Verstappen beats Norris to pole in incident-filled Dutch GP qualifying

Max Verstappen maintained his perfect record of home pole positions at Zandvoort by beating Lando Norris at the end of an eventful qualifying.

The championship leader made his final flying lap of Q3 count, beating Norris by half a second to secure a home pole for the Dutch Grand Prix. George Russell will start third on the grid, with Alexander Albon fourth for Williams.

Q1

After the final practice session on Saturday morning had taken place entirely in wet conditions and the Formula 2 sprint race was abandoned as the rain continued, the Zandvoort circuit was still very wet when the first phase of qualifying began. A large queue formed at the end of the pit lane before the green light came on with all 20 drivers heading out on intermediate tyres.

Alexander Albon was the first driver to complete a flying lap but ran off the track at turn 11, taking a trip across the gravel. Logan Sargeant set the early benchmark with a 1’24.780, but that was beaten by his team mate on his second effort.

The drivers were struggling for grip in the wet conditions. Max Verstappen locked up and ran through the gravel at Tarzan, the first corner. Charles Leclerc also missed the same turn, as he had done three times during the final practice session.

After recovering from his earlier mistake, Verstappen moved to the top of the times with his first clean push lap of the session. But he was beaten by both McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris as well as team mate Sergio Perez. The track gradually improved, with Norris improving to take the top spot while claiming that the track was “drying quite a bit”.

Lewis Hamilton claimed he was blocked by Lance Stroll in the final sector on one of his push laps, while Piastri had to take avoiding action into turn 11 to miss Carlos Sainz Jnr’s Ferrari. The stewards noted both incidents.

With three minutes remaining in the session, the drop zone consisted of Yuki Tsunoda, Zhou Guanyu, Nico Hulkenberg, debutante Liam Lawson and Valtteri Bottas, but the track was improving at a constant rate. Leclerc fell into the danger zone in 18th with just a final flying lap available to him, but he just managed to pull himself safe with a time good enough for 14th.

By the time all cars had finished their final flying laps, Zhou was the first driver eliminated from the session in 16th place, with Esteban Ocon also out in the Alpine. Kevin Magnussen also failed to make it through, with Bottas out in the second Alfa Romeo in 19th. In his first qualifying session, Liam Lawson was slowest in 20th.

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Q1 result

Position	Number	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’20.939		12
2	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’20.965	0.026	12
3	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’21.231	0.292	12
4	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’21.276	0.337	12
5	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	SF-23	1’21.321	0.382	12
6	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W14	1’21.345	0.406	12
7	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’21.570	0.631	12
8	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’21.735	0.796	11
9	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	AT04	1’21.781	0.842	12
10	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’21.840	0.901	11
11	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’21.891	0.952	10
12	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W14	1’21.919	0.980	13
13	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’21.972	1.033	13
14	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	SF-23	1’22.019	1.080	12
15	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’22.036	1.097	13
16	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’22.067	1.128	12
17	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’22.110	1.171	12
18	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’22.192	1.253	11
19	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C43	1’22.260	1.321	12
20	40	Liam Lawson	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	AT04	1’23.420	2.481	12

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Q2

Ferrari informed Leclerc that they did not expect further rain during Q2 when the second phase of qualifying began, and that turned out to be the case. All drivers returned to the track on intermediate tyres and made sure to leave their rivals enough space for them to complete their opening flying laps free of traffic.

Verstappen was comfortably the quickest of all after the first push laps were completed, seven tenths of a second quicker than George Russell’s Mercedes. The championship leader’s next lap was over a second faster, with Piastri his first rival able to get within a second of him.

Norris then replaced Verstappen at the top of the times by less than a tenth, but it proved short-lived as Verstappen improved to a 1’20.282. Red Bull offered their driver the opportunity to pit for a fresh set of intermediates, but Verstappen opted to save a new set for the final phase of qualifying instead.

Many of those behind Verstappen did choose to fit new intermediates, however, including Hamilton, Russell, Albon, Leclerc and Verstappen’s team mate Perez. Albon showed the advantage of fresh intermediates by jumping to the top with his next flying lap, with Red Bull responding by bringing Verstappen in for new tyre with only two minutes remaining.

