OSCAR PIASTRI STORMS INTO INCREDIBLE POLE AT ZANDVOORT
Oscar Piastri has taken pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix, beating his team mate who led all the practice sessions and breaking the track record.
The session started with the news that Lewis Hamilton made an important change to his setup before qualy. The brit decided to unload the rear wing, going from a high load to a medium-high load wing as the rain seems to not getting to the track this weekend.
The session immediately started with a crash: Lance Stroll hit the barriers for the second time this weekend. In Free practice 2 the Canadian ended up crashing in turn 3, and the team had to change the chassis, but at the start of Q1, the Aston Martin driver found himself in the gravel at the last corner, breaking the whole front end of the car, which meant an early end of qualifying for him.
Mclaren immediately sealed a 1-2 finish in Q1, not much ahead of their rivals, setting times on low 1:09s. Max Verstappen have always been fighting for the third spot throughout the weekend with George Russell, and they have been exchanging the positions in the top 5 during the qualifying session.
The Ferraris just made it into the top 10, while a surprising Nico Hulkenberg got kicked out in Q1, ending his streak of Q2 results with Sauber. Franco Colapinto was also inches away from taking a spot in Q2, but finished P16 only.
The Scuderia is the first team to put their cars on track in Q2 with used tires. Same decision goes for the Mercedes of George Russell. However, nothing could stop the Papaya cars this weekend, and they set the fastest two laps with both drivers, leading another session. Ferrari improved from Q1 and managed to put both cars on the top 5 behind Verstappen, who qualified to Q3 as well as both Racing Bulls, Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz.
Only one of the Mercedes car managed to qualify, George Russell, who was almost half a second slower than Norris’ time, managed to stay in P6, while his team mate Kimi Antonelli who was two tenths slower than the British, got kicked out in Q2 by only 22 thousandths. Gabriel Bortoleto and Yuki Tsunoda followed the Italian.
In Q3, Oscar Piastri absolutely smashed the track record, setting a 1:08.662, just 0.012s ahead of his team mate Lando Norris. It is said that Piastri received a help from Hadjar’s tow who was 2 to 3 seconds ahead of him whilst he was opening the lap.
Both Mclarens did not manage to improve their lap times and Oscar Piastri has taken pole position again this season, after seeing his team mate dominate all the free practice sessions. If Lando wants to stay close to Piastri on the championship fight, he will need a great start in tomorrow’s race and take P1 as soon as possible, as there is only one point of overtaking in the track.
Max Verstappen qualified third ahead of an incredible Isack Hadjar, who outqualified both Ferraris and Mercedes, and will join the home hero on the second row.
George Russell misses on the fight with Verstappen and qualifies P5, ahead of both Ferraris, Liam Lawson and Carlos Sainz. Fernando Alonso closes the top 10.
The drivers will get on track for the formation lap on Sunday evening at 15:00 CET Time.
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