Norris Sets Sensational Pole Lap - Dutch GP Qualifying Review
Defending Formula 1 World Champion Lando Norris set a sensational lap to best the competition from the Mercedes drivers to take pole position for Sunday's Dutch Grand Prix. Norris won the final race before the summer break, but can the British driver win the first after the sport's resumption?
Video Transcript
All right, so we had the qualifying session for the Dutch Grand Prix earlier today on Saturday.
If you haven't seen what happened in the sprint race, I have done that as a separate review.
You might have watched that literally just before this one, or it might be a separate video in a different kind of format and everything.
So do check that out if you haven't already.
I will be referencing what happened in the sprint race during the qualifying review, so you have been warned of spoilers there.
But if you've already seen that and you don't care about spoilers, welcome.
Let's dive into the five things we learned from the Dutch Grand Prix session in qualifying in 2026, the final ever qualifying session around Zandvoort in Formula 1, potentially.
I doubt it'll be back any time soon, to be honest, which I think is a bit of a shame, to be honest.
Although, given the lack of action in the sprint race earlier today, you could argue it's not the worst thing really.
So the first thing we learned is that Liam Lawson very much is looking more competitive right now in that Red Bull racing car than he ever did during the 2025 season.
Of course, he only did two rounds in the Red Bull car in 2025, but he was absolutely miles off of his stuff and he could not drive that thing at all.
But today, shout out to him.
I mean, he did an excellent job during qualifying today.
P8, only one place behind his teammate, Max Verstappen.
Verstappen is incredible around Zandvoort.
He's won here three times, I think.
Something like that.
21 to 23 consecutively, and he was only a tenth off him in qualifying today.
Wow, that's fantastic.
I mean, getting within one tenth of Max Verstappen when you're driving the same car as him, in equal machinery as Nico Rosberg would say, that is a hell of an effort.
He was probably a little embarrassed in the sprint race.
Of course, he finished behind Arvid Lindblad, his normal teammate in the Racing Bulls team.
So in theory, he should be a lot quicker than him in the Red Bull car, but he wasn't during the sprint.
Hopefully will be during the qualif- hopefully will be during the Grand Prix.
Of course, Lindblad did a good job himself.
He's in the top 10, he's in P10.
But yeah, Liam Lawson, I mean, he's having an excellent audition.
I did some predictions for who is going to be in Formula 1 in 2027 and who is not, and spoiler alert for that video, once I've edited it, you'll find out that Liam Lawson I have backed to not be in F1.
Not because he's not good enough, I firmly believe he is, but just because Red Bull just aren't keen on him.
But he's doing a good job so far, and this might not be the only weekend he's in that Red Bull car.
We don't know how bad that injury is to Isack Hadjar.
Is he gonna be fit enough for Monza in a week or two weeks, or however many weeks at this time?
I've lost track of time really through this summer break, to be honest.
It's summer holidays as well from school here in the UK, so it's absolute chaos right now to say the very least.
I'm just taking things as they come.
I am absolutely winging it.
But for the company that allegedly gives people wings, or weens as their advert says nowadays because of lawsuits, you would say the Red Bull car is not particularly great this weekend.
I mean, it's firmly the fourth fastest car in the grid, but Lawson's doing a good job.
Fair play, man.
I wanna shout out Gabby Bortoleto next.
He's a guy who got into the top 10 again.
He managed to get into the top 10 during sprint qualifying, but didn't manage to get into the top eight for points in the sprint race earlier today.
But he's in P9 in the Audi.
His teammate, Nico Hulkenberg, had loads of problems during the sprint.
He finished 17 laps down, which I think has to be a record.
He wasn't even classified.
It's like, just why not just retire the car?
Why not just send him back to the, back to the paddock at that ra- I don't know why they're sending him out again, but hey ho.
But when it comes to the pace of that Audi in the hands of Gabby, I think it's doing pretty well, and it's probably gonna get points tomorrow if it finishes.
This is what I always say about the Audi.
Pretty quick, but very unreliable.
One of the most unreliable cars on the grid.
Probably the most unreliable now.
Maybe the Cadillac, maybe the Aston Martin.
But it- it's not great really when it comes to that.
But in terms of pace, it's looking good in the hands of the boy from Brazil.
Let's talk about Ferrari next.
I mean, firmly third fastest looking at their pace.
Fifth for Sir Lewis Hamilton, sixth for Charles Leclerc.
Hamilton did a really poor lap for his first effort in Q3, but his second effort was a pretty good one.
Leclerc meanwhile, I mean, solid I guess.
I mean, he was P2 in the sprint.
He'll probably be a bit disappointed to be down there.
But for whatever reason, on Saturday afternoon, that Ferrari just didn't look that great.
It just didn't look that quick, and they ended up being the third fastest team.
They'll be hoping for an unlikely podium tomorrow, but it's looking as though the two teams, or the top two teams that are powered by Mercedes engines are looking untouchable.
But who in particular was looking the most untouchable?
We'll check on him very soon.
But first, let's talk for our fourth thing we learned about Mercedes.
P2 for George Russell backing up his sprint victory earlier today, and P3 for Kimi Antonelli, an improvement on where he finished during the sprint race earlier today.
He was P4 in that, of course.
I mean, it's a decent effort overall.
They were separated by, what, 31 thousandth of a second, just over three hundredth of a second.
Not really much between these two cars at all.
They absolutely gave it their best efforts in this one.
Unfortunately though, it wasn't enough for pole.
Who did get pole position?
None other than the defending world champion, Lando Norris.
I mean, Piastri did a good job today.
He was a bit unlucky in a sense to be down in P4.
Very close to George Russell and then Kimi Antonelli in terms of their times.
I mean, what are we talking about there?
We're talking about a couple of hundredth of a second, really just one hundredth of a second between himself and Antonelli.
Absolutely tiny margins in Formula 1 these days.
But Lando Norris, I mean, over a tenth, just over a tenth ahead of George Russell, and he knows how to win round here as well.
He absolutely dominated the Grand Prix in 2024, I think it was.
I think he won by, like, half a minute.
And of course, Oscar Piastri won here last year as well.
So this is a good track for McLaren.
Not really a surprise.
They of course race in papaya, which is pretty much an orange at this point.
So the Orange Army, you know, they're not gonna be cheering on Max Verstappen tomorrow.
No, no, no, they're gonna be cheering on Lando Norris.
I have no doubt about that whatsoever.
They'll be getting the smoke bombs, the pyro, the orange hats and everything.
They're big McLaren fans really.
They just gotta realize it, to be honest with you.
They're closet McLaren fans, as it were.
But anyway, anyway, seriously about this, I mean, it's incredible from Norris to get this pole position.
They did so well of course during the Hungarian Grand Prix right behind the Of course, Norris did so well.
He won the last race before the summer break.
Is he gonna win the first race after the summer break?
Looking at this, it's looking very likely, to be honest.
But in race trim, they looked pretty bad during the sprint.
Norris was really hanging on to third place.
He was passed by Charles Leclerc, one of the few people to actually be overtaken during that sprint race.
So they've gotta hold it together.
They gotta learn from those mistakes in the sprint race, whatever the mistakes were.
If they weren't mistakes and it's just a problem with the car, then yeah, he's gonna be mincemeat compared to the Mercedes and even the Ferraris potentially at that point as well.
But let me know your thoughts about qualifying earlier today around Zandvoort, guys.
I mean, for me, this was more eventful than the sprint race, to be honest.
Look at the length of the highlights on YouTube on the Formula 1 channel.
You'll know exactly what I'm talking about there.
Like, share, comment, subscribe as always, guys, and we'll see you soon for much more content on the world of Formula 1 here on the Formula Reports and f1chronicle.com.
