Formula 1 live ticker: Russell wins the sprint, Norris on pole

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The New Zealander finished just one position and 0.115 seconds behind Verstappen – and is naturally happy about that. “It was a challenging week,” he emphasizes and explains that the Red Bull is “very, very difficult to drive.”

In the cockpit, “everything” is different from the Racing Bull car he usually drives. “But I think I’m quite satisfied with today,” he says.

“Personally, I knew – under the right circumstances and with more time – what I am capable of in a race car. And it was nice to at least put that on paper today,” Lawson says.

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Max Verstappen is less satisfied after P7. That put him one position further back than yesterday. “The balance in the car wasn’t there,” he explains to ServusTV.

“We already changed a lot, but it actually felt the same,” he shrugs and makes clear that Red Bull is simply “too slow” this weekend.

“In the long runs, I think we were a bit better,” he says. “But it’s hard to say if we have a chance [in the race],” Verstappen adds.

The Australian was not terribly far off with a gap of 0.142 seconds – but ended up three places behind his teammate. “I think my last lap was pretty good, just simply not fast enough,” he explains on Sky.

He also emphasizes: “Overall, this weekend felt much better in qualifying, even if the results weren’t quite as good. I was much more satisfied and everything just felt a bit more natural.”

“Even if the result doesn’t quite meet my expectations, I was really happy this weekend,” he clarifies. Let’s see what’s still possible for him in the race tomorrow.

Yesterday he took pole for the sprint, today he can also live with P2. “I thought we had what it takes to fight for pole, but I’m quite satisfied with P2,” he emphasizes.

“I feel good and am back to being myself, which is really important. It was really nice to drive here, and with the cooler temperatures the track felt really fast,” says Russell.

Now he’s looking forward to the race, he stresses. In the end, he was only 0.102 seconds off pole.

The Italian didn’t have the best qualifying – but according to his own statement, he was still almost on pole. “Overall it was a difficult session for me,” confirms the championship leader.

“I was constantly behind, and on the last lap I made a mistake in turn 1,” he is annoyed and explains: “Because of that I lost a few tenths. That was my mistake.”

“That’s a shame, because we had a real chance for pole,” he believes. In the end, only 0.133 seconds were missing.

The world champion admits he is “a bit surprised” by the pole. About the changes after the sprint he says: “We had to try something, because what we had before wouldn’t have been enough.”

“So we made a few small changes – nothing that would have gained us two tenths or even one tenth. But enough to maybe give me a bit more confidence,” he reveals.

“I felt like I could implement it better today, and it paid off,” says Norris, who was “only” second in the sprint qualifying yesterday.

Report

Result

Starting grid

In ten minutes qualifying starts in Zandvoort and we are moving the action back to our session ticker for now. So here is a short break, after qualifying ends we will continue here with the voices from Saturday.

And if you want to know how to watch Formula 1 live this weekend, you can find out here!

So far Mercedes is sweeping this weekend. Pole and win in the sprint, and now the Mercedes-supported Payton Westcott has also won the first race of the F1 Academy. It was her first win in the series.

Less well from a German perspective. Mathilda Paatz finished only P15 out of 16 drivers who reached the finish. Austrian Emma Felbermayr saw the checkered flag in P13.

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Basically, you can almost skip the race tomorrow. Because since Zandvoort returned to the Formula 1 calendar in 2021, the race has always(!) been won from pole position.

In 2021, 2022 and 2023 Max Verstappen achieved this, in 2024 Lando Norris, 2025 Oscar Piastri and in 2026 now George Russell in the sprint. This shows how important qualifying will be.

… by Leclerc against Norris is here again in the video. One could say somewhat harshly that after these 14 seconds you have seen everything you need to know about the sprint …

In just over an hour qualifying continues.

The Bortoleto verdict after the sprint is now also out. Audi receives a warning for the unsafe release before the start. Here is the verdict in full:

“Car 5 was released from the pit shortly after car 87 and prevented car 87 from moving forward on the ‘Fast Lane’ to the end of the pit lane. This constitutes an unsafe release but was not dangerous.”

“Due to the proximity of both pits and the very short time between the two releases, the team’s reaction time to prevent the unsafe release was extremely short.”

“Considering all these mitigating circumstances, the race stewards conclude that a warning to the team is appropriate.”

Before Formula 1 goes back on track, the first race of the F1 Academy is now taking place in Zandvoort. You can watch it live and for free here:

With the updates this weekend, Pierre Gasly finished P8 in the sprint. On Sky he explains: “It was a good race. […] With the work we are doing, it gives the whole team a solid confidence boost.”

“I feel more comfortable in the car, drive well, it fits better to my driving style and has more potential. So there is still a lot to do and find, but overall that was a much-needed step that paid off,” says Gasly.

The sprint was therefore “very positive.”

Probably not. Rookie Arvid Lindblad explains: “I think we all knew that a sprint race in Zandvoort probably wouldn’t be the most exciting race.” And that’s how it turned out.

Liam Lawson also reports: “The start went quite well and the first lap was also quite decent, but honestly everyone just stayed in their positions – it felt like we all stayed where we were.”

That was more or less the case – and came a bit as expected. Ultimately, this race was a good example of why sprints are not really sensible at every track.

The drivers who ignored a race director’s instruction before the start all get away without penalty. Here is the verdict in the Hamilton case, representative for all affected drivers:

“Car 44 stopped before reaching Safety Car Line 1 and therefore did not reach the starting grid under its own power (according to point 24 of the race director’s competition notes).”

“However, since it was extremely tight at the end of the starting grid when the car reached the grid, the race stewards conclude that the driver acted appropriately and stopped the car in a safe place as close as possible to the starting grid.”

“Therefore, no penalty is imposed.”

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