Piastri beats Norris to pole at Dutch Grand Prix with record Zandvoort lap

Oscar Piastri delivered a record-breaking lap to secure pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix on Saturday, putting himself in prime position to extend his Formula One championship lead over McLaren teammate Lando Norris.

Norris had dominated all three practice sessions and looked favourite heading into qualifying, but Piastri struck when it mattered, setting a stunning benchmark of one minute 08.662 seconds. That lap, the fastest ever around Zandvoort, edged Norris by just 0.012 seconds, denying last year’s pole-sitter and race winner a repeat.

Red Bull’s four-time world champion Max Verstappen, who had previously taken pole at Zandvoort in 2021, 2022 and 2023, was third fastest but 0.263 seconds adrift. French rookie Isack Hadjar impressed by qualifying fourth for Racing Bulls, ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who had a scare when a fox darted across the track during Q2. Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton will start seventh for Ferrari.

“That was the definition of peaking at the right time,” said Piastri, who added he was “pretty stoked” with his afternoon. “The whole weekend I felt pretty good but there have been a couple of corners that I’ve not been able to go any faster. I didn’t really go any faster in those corners but I found some more elsewhere so I’m super happy to come away with the result.”

Norris, nine points behind Piastri in the standings after winning three of the last four races, admitted to being “a little disappointed” with second place. “With the wind like this, a lot of it’s down to luck as well; even with all the luck I’ve been having,” he said. “It’s tough. I had a good lap in Q3, run one, but just a small headwind down the straight and I lost like 1/100th (of a second), so you could easily say it’s there.”

McLaren now have the chance to claim a record-equalling fifth consecutive one-two finish on Sunday, matching historic runs set by Ferrari and Mercedes. The top ten also featured Liam Lawson for Racing Bulls, Carlos Sainz for Williams, and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, ensuring seven teams will start from the first five rows.

SportsLigue