Max Verstappen lands pole on home Dutch Grand Prix as Red Bull driver beats title rival Lewis Hamilton in qualifying

Max Verstappen took pole position in front of a roaring Dutch crowd ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.

Kimi Raikkonen struck down Kimi Raikkonen

Earlier in the morning, Kimi Raikkonen tested positive for COVID and has been replaced by reserve driver Robert Kubica.

Sebastian Vettel and Sergio Perez knocked out of Q1

Q1 was rather normal, at least compared to last week. No crashes led to a straight shootout by all 20 cars. A traffic jam at the end of the session led by the Haas cars blocked Sebastian Vettel from setting his final lap, eliminating him in 17th. 

Sergio Perez was also blocked and could not get to the line in time to start his lap, leaving him in 16th. We also lost Robert Kubica, Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.

George Russell crashes out in Q2

In Q2, Verstappen came out with an incredible time, which put him five-tenths ahead of anyone. A strong lap by Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly put them second and third, until George Russell spun out with four minutes to go. A red flag was immediately called but Russell had managed to get it going and into the pits despite hitting the wall. Unfortunately, the British driver did not come back out. 

When the green flag came out, the other Williams of Nicholas Latifi had a bigger crash that brought an end to the session. Due to that, we lost Lando Norris, Yuki Tsunoda, Lance Stroll, and of course, both of the Williams’.

Max Verstappen delivers pole on his home Grand Prix

In the first round of laps in Q3, Verstappen top trumped both Mercedes. Gasly outpaced both Ferraris. On the final round of laps at the end of the session, Verstappen beat out Hamilton by three hundredths of a second in front of his hometown crowd. 

Bottas will start third. Gasly put in a mighty performance for fourth. The Ferraris of Leclerc and Carlos Sainz start fifth and sixth. Antonio Giovinazzi had the shock of the session and will start in seventh. The Alpine duo of Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso start eighth and ninth. Daniel Ricciardo rounds out the top 10.

By Charlie Parker