Dutch GP Qualifying: Piastri stuns Norris in battle of McLaren
F1 NewsSaturday, 30 August 2025 at 16:02
Oscar Piastri turned the tables on his teammate Lando Norris and took pole for the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix by the slightest of margins.
Piastri managed to shift the momentum towards him in qualifying after Norris topped all three practice sessions since Friday and also showed his advantage earlier in qualifying.
But then Piastri managed to put the best lap together and while it was only 0.012s that made the difference, in the end pole was his with Norris having to settle for second.
In the end, and as predicted, qualifying was a McLaren affair but reigning Formula 1 Champion Max Verstappen delivered a seriously impressive lap in Q3 to go third fastest which was two and a half tenths off pole, a great improvement given the gap to the McLarens was as big as one second in practice.
But then came the surprise of the session as Isack Hadjar produced his best qualifying performance since joining the top flight taking fourth fastest beating George Russell by 0.047s, the Mercedes man only good for fifth.
In sixth came Charles Leclerc who was almost seven tenths off the pace and 0.050s clear of teammate Lewis Hamilton who was seventh.
Hamilton looked better than Leclerc throughout qualifying but the Monegasque managed to maintain his control on the intra-team qualifying battle at Ferrari.
Nevertheless, it was a strong performance for the seven-time F1 champion after his struggles before the summer break.
Liam Lawson was eighth fastest which concluded a decent afternoon for the Racing Bulls at Zandvoort while Carlos Sainz was the only Williams in Q3, ninth fastest.
Completing the top ten was Fernando Alonso which must be a disappointing result for him and Aston Martin who seemed to be the best of the rest up until things became serious in qualifying.
That, along with Lance Stroll crashing out before even putting in one lap time in Q1, summed up a disappointing afternoon for Aston Martin.
What the top three said
Speaking after qualifying, the 2025 F1 Championship leader, Piastri said: "That was the definition of peaking at the right time.
The whole weekend I felt good, there had just been a couple of corners I had not been able to go any faster. I didn't really go faster in those corners but found some more elsewhere. Super happy to come away with this result.
"It was looking like a tricky weekend so to come out with that, I'm pretty stoked, before explaining how he kept improving saying: "You just keep chipping away. That's the nice thing about having so much practice.
"I just improved in parts where I was already not bad and made up the difference that way. Still some things to improve on, but overall, very happy.
"We are both trying to beat each other every weekend," the Aussie said of the race on Sunday, concluding: "There's a few variables in there that you can mix up, so let's see what happens tomorrow."
As for Norris, he commented: "It’s close, it’s been close the whole weekend, so easily could go one way or the other. I guess a little bit disappointed that I’m not on pole, but it was close, was still some decent laps, so not the end of the world either.
"With the wind like this, a lot of it’s down to luck as well. Even with all the luck I’ve been having. It’s tough. I had a good lap, Q3, run one, but just a small headwind down the straight and I lost like one hundredth, so you could easily say it’s there.
"But I’m in a good position. We’re in a good fight. Oscar’s been driving well all weekend, we’ve been driving well all season, so we’ll have some fun tomorrow.
"We both had terrible starts last year, so we’ll see. I don’t think the inside is a lot better but it’s a long race, a lot of laps, and we’ll see what the weather holds for us too," the Briton concluded.
Verstappen then said: "This weekend has been tricky for us but qualifying was the best I felt all weekend.
"To be P3, I'm very happy with that. The energy of the crowd has been amazing and to see so much orange is always very special.
"McLaren have been very fast, so it's important to focus on our own race but this has been a good step forward so I hope we can keep that up in the race tomorrow," he concluded.
Q1: Stroll crashes again
The session started in clear and dry conditions with track and air temperatures registering 18 degrees Celsius and drivers set out to start the shootout immediately.
Oliver Bearman went fastest with Yuki Tsunoda and Nico Hulkenberg behind him, then Leclerc slotted in second as Hamilton then went to the top. Verstappen then went fastest.
But then Stroll brought out the Yellow flag as he ended up in the gravel trap at Turn 13. He hit the barrier and damaged his front wing. He managed to get back out on track and returned to the pits.
The Canadian jumped out of the car and was out of qualifying.
It wasn't until ten minutes were done that the McLarens came out of the garages and immediately went to the top of the timing screens. Norris then Piastri.
With the first runs done, the order was: Norris - Piastri - Verstappen - Alonso - Kimi Antonelli - Pierre Gasly - Russell - Hadjar - Hulkenberg - Lawson - Hamilton - Bearman - Sainz - Leclerc - Alex Albon.
In the drop zone: Gabriel Bortoleto - Yuki Tsunoda - Franco Colapinto - Esteban Ocon - Stroll.
With less the five minutes remaining, the second round of laps started and in the end, Piastri improved to go fastest while Norris was second fastest as Russell was third.
Rest of the top 15 were: Verstappen - Lawson - Albon - Antonelli - Gasly - Hamilton - Leclerc - Alonso - Tsunoda - Hadjar - Sainz - Bortoleto.
The first to lose out in Q1 was Colapinto who was 16th fastest missing out to Bortoleto by 0.067s and was followed by Hulkenberg in 17th.
Ocon was 18th in the Sauber while Bearman was 19th with Stroll dead last without posting a time after his crash.
Q2: Tsunoda knocked out by the Racing Bulls
Q2 started and both Hamilton and Leclerc were the first drivers to head out on track the latter soon reporting a fox on the track.
There is proof of the fox:
Leclerc went fastest posting the first lap time and the Hamilton slots behind him in second place. Then Russell started his lap with Verstappen also out there as other drivers joined the action.
Russell went to the top but then Verstappen then went half a second faster as Norris was on his way to the finish line with Piastri in his wake. Antonelli slotted in second.
Norris duly went fastest the Piastri went second, just 0.090s behind his teammate. Ferrari drivers both went again.
Sainz asked his team to check his floor while Verstappen complained over the radio about Norris in Turn 7.
With the first round of laps done, the order was: Norris - Piastri - Verstappen - Hamilton - Leclerc - Hadjar - Antonelli - Tsunoda - Russell - Albon.
In the drop zone: Alonso - Lawson - Sainz - Bortoleto - Gasly.
With four minutes remaining, the drivers went out for another run in Q2 which will decide who makes the top ten shootout.
In the end, Norris stayed in the lead and was followed by Piastri in second and Verstappen third.
The rest of the top ten were: Hamilton - Leclerc - Russell - Alonso - Lawson - Hadjar - Sainz.
The first to miss out on Q3 was Antonelli who missed out to Sainz by just 0.021s and was 11th fastest ahead of Tsunoda in 12th.
Bortoleto was 13th with an identical time to Tsunoda who posted the lap time before the Brazilian.
Gasly and Albon were 14th and 15th respectively.
Q3: Hadjar stars!
The final 12 minutes of qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix started and immediately Piastri made his way out on track with Russell behind him as the other eight drivers followed suite.
Piastri started his first Q3 lap and went fastest and then Norris followed and went only second fastest as Russell was third.
Alonso posted the fourth fastest time with Sainz behind him but then Hamilton went fourth and Leclerc fifth with Hadjar in sixth. Lawson was ninth.
Verstappen was the last driver to put a banker lap in Q3 and went to third.
Order after the first runs meant Piastri was on provisional pole with the rest lining up as follows: Norris - Verstappen - Russell - Hamilton - Leclerc - Hadjar - Alonso - Sainz - Lawson.
With less than four minutes, the cars were back out on track for their final laps that will decide the starting order of the Grand Prix on Sunday.
Norris went out first with Piastri behind him as the Ferraris followed with Sainz and Lawson joining them as well as Alonso.
Verstappen, Russell, and Hadjar waited a bit with the Briton the first of this trio to come out then the Frenchman with the Dutchman taking his time.
Norris started his final lap but his first sector wasn't good while Piastri improved on his. Norris went fastest in the second sector while Piastri improves his.
In the end Norris did not manage to improve and Piastri transforms provisional pole into pole beating his teammate by 0.012s.
Verstappen delivered the fastest middle sector and was third fastest, 0.263s off the pace while Hadjar delivered a stonking lap in the VCARB to take an impressive fourth.
Russell was fifth in the Mercedes with Leclerc in sixth as Hamilton took seventh in the sister Ferrari.
Lawson was eighth with Sainz and Alonso ninth and tenth respectively.
Dutch GP Qualifying Provisional Classification
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