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Norris trails Verstappen by 78 points in the standings with 10 rounds remaining. James Moy/Alamy Live News

Lando Norris silences 100,000 crowd as he pips Verstappen to Dutch Grand Prix pole

Championship leader Verstappen, without a win from his last four appearances, will start alongside Norris on the front row.

LANDO NORRIS REMINDED Max Verstappen of his world championship credentials by taking a brilliant pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix.

The British driver, who trails Verstappen by 78 points in the standings with 10 rounds still to play, saw off his rival by 0.356 seconds to silence the 100,000 spectators hoping to see the Dutchman start the Zandvoort race from the front.

Verstappen, without a win from his last four appearances, will start alongside Norris on the front row. Oscar Piastri took third, half a second down on McLaren team-mate Norris.

Mercedes’ George Russell finished fourth as Lewis Hamilton endured an afternoon to forget after he failed to make it out of Q2. He will line up from 12th for Sunday’s 72-lap race.

Norris might have been much closer to Verstappen in the title race but for a catalogue of mistakes by driver and team.

However, the 24-year-old brought his A-game to qualifying with a scintillating final effort to provide himself with the best shot of kicking off the second half of the season with just the second win of his career.

Verstappen temporarily bumped Norris off the summit to huge cheers, only for Norris to knock the home favourite, who had taken three poles and three wins since the sport returned to the Netherlands in 2021, off his perch.

“It is nice to be back, and start with pole,” said Norris. “I am happy with today.

“The car was feeling amazing. We have got upgrades on the car for the first time in a while and everything is working well so thank you to the team.

“Max is going to be quick, and he will put up a good fight, especially as it is his home race, so I am excited for tomorrow.”

Hamilton headed into the summer break with his second win of the campaign after Russell was disqualified in Belgium.

But the seven-time world champion was no match for Russell here after qualifying four-tenths behind his team-mate to leave him way down the order for Sunday’s race.

It marked the second successive year that Hamilton has been eliminated in Q2 in Zandvoort, and the first time since China – a streak of 10 races – that he has failed to make the concluding part of qualifying.

Author
Press Association
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