Max Verstappen won a titanic fight for pole at the Dutch Grand Prix, shading Charles Leclerc by just 0.021 seconds.
The Red Bull driver looked to be in formidable form early in qualifying but Leclerc went faster on the first runs in the final session in his Ferrari.
Leclerc improved on his final run, only for Verstappen to pip him, sending the orange-clad capacity crowd at his home race into paroxysms of joy.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz snuck ahead of Mercedes Lewis Hamilton for third.
Hamilton had been third on his first run in the final session but he was unable to complete his final lap when Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez spun at the final corner to bring out the yellow flags, preventing the seven-time champion from improving.
Perez hung on to fifth, his spin also preventing Hamilton’s team-mate George Russell from potentially beating him.
Perez had also earlier annoyed Alpine’s Fernando Alonso, who claimed he had been obstructed by the Mexican as he sought to make it out of the second session.
Verstappen, 98 points clear of Leclerc in the championship, was thrilled with his second consecutive pole at Zandvoort since the historic track returned to the F1 calendar last year after a gap of 36 years.
“Unbelievable,” Verstappen said.
Leclerc added: “It was very, very close. Max did a great lap in the end. Our car was getting better and better through qualifying. At the beginning, I was pretty scared because Max was much quicker than us on used tyres. But in the end I managed to get it together for the final session.”
Verstappen had looked set to cruise to a comfortable pole. He needed only one run to top the first session, and then used the same set of tyres to be third in the second session, only 0.1secs adrift of Leclerc, despite the Ferrari man using a second set of new tyres.
But in the final session Leclerc pulled out all his renowned one-lap pace and appeared as if he might just disrupt the night’s beach party, only for Verstappen to guarantee some hangovers among the ‘orange army’ for race morning.
It was an especially impressive performance from Verstappen and Red Bull because they lost the first practice session on Friday and as a result struggled for balance and pace in the afternoon.
A major set-up change overnight put the car back in the sweet spot, and Verstappen looked formidable from his first lap on Saturday morning.
Ferrari ran him close, but as so often this year Verstappen and Red Bull had the answer.
“Worked really well overnight, the whole team turned it around and today we had a quick race car again but it was very close but the pole lap was insane,” said Verstappen.
“We changed a lot, yesterday was a bit rushed in FP2 to get the car together, but today the car was enjoyable to drive.”
Frustration for Hamilton
Mercedes appeared to be set for their most competitive qualifying session of the year – Hamilton was second behind Verstappen in the first session, and Russell in the same place behind Leclerc by just 0.01secs in the second.
But it did not quite come together for them in the final session.
Hamilton was just under 0.2secs slower than Leclerc on the first runs and was improving on his final lap before coming across the yellow flags for Perez’s spin.
Hamilton was nevertheless upbeat after qualifying, saying: “I genuinely feel good. I’m really happy the car’s finally felt alive this weekend and to be going through Q1 and Q2 and only be 0.1secs behind a Red Bull was a great feeling and really gave me a lot of hope I could fight for the front row.
“Obviously the yellow flag was a bit unfortunate but that’s motor racing.”
The incident also meant Russell failed to complete a representative lap in the final session, as his first run was on used tyres, and he came across Perez on his second.
McLaren’s Lando Norris was seventh, ahead of strong performances from drivers more usually closer to the back to make it into the top 10 – Haas’ Mick Schumacher, Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.
Alonso should have joined them, but for the incident with Perez.
“We were in a very good lap, apparently 0.5secs faster than the previous one, so we had some pace in the car we could not use and get the slot in Q3,” Alonso said.
“But Zandvoort is a very small circuit, very narrow, and it is always going to be tricky qualifying. We were fast, also in race pace, so let’s see if we can use it.”
