enough for 14th, two seconds slower than Verstappen. Fernando Alonso was one of the last to bank an initial time, going sixth despite a scare along the way.

The short lap and improving track conditions at Zandvoort meant that times were soon tumbling by the minute. Hamilton moved to within 0.078s of Verstappen and Bottas up to third ahead of Gasly, Leclerc, Alonso and Perez while a better second run for Sainz put the Ferrari into eighth ahead of Latifi and Tsunoda. Those left in the drop zone were the two Haas cars and both Aston Martins, Lance Stroll edging Sebastian Vettel. George Russell was sat on the bubble in 15th, but after a short break he punched in a time good enough to muscle into fifth between Gasly and Leclerc, and just 0.346s slower than Verstappen's enduring benchmark at the top.

No one was entirely safe as everyone switched to soft tyres as they hustled back out for their final runs before the chequered flag. Leclerc went top by two tenths with Sainz into second, and Antonio Giovinazzi fourth as the two Mercedes cars felt secure enough to return to pit lane without completing their final laps. However Latifi then went fifth fastest ahead of Hamilton to ensure that both Williams successfully progressed to the second round, while Alpine's Esteban Ocon took seventh ahead of Bottas. Daniel Ricciardo was ninth fastest ahead of Gasly with Russell safely through in 11th ahead of Alonso, Stroll and Tsunoda. Norris scraped through by a whisker meaning that the shock elimination proved to be Perez who missed out on a final run which left him in 16th, the Red Bull driver joining Vettel, Kubica, Schumacher and Mazepin on the bench for Q2.

"It's disappointing," said team boss Christian Horner. "He lost some time out of the pits and missed the line by about a second. His out lap was too slow. It's such a short circuit. With 20-20 vision we should have sent him out there earlier. Very frustrating, we shouldn't have a car out at the end of Q1."

Q2: Verstappen fastest, Norris and Stroll out after two Williams red flags

After his impressive run in Q1, Latifi was first to get back to action after the short intermission along with his team mate George Russell. They were joined by Verstappen, with everyone immediately selecting the soft tyres. Hamilton and Bottas were also out on the red-walled compound, but they were the used sets they had already taken for a run at the end of Q1.

Verstappen was predictably quickest with a time of 1:09.071s, more than six tenths clear of Hamilton and Bottas. Giovinazzi was fourth from Russell until Leclerc then made his bow in second with Gasly third, while Ricciardo was soon good enough for sixth ahead of Sainz, Ocon and Alonso which meant Giovinazzi found himself summarily pushed down to tenth. Russell was left as the first of those on the wrong side of the cut-line along with Stroll, Norris, Latifi and Tsunoda.

With four minutes remaining there still plenty of time for further runs, but then a red flag materialised as Russell made a rare error. Pushing it just a little too hard he lost the rear end, sending the Williams off into the gravel at turn 13. There was the lightest of touches against the barrier, but Russell was able to get going again and returned to pit lane without assistance while the track workers took the opportunity to sweep up the scattered gravel.

"I was on a really good lap," Russell commented. "I attacked that corner too much. There's a bit of damage on my rear suspension so there shouldn't be any penalties. I just felt I had to go for it, but that was not how I wanted to finish my qualifying."

Russell wasn't among the cars heading back out when the track went green again, but his team mate was. Latifi had just started his flying lap when he clipped the grass going into turn 8, spitting the Williams off into the gravel and a hard impact with the barriers. That triggered an immediate second red flag, and race control decreed that there was now too little time left on the clock to resume the session. It meant that Stroll, Norris (missing Q3 for the first time in 2021) and Tsunoda didn't get a chance to improve their existing times, and they duly joined the Williams pair on the sidelines for the remainder of the afternoon.

Q3: Verstappen holds on to pole despite late push by Hamilton for second

Ricciardo and Giovinazzi were the first to come out at the resumption, while the rest of the field jockeyed for position at the end of pit lane seeking to create a gap for their flying lap. Inevitably, Verstappen proved a second quicker that the first runners despite having a big slide in turn 12 as he went on to post a time of 1:08.923s, three tenths quicker than Bottas and Hamilton. Gasly was a further four tenths behind in fourth followed by Leclerc, Sainz and Alonso, with Giovinazzi eighth ahead of Ricciardo and Ocon.

All cars headed back to pit lane to study the data and take on new tyres before their final runs. Leclerc and Sainz were first to blink, followed by Gasly. Once again, the playing for position by those toward the front of the queue caused frustration for those behind: "This is standing still on the pit exit?!" radioed Verstappen, with Ricciardo, Bottas and Hamilton all lining up behind him.

Huge cheers from the orange army in the grandstands could only assist Verstappen to the tiniest of improvements on his earlier time, taking him to 1:08.885s. However that kept him out of reach of Hamilton whose final run moved him to within 0.038s of the Dutch superstar, putting him onto the front row of the grid ahead of Bottas and Gasly. Leclerc and Sainz will make up an all-Ferrari third row followed by Giovinazzi, Ocon, Alonso and Ricciardo.

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