MAX ON POLE, DUTCH FANS EXPLODED

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen beat his rival Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes AMG by just three hundredths of a second to claim pole position for his home race the 2021 Dutch Grand Prix. Valtteri Bottas finished third for Mercedes AMG, while AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly put in an impressive performance to claim fourth place on the grid.

At the start of the Q1 Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez set the early benchmark with a lap of 1:10.700. Verstappen was close behind on track, however, and he powered past his team-mate’s time to reset the bar at 1:10.036.

Mercedes AMG, meanwhile, sent both its drivers out on medium tyres and Pérez dropped to fourth place as as Hamilton took second place ahead of Bottas. Pérez extended his run, but despite getting better he dropped to P7 as better times came in.

And the Mexican’s failure to set a secure time early in the session ended up being his undoing. Knowing that the track was ramping up massively, Red Bull readied the Mexican for a final run.

However, seeking a workable gap on the short track, drivers began to form a solid queue at the end of pit lane and Pérez’s exit was slowed. Thus he failed to make it across the line before the chequered flag and as rivals posted improvements the Mexican fell down the order and he was eliminated in P16 ahead of Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, Alfa Romeo’s Robert Kubica and the Haas cars of Mick Schumacher and Nikia Mazepin.

Verstappen was straight into action at the start of Q2 and he posted a tough target at the top of the timesheet. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc got closest to his time ahead of the final runs, with the Monegasque setting a time to take P2 ahead of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, Hamilton and Bottas.

Williams’ George Russell was one of the first out on track for the final runs of the second segment but at the end of his flying lap he carried too much speed into the penultimate corners and slid off into the barriers. The red flags were quickly displayed and the clock was stopped with just under four minutes remaining.

However, when the session eventually resumed it lasted less than two minutes as on his flying lap Nichola Latifi lost control in Turn 8 and the second Williams went into the barriers hard.

The red flags were again shown and Race Control quickly indicated that the session would not be resumed. It meant that eliminated after the middle segment were Russell in 11th place followed Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, Norris, Latifi and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda.

In Q3 Verstappen again went out early to stake his claim to pole and he claimed provisional pole with an impressive lap. Neither Mercedes AMG driver had an initial response and Bottas took P2, with Hamilton further back in third place.

In the final runs Verstappen proved unbeatable. Hamilton found more time but in the end it was only enough to match the Red Bull driver’s earlier lap and Verstappen secured pole for his home grand prix with a stunning lap, even without DRS in final sector.

Bottas was left with third place, while Gasly claiming fourth spot on the grid ahead of the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr.. Giovinazzi was seventh, while Esteban Ocon took eighth place ahead of Alpine team-mate Fernando Alonso and McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo.

2021 DUTCH GP - QUALIFYING
P.	DRIVER	TEAM	TIME	GAP
1.	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:08.885
2.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG	1:08.923	+ 0.038
3.	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes AMG	1:09.222	+ 0.337
4.	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	1:09.478	+ 0.593
5.	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:09.527	+ 0.642
6.	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	1:09.537	+ 0.652
7.	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	1:09.590	+ 0.705
8.	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	1:09.933	+ 1.048
9.	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	1:09.956	+ 1.071
10.	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	1:10.167	+ 1.281
Q2 Најбрзо Време: Max Verstappen - 1:09.071
11.	George Russell	Williams	1:10.332	+ 1.261
12.	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	1:10.367	+ 1.296
13.	Lando Norris	McLaren	1:10.406	+ 1.335
14.	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	1:11.161	+ 2.090
15.	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	1:11.314	+ 2.243
Q1 Најбрзо Време: Charles Leclerc - 1:09.829
16.	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull	1:10.530	+ 0.701
17.	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	1:10.731	+ 0.902
18.	Robert Kubica	Alfa Romeo	1:11.301	+ 1.472
19.	Mick Schumacher	Haas	1:11.387	+ 1.558
20.	Nikita Mazepin	Haas	1:11.875	+ 2.046
107% time: 1:14.717
HYBRID ERA - ZANDVOORT 2021 Max Verstappen - Red Bull - 1:08.885 @MkFormula1 - REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA