Netherlands - Qualifying

The summer break is now a thing of the past, and Formula One is back in full swing. This weekend, the sport is visiting the picturesque seaside Zandvoort for the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix. Coming into Saturday, everyone expected to see the McLarens dominate the rest of the field. At the same time, the Dutch Orange Army hoped that Max Verstappen would end up doing the impossible, and the Tifosi prayed for their beloved Ferrari to find its way back to the top. What ended up coming true? 

Before the drivers even got the chance to finish their first runs of the day, Lance Stroll hit the wall in sector three. This wasn't his first accident this weekend, but it was the only one severe enough to take him out of the fight. Even though he stayed in his car for quite a while after the incident, hoping to return to the track, the damage done to his Aston Martin was too severe for the engineers to fix. After the remaining 19 drivers had the chance to complete their first series of flying laps, the McLarens soared to the top of the leaderboards. While Mercedes and Red Bull were doing quite well, the same couldn't be said about Ferrari, which almost saw Charles Leclerc fall at the first hurdle. Thankfully for the team, he managed to climb out of the trouble he had found himself in. Franco Colapinto, Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban Ocon, and Oliver Bearman weren't as lucky.

Having struggled during Q1, the Ferraris went on track immediately after Q2 began. They managed to set decent times and alert the race engineers to the presence of a fox, which decided to cross the track. Once again, McLarens were the favourites of the session, with Verstappen following behind in a close third. Fernando Alonso, who had been having a formidable weekend up to this point, barely avoided elimination but managed to keep himself in the game. Kimi Antonelli, Yuki Tsunoda, Gabriel Bortoleto, Pierre Gasly, and Alex Albon didn't make it into Q3.

The last session of the day began with Oscar Piastri setting the time to beat. His teammate, Lando Norris, almost matched his efforts but fell just a hundredth of a second short. Still, the two McLarens were miles ahead of Verstappen in third. It became clear that the pole would be painted orange, although not the shade Dutch fans may have hoped for. Norris put his all into his second flying lap, but couldn't beat Piastri's first effort. Even though the Australian didn't improve on his second attempt, he was still the best of the day. Verstappen stayed where he was the whole day, third, and was followed by George Russel, Isack Hadjar, the two Ferraris, Liam Lawson, Carlos Sainz, and Fernando Alonso.

Order of the grid:

1. Oscar Piastri

2. Lando Norris

3. Max Verstappen

4. Isack Hadjar

5. George Russell

6. Charles Leclerc

7. Lewis Hamilton

8. Liam Lawson

9. Carlos Sainz

10. Fernando Alonso

11. Kimi Antonelli

12. Yuki Tsunoda

13. Gabriel Bortoleto

14. Pierre Gasly

15. Alex Albon

16. Franco Colapinto

17. Nico Hulkenberg

18. Esteban Ocon

19. Oliver Bearman

20. Lance Stroll