Zandvoort Qualifying: Norris surpasses himself and takes pole

– Lando Norris secured pole position for the 2026 Dutch Grand Prix. In qualifying at Zandvoort, the McLaren driver set a best time of 1:11.163 minutes, beating Mercedes drivers George Russell (+0.102) and Kimi Antonelli (+0.133) to second and third place.

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Norris was already leading after the first Q3 run. Then it got hectic in the pit lane because the rain radar showed an approaching shower. It remained just a few isolated drops, and in the second run Antonelli briefly took the lead before Norris and Russell were able to strike back.

Norris is “honestly a bit surprised” by the result, even though it was “a good lap”: “I pushed and gave it my all because I knew how close it was and that it could come down to one or two hundredths. I thought I had nothing to lose anyway. Nice when a lap like that comes together.”

Interesting: Norris currently feels most comfortable in the fast corners. Less so in the slow ones. Which leads him to a cheeky remark: “Our car is definitely the best in fast corners. Or I just have big balls,” grins the reigning world champion.

Oscar Piastri (McLaren) was fourth, 0.142 seconds behind Norris. The two Ferraris (Lewis Hamilton ahead of Charles Leclerc) secured the third row, but already with a gap of over three tenths. As speculated on Friday: McLaren has the edge over one lap, Ferrari in the long run – and Mercedes is always competitive.

Qualifying was disappointing for local hero Max Verstappen (Red Bull), who qualified seventh, his worst Zandvoort starting position ever. Verstappen’s problems sound familiar: “The grip wasn’t there, the balance wasn’t good. We already changed a lot, but it basically felt the same.”

He still beat his “interim teammate” Liam Lawson by 0.115 seconds. The New Zealander secured eighth place. A respectable result, especially considering: “I lost the front in turn 10. Until then, I was significantly faster than before.” That he was so close to Verstappen, he counts as a satisfaction: “We drivers always believe in ourselves. Sometimes a bit too much. But I know what I can do when I have a good race car. And it was nice to prove that today.”

Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) and Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) are listed in the qualifying results in ninth and tenth place.

Related:
Results: Dutch GP Qualifying
F1 ticker: Paddock live with Ruben Zimmermann
Livestream: F1 analysis with Christian Nimmervoll (9 PM)

What did Norris change after the F1 sprint?

In the F1 sprint, Norris lost performance towards the end. McLaren seems to be falling behind Mercedes and Ferrari in terms of tire wear. So Norris had his setup adjusted before qualifying: “We had to try something because what we had before wasn’t enough in the sprint. They were just small changes. But that gave me the necessary confidence and paid off. We still have problems in the same corners. But low fuel and fresh tires mask that a bit.”

Norris’ toughest opponent was ultimately Russell. Freshly engaged, he came out of the summer break in top form. “I thought we could get pole. But after a few tough races before the summer break, I’m quite happy with second place,” says the Mercedes driver and analyzes: “I had slight oversteer in turn 8. The tires got hot there, and from then on I couldn’t improve anymore.”

Antonelli is also annoyed about a missed opportunity: “I was somehow always behind regarding balance, especially in sector 3. In the last lap, after some changes, it was better, but I made a mistake in turn 1. A shame, because I’m convinced otherwise we would have had a chance at pole. This weekend is a good wake-up call that you can’t afford to slack off even a little bit.”

Q1: Hamilton’s off-track excursion has no consequences

Q1 started with a small surprise when Liam Lawson was 0.178 seconds faster than Verstappen in the first run. Lawson replaces Isack Hadjar at Red Bull in Zandvoort, who suffered a wrist injury during the summer break. From fitness boxing, as it is called.

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Lawson ahead of Verstappen, but that was a brief flash in the pan. At the end of the first segment, the track got faster and faster, and the timing sheet in Q1 showed Verstappen in P12 and Lawson in P14. Gap: 0.119 seconds.

Among the incidents in the first qualifying was an off-track excursion by Hamilton, who went out again afterwards and improved to second place, 0.063 seconds behind Piastri’s best time. Norris was third, followed by the two Mercedes drivers – by the way, again Russell 0.098 seconds ahead of Antonelli.

But more decisive in Q1 were positions 17 to 22, because these six drivers were not allowed to participate in Q2. Carlos Sainz (Williams) missed the cut (ironically against his teammate Alexander Albon) by 0.022 seconds and was 17th. Along with him, Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll (both Aston Martin), Oliver Bearman (Haas), Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez (both Cadillac) were eliminated.

Q1 was encouraging for Nico Hülkenberg (Audi). After a mixed Friday and the retirement in the F1 sprint, the German was practically on par with teammate Gabriel Bortoleto. Bortoleto advanced as tenth, Hülkenberg as eleventh into the second qualifying. Audi’s gap to the front was just over half a second.

Q2: Hülkenberg slower than Bortoleto again

In Q2, it was the end of the line for Hülkenberg. He was 0.364 seconds behind Bortoleto’s time and finished 13th. Bortoleto was ninth and thus allowed to participate in Q3. “Not the easiest and smoothest weekend so far,” sighs Hülkenberg. “Yesterday in SQ something always happened that was completely inexplicable or strange. Sometimes these are mysterious stories you can’t really explain. […] Exiting turn 1, unfortunately, I had a small twitch. There is quite a lot of tailwind there, and that made life a bit difficult for me.”

Arvid Lindblad was tenth in Q2, winning the Racing Bulls duel against Yuki Tsunoda by 0.102 seconds. Tsunoda is substituting for Lawson in Zandvoort and performed quite respectably in the previous sessions – especially considering he had not tested the 2026 car generation before.

Pierre Gasly also failed to advance despite Alpine’s update, finishing eleventh in Q2, 0.184 seconds ahead of teammate Franco Colapinto (14th), who will receive the updates only at the next race weekend. Esteban Ocon (Haas) was 15th, Alexander Albon (Williams) 16th.

The best time in the second segment was set by Norris (1:11.628 minutes) ahead of Piastri (+0.013), Verstappen (+0.246), Leclerc (+0.282), Antonelli (+0.287) and Russell (+0.331). McLaren thus reinforced the trend of being very competitive especially over a single fast lap this weekend.

Zandvoort schedule: What’s next?

Zandvoort is the fifth of six sprint weekends in the 2026 Formula 1 season (Here’s the complete Formula 1 calendar!). After the F1 sprint and the regular qualifying on Saturday, the event continues on Sunday with the currently last edition of the Dutch Grand Prix. The race start on Sunday is scheduled for 3:00 PM.

The race weekend will be broadcast on Sky (Germany), ServusTV (Austria) and SRF (Switzerland) (Here’s the complete TV overview for Formula 1 in Zandvoort!).

The usual Formula 1 livestreams can be followed by fans on Saturday and Sunday evenings on the YouTube channel of Formel1.de. With a summary of the events and analyses well beyond the end of the TV broadcasts. After the summer break, host Kevin Scheuren presents the streams again with the regular team including editor-in-chief Christian Nimmervoll as expert.

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The provisional start time of the livestreams is set for 9:00 PM CEST.