McLaren’s Lando Norris beat his title rival, Max Verstappen to claim pole for the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix.
Norris overcame a wet FP3 to dominate the last two segments of Qualifying to take his fourth pole position in F1, ahead of his title rival and Dutch hero – Max Verstappen.
Oscar Piastri meanwhile qualified third in a strong all-round performance for McLaren.
Now, here is a roundup of FP3 and Qualifying for the 2024 Dutch GP.
FP3
With heavy rain having fallen before FP3 commenced, teams weren’t in a rush to venture out in the opening minutes until Haas sent Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen out to explore the conditions.
Both drivers however declared conditions to be fit for the intermediate rather than wet tyres, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri the first to set a benchmark time of 1m 24.176 in the eighth minute.
Two minutes, Hulkenberg suffered another brake lock-up akin to his FP2-ending incident, but he recovered to the pits with just a broken front wing.
Piastri meanwhile lowered his lap time by 2.326 seconds to 1m 21.850 on his second flier, which was beaten by Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in the 15th minute with 1m 21.461.
Seconds after Alonso had set the fastest lap time, the red flags were out after Williams’ Logan Sargeant had a huge shunt at Turn 4, having lost control through Turn 4 and clattered into the barriers at high-speed as he put the power down.
Debris consequently was left strewn across the track whilst Sargeant’s right-rear tyre came loose upon impact, amidst a fire at the rear but Sargeant escaped unharmed as he safely jumped out of the cockpit.
The session ultimately resumed with two minutes left on the clock after a 43 minute delay, which led to a frantic dash to the line before the checkered flag to start a lap time but Yuki Tsunoda and Sergio Perez failed to get past in time.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly meanwhile topped the session with 1m 20.311 from Magnussen and Valtteri Bottas.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 1m 20.311 |
| 2 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 0.139 |
| 3 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber | + 0.844 |
| 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 1.076 |
| 5 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 1.150 |
| 6 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.332 |
| 7 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 1.539 |
| 8 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.630 |
| 9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 2.043 |
| 10 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 2.278 |
| 11 | Guanyu Zhou | Sauber | + 2.929 |
| 12 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 2.976 |
| 13 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 3.647 |
| 14 | Alex Albon | William | + 3.696 |
| 15 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 3.787 |
| 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 3.847 |
| 17 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 4.049 |
| 18 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB | + 5.122 |
| 19 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | No Time |
| 20 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | No Time |
Qualifying
Q1
Hulkenberg was first out onto a much drier track and set a benchmark time of 1m 13.062 on the soft tyres.
Times however soon tumbled as the track conditions bedded in and at the half-way mark, Hamilton set the pace with 1m 11.375 but just 0.002s clear of Norris with Verstappen a further 0.016s back in third.
The elimination zone meanwhile compromised of Ricciardo, Bottas, Sainz and Zhou, whilst Sargeant hadn’t set a lap time as repairs continued on his car.
Several drivers however did a second flier and Sainz improved to 15th just ahead of Ricciardo, as Tsunoda slipped into the bottom five in 17th position.
At the checkered flag, Tsunoda managed to survive at the expense of his teammate as Ricciardo qualified 16th, albeit ahead of Ocon, Bottas and Zhou whilst Sargeant didn’t set a lap time.
Perez meanwhile set 1m 11.006 on his final flier to set the fastest lap of Q1.
Q2
Sainz was first out on track in the second segment and set a benchmark time of 1m 11.835, which was bettered by Leclerc who went 0.170s quicker.
Once everyone completed their first fliers, the bottom five compromised of; Tsunoda, Hulkenberg, Leclerc, Sainz and Albon.
Leclerc and Sainz however soon moved into the top ten on their second fliers at the expense of Magnussen and Gasly.
Norris meanwhile set the pace on 1m 10.496 and just 0.009s clear of Piastri, with both times not beaten come end of the segment.
Once the checkered flag fell, track condition found another gear which saw some of those at risk find time, which left Sainz 11th ahead of Hamilton in a shock elimination.
Tsunoda qualified 13th ahead of Hulkenberg and Magnussen.
Q3
Piastri was first out onto the circuit for the first Q3 runs and set a benchmark 1m 10.193, which was only bettered by his teammate – Norris who set 1m 10.074 as provisional pole time.
Verstappen could only put himself 0.029s off Piastri’s lap time in third but ahead of Russell, Leclerc and Gasly as only six drivers attempted an opening run.
Aston Martin ran Stroll and Alonso in the gap which saw the pair go seventh and fifth respectively, before everyone else did their final runs.
At the checkered flag, Norris improved to 1m 09.673 to claim pole ahead of Verstappen who improved to second, whilst Piastri could only improve his time as he slipped to third ahead of Russell and Perez.
Leclerc, Alonso, Albon, Stroll and Gasly rounded out the top ten.
Post-session, Hamilton received a three-place grid penalty after he was harshly found to had impeded Perez in Q1 at Turn 9, despite having been out of the way.
Hamilton however would start 14th on the grid after Albon was disqualified due to his floor not meeting the volume measurement.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1m 09.673 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.356 |
| 3 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.499 |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.571 |
| 5 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.743 |
| 6 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.909 |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.960 |
| 8** | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.980 |
| 9 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.184 |
| 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.304 |
| 11 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1m 10.914 |
| 12* | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.034 |
| 13 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | + 0.041 |
| 14 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 0.301 |
| 15 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 0.381 |
| 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB | 1m 11.943 |
| 17 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0.052 |
| 18 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber | + 0.225 |
| 19 | Guanyu Zhou | Sauber | + 1.318 |
| 20 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | No Time |
*Hamilton was penalised three grid places for impeding Perez in Q1.
**Albon was disqualified post-session for a floor infringement.
Leave a Reply