Piastri beats Norris to pole position in thrilling Zandvoort Qualifying

Oscar Piastri has sealed pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix after beating McLaren team mate Lando Norris in a thrilling battle that played out through to the closing moments of Qualifying.

While Norris had led the way during all three practice sessions throughout the weekend, Piastri laid down a gauntlet by going quickest in Q1. Norris then set the pace in Q2, culminating in a close scrap in Q3 that saw Piastri grab provisional pole with his effort of 1m 08.662s.

Norris tried to better this during the final runs but, with neither driver improving, the Briton had to settle for P2, with his time being just 0.012s adrift of his team mate’s. Max Verstappen, meanwhile, gave his home crowd something to cheer about by slotting his Red Bull into third.

Isack Hadjar claimed an impressive career-best result of P4 in the Racing Bulls machine, putting himself ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell in P5 and the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in P6 and P7 respectively.

Liam Lawson completed a double top-10 showing for Racing Bulls in eighth, with Williams’ Carlos Sainz and the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso rounding out the order in ninth and 10th places.

Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli just missed out on the top 10 shootout in P11, as was the case for Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda in P12. Gabriel Bortoleto claimed P13 for Kick Sauber, with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly joining him on the seventh row in P14.

Alex Albon, meanwhile, voiced his disappointment after being eliminated in 15th place, the Williams man having been left unhappy about his tyre struggles.

Franco Colapinto missed the cut for Q2, the Alpine driver exiting Q1 in P16, while Kick Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg had another tough Qualifying down in P17.

It was also a challenging day for Haas, with Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman ending the session down in 18th and 19th places, while Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll brings up the rear in P20, having been unable to rejoin following contact with the barriers early in Q1.

AS IT HAPPENED

Q1 – Piastri outpaces Norris as Stroll has an off

After Norris completed a clean sweep by topping the timesheets across all three practice sessions, the attentions of the paddock at Zandvoort shifted to Saturday’s all-important Qualifying. Would the McLaren man be able to continue his P1 streak to seal pole position?

While FP3 earlier in the day had started with a damp track following rain overnight, conditions were dry and sunny as Q1 got underway at 1500 local time. Tsunoda was the first to hit the circuit, with the soft C4 compound the tyre of choice across the board for the opening runs.

The yellow flags were out just a few minutes in when Stroll experienced a spin that sent him across the gravel and into the barriers. While the Canadian had a session-ending crash in FP2 on Friday, this time he managed to limp back to the pits where the Aston Martin team assessed the damage.

Back out on track, the laps were coming in thick and fast and, once everyone barring Stroll had set a time, Norris had again gone quickest via his effort of 1m 09.469s, just over one-tenth clear of team mate Piastri.

Meanwhile, with a few minutes left on the clock, the drivers at risk in the elimination zone were Bortoleto, Tsunoda, Colapinto, Ocon and Stroll. The latter would seemingly not be returning to action, having climbed out of his car in the garage.

With grid position crucial at the tight Zandvoort Circuit, a flurry of lap times went on the board as the clock ticked down towards the end of Q1. Piastri improved to beat Norris by 0.131s, while Leclerc was attempting to better his own effort after finding himself on the bubble in P15.

The Monegasque managed to move up to ninth, before Lawson put in an eye-catching performance to climb up to fifth. Colapinto initially escaped the danger zone, only to be pushed down to 16th, while Bortoleto just made it through in 15th place.

The Brazilian’s team mate Hulkenberg was not so lucky, exiting in P17, while Haas had a disappointing day as Ocon and Bearman were eliminated in P18 and P19 respectively. Stroll ended the session in P20, having been unable to rejoin following his earlier incident.

Knocked out: Colapinto, Hulkenberg, Ocon, Bearman, Stroll

Q2 – Norris returns to the top

Ferrari were the first to head out as Q2 began, with Hamilton and Leclerc initially having the track to themselves. Leclerc spotted something unusual along the way, the driver from Monaco reporting that he had seen a fox at Turn 10 – which fortunately appeared to have escaped unharmed.

The rest of the field joined the fray a few minutes later and Verstappen pleased the home fans by putting in an early benchmark of 1m 09.122s – half a second clear of nearest challenger Antonelli – only for Norris to beat that with a 1m 08.874s, an effort that Piastri was 0.090s adrift from when he completed his own lap.

Verstappen, meanwhile, was left unhappy after encountering Norris – seemingly attempting to keep off the racing line – out on track. But in terms of the order, the names in trouble were Alonso, Lawson, Sainz, Bortoleto and Gasly.

The action picked up again as the second runs got underway, and Gasly was one of the first to lift himself out of the elimination zone to 10th – only to then be pushed down by Sainz moving up to eighth. Albon in the sister Williams could not improve, though, having been dropped down to P13, sparking an unhappy reaction from the Thai driver over the radio.

Lawson, on the other hand, again progressed to the top 10 in P8 while Alonso climbed up to P7. All of these moves resulted in Antonelli dropping to P11, with Tsunoda in P12 from Bortoleto and Gasly, while Albon ultimately ended up down in P15.

Knocked out: Antonelli, Tsunoda, Bortoleto, Gasly, Albon

Q3 – Piastri edges out Norris for pole

After each topping one of the previous segments, Q3 saw Norris and Piastri hit the track early – and this time it was Piastri who snatched provisional pole, the Australian pumping in a 1m 08.662s.

When Norris crossed the line, the Briton was a mere 0.012s off his team mate, highlighting the fine margins at play in the battle. Russell, meanwhile, initially proved to be their closest challenger before Verstappen came through to put his Red Bull into third place.

The Ferrari pair of Hamilton and Leclerc followed in P5 and P6, while Hadjar, Alonso, Sainz and Lawson completed the order after the opening runs. But how would things play out as focus switched to the final decisive runs?

This time it was Norris out on track ahead of Piastri, leading to a thrilling sequence as Piastri bettered his first sector while Norris improved in the second – but ultimately neither driver improved on their previous time, handing Piastri pole position.

Verstappen caught the attention by going quickest of all in second sector, but the Dutchman’s final lap time put him in third, ahead of an impressive Hadjar in a career-best fourth for Racing Bulls.

Russell claimed fifth ahead of the Ferrari pair of Leclerc and Hamilton, with Lawson, Sainz and Alonso rounding out the top 10 in Zandvoort.

Key quote

"That was the definition of peaking at the right time," said Piastri. "I think the whole weekend, I've felt pretty good, but there's just been a couple corners that I've not been able to go any faster and I didn't really go any faster in those corners, but I found some more elsewhere. Super happy to come away with the result. Obviously still got all the points tomorrow, but it was looking like a little bit of a tricky weekend so far so to come away with that, I'm pretty stoked."

What’s next

The 2025 Dutch Grand Grand Prix is set to begin at 1500 local time on Sunday. Head to the RACE HUB to find out how you can catch the action from Zandvoort.