With time expiring, Norris was the only driver who did not pit for a second set of intermediates. However, he still managed to improve on his final lap and move himself into seventh place. With many others improving, Hamilton dropped out of the top 10 and ran out of time to beat his previous best, leaving him knocked out in 12th.

Stroll, who was vulnerable in tenth place, was knocked out by Sargeant, who improved to tenth on his final lap to reach Q3 for the first time in his career. Joining Stroll out in Q2 were Pierre Gasly, Hamilton, Tsunonda in 14th and Hulkenberg in 15th.

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Q2 result

Position	Number	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’18.856		23
2	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’19.392	0.536	22
3	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’19.399	0.543	22
4	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’19.429	0.573	21
5	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	SF-23	1’19.600	0.744	22
6	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W14	1’19.620	0.764	23
7	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’19.769	0.913	23
8	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’19.856	1.000	24
9	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	SF-23	1’19.929	1.073	23
10	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’20.067	1.211	24
11	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’20.121	1.265	22
12	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	A523	1’20.128	1.272	21
13	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W14	1’20.151	1.295	23
14	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT	AT04	1’20.230	1.374	22
15	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	VF-23	1’20.250	1.394	20

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Q3

As the sun began beating down over the circuit, there was already a hint of a dry line, suggesting the final shoot-out for pole position was going to be all about being on the right tyres at the right time.

Piastri, Leclerc and Perez opted to head out on intermediates, while Albon, Russell, Sainz and Sargeant all gambled for slick rubber. Almost immediately it was clear that the track was indeed dry enough for slicks to be viable, leading to all of those on intermediates bailing back into the pits to switch to the softs.

Russell was the first driver to complete a timed lap on the softs, positing a 1’18.245, which was quickly beaten by more than two seconds by Albon’s Williams and his team mate Sargeant. Despite the dry tyres clearly being faster, Verstappen emerged from the pit lane with intermediate tyres. He was almost instantly called in to switch to softs, but before he could do the session was red-flagged as Sargeant had crashed at turn two.

The Williams driver lost control after appearing to just touch the damp part of the circuit on the left hand side entering the right hander, which sent him spinning over the gravel and crashing into the TecPro barriers. There was a lengthy delay as the barriers were repaired, with Sargeant able to climb safely from the car.

The session eventually resumed with just over eight minutes remaining, the track now drier than at any other phase in qualifying. At the end of the first push laps of the restart, Norris sat on provisional pole position with a 1’12.049, with team mate Piastri in second. Verstappen’s first lap was only good enough for third, three tenths of a second slower than Norris.

Before anyone could complete a second flying lap, the session was red-flagged yet again as Leclerc skidded off track at turn nine and crashed hard into the barrier, causing significant damage to his Ferrari. Yet another stoppage allowed the track to dry out even more, with just under four minutes of time remaining as qualifying resumed for the final time.

With only time for one final push lap, all the pressure was on drivers for their last laps. Verstappen was the first over the line and he blitzed Norris’s previous pole time by well over a second. Piastri could not get within a second of the Red Bull while Norris was just over half a second slower with his last attempt, appearing to seal another home pole position for the world champion.

Norris held onto second on the grid with Russell qualifying third on the grid. Albon equalled his best ever grid position with fourth on the grid, his highest qualifying result for Williams. Alonso will start fifth for Aston Martin, ahead of Sainz, Perez and Piastri. The two drivers who crashed out of the session, Leclerc and Sargeant, will start ninth and tenth, respectively.

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Q3 result

Position	Number	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’10.567		31
2	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’11.104	0.537	30
3	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W14	1’11.294	0.727	32
4	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’11.419	0.852	32
5	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR23	1’11.506	0.939	30
6	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	SF-23	1’11.754	1.187	32
7	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB19	1’11.880	1.313	33
8	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL60	1’11.938	1.371	31
9	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	SF-23	1’12.665	2.098	27
10	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	FW45	1’16.748	6.181	27

2023 Dutch Grand Prix

• Azerbaijan GP defeat was key to record-equalling run of wins – Verstappen
• “Too early to say” if podium signals return to form for Aston Martin – Alonso
• Verstappen makes history with unbeaten hat-track in first home races
• Perez is ‘doing his job and will be our driver in 2024’, Horner insists
• Ferrari had the “sixth or seventh fastest car” at Zandvoort – Sainz

Browse all 2023 Dutch Grand Prix articles