F1 Dutch GP: Verstappen pips Hamilton to home pole in truncated qualifying
The Red Bull driver appeared to be in a league of his own as he dominated qualifying and held a three-tenth advantage after the ꦬfirst runs in Q3 before Hamilton fought back on the final runs.
A huge improvement from the seven-time world champion ensured he joined Verstappen as the only drivers to dip under the 1m09s, but it was not enough to deny hi🅷s main rival a home pole as he delighted t൩he Dutch crowd.
Verstappen also found time on his second lap to move onto a 1m08.885s, which ജproved enough to pip Hamilton and secure his sixth sixth pole in the last seven races as he topped qualifying for the 10th time in his career.
Valtteri Bottas ended up over three-tenths adrift of the 2021 title protagonists in the second Mercedes, while a stunning lap from Pierre Gasly saw the AlphaTauri driver take fourth on 🎉the grid.
The Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were fifth and sixth, while Antonio Giovinazzi claimed his b✨est qualifying result of the season with an impressive lap for P7.
Alpin🐽e pair Esteban Ocon 🌄and Fernando Alonso, and Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren completed the rest of the top 10 in a qualifying session that was twice halted for red flags.
A pair of red flags caused by both separate incidents involving the two Willia𓆉ms drivers truncated running in Q2.
While George Russell was able to recover to the pits after sliding off the track at the f♌inal corner, Nicholas Latifi was not so fortunate as he suffered a heavy crash with an off🏅 at Turn 7.
The disruption meant the session was not resumed, preve𒆙nting drivers from being able to improve their Q2 times.
Russell was 11th ahead of Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin and McLaren’s Lando Norris, who struggled for pace throughout qualifying and was left a disappointing 13th in what mark🌞ed the 🤡first time this season the Briton has not made it into Q3.
Having ended his qualifying rearwards in the barriers, Latifi was classified 14th, though given the high-energy impact it is likely he will have to take a new gearbox and subsequenಌtly trigger a grid dro🍸p.
Yuki Tsunoda was unable t💦o replicate the pace of his AlphaTauri teammate and was knocked out with the slowest time of Q2.
The big shock in Q1 saw Sergio Perez eliminated after the Red Bull driver was caught u♛p in a late rush to improve amid dramatic track evolution and ran out of t♏ime to complete a second lap, leaving the Mexican only 16th on the grid.
Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel also failed to progress into Q2 having been impeded by the Haas cars as he pre꧙pared for his final flying lap. Both Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin hav🌞e been summoned to the stewards over the incident.
With Kimi Raikkonen ruled out of the rest of the weekend thanks to a positive COVID-19 test, Alfa ♉Romeo reserve driver Robert Kubica stepped in and qualified 18th on an unexpected return to grand prix racing.
As they have been for much of the season, Haas’ rookie pairing occupied the bottom of the qualifying timesheets, with Schumacher half a se🐭cond clear of Mazepin as he once again go൲t the better of his teammate.
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