Oscar Piastri snatches pole position from Lando Norris at the Dutch Grand Prix

Lando Norris swept the timing sheets in the buildup to qualifying at the Dutch Grand Prix, posting the fastest time in each of the three practice sessions.

But when the dust settled at the end of qualifying, it was Oscar Piastri in pole position, just 0.012 seconds ahead of his teammate and rival for the Drivers’ Championship.

After the opening runs in Q3, Piastri and Norris were separated by just 0.012 seconds, with the Australian driver just ahead of his teammate. But that set the stage for a dramatic finish to Saturday’s qualifying session, with the two McLaren drivers out in front of the field. After those initial push laps, Max Verstappen was sitting in third, 0.386 seconds off Piastri’s pace.

George Russell was in fourth, more than a half-second behind Piastri.

But on those final push laps, neither McLaren driver was able to improve their times, leaving Norris in second behind his teammate.

Perhaps the biggest surprise? Isack Hadjar qualified in fourth, and he will start on the second row alongside Verstappen.

On the other end of the ledger, this was a difficult session for Aston Martin, and Lance Stroll in particular. They were strong on Friday, as both Stroll and Fernando Alonso were in the top four in FP1. But early in Q1, Stroll dipped the left side of his AMR25 into the grass coming into Turn 13, causing a spin that saw him slide through the gravel and into the barrier, ending his day early.

This came after Aston Martin changed the chassis on his AMR25 after a crash Stroll suffered in FP2.
Stroll did not set a time during Q1 and is scheduled to start at P20 for the Dutch Grand Prix.

Here are the provisional qualifying results from the Dutch Grand Prix: