George Russell stuns Zandvoort as bounce back begins

George Russell stunned Zandvoort by claiming Sprint pole ahead of this weekend's Dutch Grand Prix, marking the start of a potential title fight bounce back. 

The Briton eclipsed a strong effort from Lando Norris to seal pole for the penultimate sprint race of 2026, while the reigning world champion held on for a front row start. 

Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri completed the top four, with less than one-tenth splitting the Australian to polesitter Russell. 

It was a highly disappointing and messy session for championship leader Kimi Antonelli, who had to settle for fifth.

SQ3 - Russell supreme

As is often the case in sprint qualifying, nobody opted to go out for the opening minutes. With four minutes remaining, the remaining drivers emerged. It was, as always, a one-lap shootout.

Norris was the first to complete his lap and set the benchmark with a 1m 11.608s. Antonelli was the first to try to beat it but failed, while Russell did set a quicker lap time.

One by one, the remaining drivers tried to beat Russell's 1m 11.567s, but all failed. In dramatic fashion, just 0.099s separated the top four, with Antonelli down in fifth.

It was a hugely disappointing session for Lewis Hamilton, who was the slowest of the big names in seventh.

SQ2 - Lawson eliminated

Shocks were not on the cards in the second part of sprint qualifying, with all of the big names having comfortably progressed.

There was some disappointment for Liam Lawson, who was eliminated in the second part of sprint qualifying.

Lawson found himself in 11th, four-tenths adrift of Verstappen, in what was a respectable performance in just his second session in the RB22.

Joining Lawson in being knocked out of sprint qualifying in SQ2 were Yuki Tsunoda, Franco Colapinto, Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban Ocon and Alex Albon. Piastri set the pace with a 1m 12.026s.

SQ1 - Antonelli suffers scare; Aston Martin disappointment

The opening part of sprint qualifying started with a scare for Antonelli, who went off at the penultimate corner and narrowly avoided spinning.

Antonelli managed to return to the garage and went on to safely progress to the second part of sprint qualifying, while Leclerc went quickest with a 1m 13.011s.

At the bottom, it was a huge disappointment for Aston Martin and its upgraded Honda engine, as both Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso were eliminated. Unfortunately, for Alonso, his rear wing's straight line mode was not working.

Haas' Oliver Bearman was knocked out in 17th and was joined in the drop zone by Carlos Sainz, Stroll, Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Perez and Alonso.