Max Verstappen lived up to expectations in the final meters and claimed pole position for his home Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver won qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix on Saturday and relegated the Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz to their places – Leclerc was only 21 thousandths off pole.
The Monegasse was still significantly faster than Verstappen in the free practice sessions, and Red Bull found the right settings just in time. In the World Cup classification, the world champion is currently carefree: 98 points separate him from Leclerc.
Schumacher delivers
Record world champion Lewis Hamilton placed his Mercedes in fourth place, Mick Schumacher impressed in eighth place in the Haas. The 23-year-old withstood the current pressure to perform. His contract with Haas is expiring, and the team expressly wants to wait and see how the German fares in the upcoming races. And Schumacher delivered on Saturday and moved into the final Q3.
Particularly important: As in the past few weeks, he was significantly faster than his teammate Kevin Magnussen, who retired in the same car in Q1 and only finished 18th.
Qualifying at Zandvoort was also disappointing for Sebastian Vettel. The former world champion, who will retire after this season, failed in the Aston Martin in Q1. He spoiled his last fast lap due to a driving error, later he complained about sand on the track. In the end, Vettel was 19th and thus penultimate – for the third time in a row he did not survive the first qualifying session.
