McLaren’s Lando Norris beat Mercedes’ George Russell to pole position at the Dutch Grand Prix during a frantic scramble to complete laps before a late shower of rain.
Norris pipped Russell by 0.102 seconds as raindrops began to appear on the drivers’ visors. They completed their runs earlier than they would normally do because of the weather.
Russell’s team-mate Kimi Antonelli was the first to improve on his final lap, briefly rising to the top of the times.
However, he was beaten to first by Norris, who consolidated the first place he had picked up on the first laps in the final session, and then Russell.
Antonelli, the championship leader, was 0.031secs behind Russell and 0.009secs faster than the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri.
In the end, significant rain did not come as expected, and Lewis Hamilton, who left it late to do his final lap, snuck ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc as the Ferraris locked out the third row in fifth and sixth places.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen starts his final home grand prix, with the Dutch race falling off the calendar after this season, from seventh place.
His stand-in team-mate Liam Lawson, replacing Frenchman Isack Hadjar who broke his wrist in the run-up to the race, was impressive in lapping just 0.0115secs slower than the Dutchman to take eighth place ahead of the Audi of Gabriel Bortoleto and Racing Bulls’ British rookie Arvid Lindblad.
So high was the expectation of rain heading into the final session that the teams all raced to finish their two runs as quickly as possible.
Russell demonstrated the urgency as the drivers headed out for their final laps by nipping ahead of Piastri as they exited the pits.
Russell also attacked Norris on his out loop, trying to gain track position. However, Norris held him off and Russell had to back off before starting his lap.
In the end, all the panic was for nothing as while rain came, it was only a few spots and not enough to affect the conditions.
Norris said that, if anything, the rain might have helped lap times by cooling the tyres a little.
“It wasn’t a lap that felt mega,” the world champion said. “It was one where I committed a lot more because I knew how close it would be, and I almost made more mistakes.
“But I seemed to gain more than I seemed to lose at times. It was a lap where I just felt I had nothing to lose and it just paid off.”
Russell said a mistake in Turn Eight on his final run had cost him as the tyres got too hot and he was unable to keep improving.
Antonelli, too, was left to rue a mistake on his final run, saying he lost 0.2secs in Turn One taking things too easy because of the rain – he missed out on pole by 0.133secs.
Hamilton benefited from that by leaving his run late and benefiting from the usual improvement in track conditions through qualifying to pip Leclerc by 0.064secs.
Yuki Tsunoda, back on the grid to replace Lawson at Racing Bulls, was 12th.
And while Aston Martin believed their upgraded Honda engine had delivered what they expected, Fernando Alonso was not able to hold on to the 12th place he held going into the final runs of the first session.
Complaining that his out lap was a “mess”, he failed to improve his time, and dropped down to 18th, a disappointment in the circumstances.
