It's post Summer break race week again! So much off track drama has happened since then and now we shift our gaze back to the road again. While the practise sessions was full of red flags, the qualifying saw McLaren's dominance and an intra-team battle for pole for today's Dutch Grand Prix. McLaren successfully locked out the front row, demonstrating their continued strong form. Oscar Piastri took pole position, narrowly beating his teammate and championship rival, Lando Norris, by a mere 0.012 seconds. Let's not forget, these two are fighting for the title!
This was a significant result as Norris had been the faster of the two in all three practice sessions leading up to qualifying. Piastri, however, "peaked at the right time," putting together a stunning lap in Q3 to secure his fifth pole of the season.
Isack Hadjar was a standout performer, qualifying an impressive fourth for Racing Bulls and Liam Lawson, also had a strong performance, qualifying 8th. This was a career-best result for the rookie, who out-qualified some of the sport's biggest names. Max Verstappen secured third place for his home race. Despite his Red Bull car struggling with pace throughout the practice sessions, he put in a strong performance in qualifying, with a lap that was the "best he'd felt all weekend."
Disappointments and incidents
Lance Stroll had a difficult session, crashing his Aston Martin in Q1 for the second successive day. This meant he qualified 20th and last. Haas had a disappointing day, with both Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman being eliminated in Q1.
Alex Albon was visibly frustrated, venting on his team radio after being eliminated in Q2. He blamed his struggles on a difficult out-lap that left his tires not up to temperature. Yuki Tsunoda also had a tough day, being knocked out in Q2. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton qualified sixth and seventh, respectively. Hamilton was also a part of the intra-team battle, with Leclerc edging him out for sixth place by a mere 0.050 seconds in Q3.
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