Lando Norris took his fourth Formula 1 career pole position empathically beating Max Verstappen on his home turf as Oscar Piastri was third.
McLaren have had the superior car this weekend, the MCL38 receiving its second major upgrade, and while up until qualifying it seemed close between Norris, Piastri, Verstappen and the two Mercedes, Norris managed to pull off a brilliant second lap in Q3 to claim pole and end Verstappen's streak at Zandvoort.
What must insult to Verstappen's injury is the gap Norris managed to pull out, over three tenths, and with the McLaren even showing strong race pace, Red Bull and their triple F1 Champion will have to find something special come race day if win #4 is to be achieved.
Mercedes had a a mixed session, Lewis Hamilton eliminated in Q2 and only George Russell making the top ten and an eventual fourth place behind Piastri who was left ruing a lost opportunity to deliver a front row lockup for McLaren.
It was a somehow positive qualifying for Sergio Perez, not too far away from Verstappen and fifth fastest despite earlier struggles in the weekend.
Ferrari had a tough weekend at Zandvoort so far, Carlos Sainz losing practice time due to a failed gearbox on Friday and final practice cut in half thanks to Logan Sargeant's crash, so Charles Leclerc was the only Ferrari representative in Q3 as Sainz will start the race from 11th.
Aston Martin did a decent job with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll seventh and ninth respectively, while Alex Albon was a superb eighth.
Pierre Gasly rounded off the top ten.
Norris: I felt comfortable out there
"An amazing day," a clearly satisfied Norris trumpeted after qualifying. "Nice to be back and start with a pole. It was a nice lap.
"Qualifying was always pretty smooth and we did some good laps, especially the one at the end. Great job by the team and I'm happy. I felt comfortable out there. The car felt amazing. We had some upgrades and everything is working very well.
"I'm excited for tomorrow. I'm sure it will be tough," the Briton said of Sunday's race. "Max has been quick all weekend.
"I know we got him today but he's still second and will put up a good fight, especially at his home race," he concluded.
Verstappen reflected after losing out to Norris: "The whole qualifying we lacked a bit of pace. I tried the best I could. I'm still happy to be on the front row.
"It was tricky out there with the wind. We had these gusts of wind, so every lap felt different, so you can't really go off a reference. I'm happy with second. After yesterday, this is a good result," he insisted.
As for his chances of winning a fourth home grand prix, the Red Bull ace said: "We will give it a good go but when you are more than three tenths behind in qualifying, I think you have to be realistic. I will just try to have a good race."
Piastri was clearly unhappy with third, he said: "The car has been very good this weekend. I am disappointed not to be a little higher up but we still have a good race car.
"Any upgrades you can put on the car, especially when it's this tight, is a good thing. It is not the easiest conditions to see what it's like.
"Victory is not out of the question. The pace looked good on the long run and we have been pretty quick the last few weekends," the Aussie concluded.
Q1: Daniel Ricciardo leads the first losers
Despite rain being expected ahead of qualifying, that was not the case as the sun was shining when Q1 was given the go ahead with air temperature at 24 degrees Celsius, track temperature at 31 degrees.
The risk of rain was 40% while the wind eased down as the drivers got ready in their cars for the shootout.
Down at Williams the mechanics were still working on re-building the FW46 of Sargeant which he destroyed in a crash in FP3. The American did not take part in qualifying.
Nico Hulkenberg was the first driver to head out on track followed by Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas in the Sauber, but soon other cars followed.
The drivers started posting their times, several taking turn on the top spot, but the first run yielded the following order:
With seven minutes remaining, an impeding incident by Hamilton on Perez was noted by the stewards. Hamilton said over the radio: "I was well out of his way."
Russell in the other Mercedes was complaining about lack of grip and that he was "sliding all over the place".
With less than five minutes remaining, the second run of laps began after which the slowest five would be eliminated.
Verstappen went on on used set of Soft tyres but has a scruffy lap and bails out, but he was safe as Perez posted the fastest time, 1:11.006, 0.043s faster than Russell in second and Sainz in third.
Leclerc, Hamilton, Norris, and Verstappen were fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.
First to lose out on Q2 was Ricciardo who was 16th fastest missing out by 0.111s to Hulkenberg ahead of a frustrated Esteban Ocon in 17th.
The Frenchman called his car a "disaster" on his in-lap as Bottas was 18th fastest behind him with Zhou in 19th.
Sargeant who did not take part in qualifying was 20th.
Q2: Hamilton out, Sainz as well!
Sainz and Leclerc kicked off the second part of qualifying, the two Red Cars apparently eager to get going. They were putting banker laps on used Soft tyres. Sainz had a snap of oversteer at Turn 10 but managed to keep it together.
Verstappen, on new Soft tyres, asked his engineer if there was still rain expected, the answer was affirmative. The real question is when?
Piastri went fastest, then Verstappen took second, but Norris then went faster than his teammate. Russell soon took third dropping Verstappen to fourth while Hamilton was fifth from his first attempt. Leclerc then improved to sixth.
The first run delivered the following order: Norris - Piastri - Russell - Verstappen - Hamilton - Leclerc - Stroll - Perez - Alonso - Sainz.
With less than four minutes, Gasly led the pack out for the second round of laps to decide who takes part in the top ten shootout a bit later.
Norris, Piastri, Russell and Verstappen did not take part in the second runs.
With Q2 over, Norris was the fastest, with a 1:10.496, 0.009s ahead of Piastri while Russell was third. Stroll was fourth after a second run with Perez also improving to fifth with Leclerc sixth as Verstappen was seventh after one lap.
Gasly and Alonso completed the top ten.
But here is the shock, Hamilton was out and so was Sainz. The Spaniard missed out on Q3 to compatriot Alonso by 0.069s and was 11th fastest.
Hamilton was 12th fastest and 0.034s behind Sainz and ahead of Yuki Tsunoda in the VCARB as Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen were 14th and 15th respectively.
To make things worse, Hamilton will also be investigated after the session for potential impeding of Perez.
Q3: Verstappen's reign at Zandvoort broken!
Piastri was the first driver to set a timed lap in Q3, with Verstappen behind him on track as Norris followed. The Australian went fastest, with Verstappen goes second fastest, while Norris went fastest.
Leclerc was good for fourth while Russell's first effort was good for fourth. So provisional pole for Norris!
Verstappen on is in-lap asked his team to check the floor of his RB20 worried as he was wide at Turn 13.
With all the drivers back in their pits, Stroll and Alonso in the Aston Martins opted to do their runs with the track clear.
But soon the second and final runs soon were underway and in the end, Verstappen managed to improve momentarily to go fastest, but then Norris delivered a scintillating lap to claim pole and by a margin.
Norris was over three and a half tenths clear of Verstappen with pole as the Dutchman will have to fight for a fourth victory at home from second on the grid.
Piastri was third fastest, almost half a second slower than his teammate, a fact he will not be happy about after showing strong pace earlier in qualifying.
Russell salvaged fourth for Mercedes, 0.571s off the pace and ahead of Perez who was fifth in the other Red Bull, the Mexican 0.387s slower than his teammate.
Leclerc was sixth fastest in the Ferrari, who have been struggling all weekend and lost Sainz in Q2. The Monegasque was 0.909s away from pole and 0.051s ahead of Alonso in seventh.
Albon was an excellent eighth in the Williams, 0.980s down from the top, while Stroll and Gasly were ninth and tenth respectively.
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