Netherlands Qualifying Reaction
Image: Red Bull Content Pool
In a session of constantly fluctuating conditions, home hero Max Verstappen ensured it was business as usual at the Circuit Zandvoort, despite a few brief moments of doubt. Lap times dropped by more than 10 seconds as drivers swapped Inters for Softs, with the Dutchman coming out on top and besting P2 by over half a second and teammate Pérez by 1.3 seconds.
The stage is set for an electrifying race day - a reported 59% chance of rain may shake things up a bit, so this will definitely be one to watch! Let’s go through Qualifying while we wait, shall we?
Q1
As the drivers were getting used to the damp track and trying to get some temperature into those Intermediate tyres, we saw a close call between Piastri and Sainz at Turn 2 - the Spaniard was exiting the Pit Lane as the McLaren closed in to pass, however Sainz’s claimed lack of visibility led to Oscar having to take somewhat evasive action, running two wheels onto the grass.
Image: @F1 on Twitter
Nothing else came of this but it demonstrates how easily misunderstandings can occur!
Later on in Q1, Alex Albon topped the timing sheet, a mere 26 milliseconds faster than fan favourite Verstappen. With the chequered flag out, the race was on as always for those bottom five drivers to climb up to the safety of at least P14 - Sergeant, Hulkenberg and Tsunoda all setting markedly improved times and making it through to Q2.
New face Liam Lawson was called up to fill in for an injured Daniel Ricciardo at Alpha Tauri, who broke his left hand in an FP2 crash on Friday.
The ever-smiling Aussie, resilient as ever, appeared not to be too distraught, although we’re sure he’d much rather be racing.
It’s looking unlikely that Daniel will be able to race next weekend at Monza (and potentially even at Singapore too), but in the meantime we wish him a speedy recovery!
The Kiwi driver found himself in last place and knocked out of Q1, although this is perfectly permissible as his only experience of F1 until now has been the odd practice session here and there. Despite this, Lawson has now tasted the flavour of an F1 qualifying stint and will be keen to impress come Sunday - best of luck Liam!
Both Zhou and Leclerc had scary snaps of oversteer at the entry to the final banked corner as the session came to a close, reminiscent of the Alfa driver’s spin and eventual gravel entrapment at the same corner in FP3.
Image: Formula One
Look at that angle!
Hamilton found himself behind quite a bit of traffic at the same banking, expressing his displeasure over the radio at Stroll’s expense:
“I’m getting massive impeding everywhere mate”
The FIA undertook an investigation of this incident between the Aston Martin and Mercedes drivers, however it proved inconclusive.
Eliminated in Q1 then:
16th - Zhou GUANYU
17th - Esteban OCON
18th - Kevin MAGNUSSEN
19th - Valtteri BOTTAS
20th - Liam LAWSON
Q2
The sun came out and a noticeable dry line formed on the tarmac - teams, commentators and fans alike all began to play with the idea of seeing slick runs, although this wouldn’t come until the final session.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was running in P1 in the dying minutes, with eventual pole-sitter Verstappen down in P5, himself and his teammate sandwiching Alonso in P6. Albon again managed a front-row lap, only 0.007 seconds behind Piastri.
Other names such as Norris and Sainz were in the drop-zone while they were out on their final flying lap, hoping to gain ground. Verstappen set his best time and claimed the fastest lap by a staggering 0.536 second gap.
Aforementioned former teammates Norris and Sainz managed to improve to P7 and P9 respectively, during which Hamilton was being pushed down further and further into the elimination zone. The final nail in the coffin was Logan Sargeant, who for the first time in his career made it into Q3 - a delightful achievement for the American rookie.
This meant that Lewis missed out on Q3 for the second time this season, the first being in Miami.
The drivers out for Q3 were:
11th - Lance STROLL
12th - Pierre GASLY
13th - Lewis HAMILTON
14th - Yuki TSUNODA
15th - Nico HULKENBERG
Q3
Now all on slicks, the drivers went out to make the most of the dry(ing) track in the final session of the day.
Albon and Sargeant were sat P1 and 2 in the early stages before everyone else got the chance to set a lap. The excitement of making it to Q3 obviously got the better of Logan as he hit a wet patch at Turn 2 and pirouetted into the barrier, causing the first of two red flags in this outing after just two minutes.
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Clearly a mixture of emotions for the Williams rookie; he said this in a post-qualifying interview:
“You’ve got to take them as they come, roll with the punches”
Logan walked away from this unscathed, luckier than Ricciardo. Hopefully he can continue to put in Q2 performances like this - minus the crashes of course!
With the red flag cleared, Russell set the fastest lap with half the remaining 10 drivers in the pits. Norris and Piastri went 1-2 shortly after, with Verstappen only being able to set the third fastest lap behind the two orange cars. Alonso was on a purple first-sector flyer when a yellow flag went out for Charles Leclerc, who understeered out of Turn 9 and whacked the barrier at an off-angle, immediately snapping and breaking pretty heavily his front-left suspension and tyre. The rear wing was damaged too, as well as the gearbox most likely.
Image: @F1 on Twitter
We as fans of course feel bad for Charles as we all want to see everyone succeed - but the most humorous part of the session was admittedly once he was out of the car and trackside, sitting in a deck chair - remind you of anyone?
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