Oscar Piastri strikes crucial Lando Norris blow to steal Dutch GP pole

Oscar Piastri narrowly stole Dutch Grand Prix pole position away from team-mate Lando Norris, who had dominated the weekend. 

Norris became the first driver in 2025 to top all practice sessions at Zandvoort, but in qualifying, he fell 0.012s short of beating the championship leader to pole. 

Piastri set a 1:08.662 on the first runs in Q3, an all-time track record, with Norris posting a 1:08.674, with both drivers actually going slower on their second runs to ensure Piastri scored a first pole since Spain. 

Since Zandvoort returned to the F1 calendar in 2021, the pole-sitter has won all four races. 

Elsewhere, Max Verstappen was third for Red Bull, Isack Hadjar stunned with fourth for Racing Bulsl with Lewis Hamilton seventh for Ferrari.

Advantage Piastri

On the first runs, Norris was initially faster through Sector 1, but Piastri managed to haul time back to beat his title rival, whom he leads by nine points in the standings. 

The 1:08.662 from Piastri beats the outright track record Norris had actually set in Q2, with the Briton then going first on the second runs. 

Although he did go 0.004s faster than Piastri on this second run, it was still slower than his run 1 time, meaning Piastri stole away a pole which had looked like Norris's throughout the weekend ahead of the short run down to Turn 1. 

Verstappen was the only other driver to make it under the 69-second barrier with a 1:08.925 as Hadjar stunned with a career-best fourth for Racing Bulls, squeaking ahead of George Russell. 

Charles Leclerc was fifth for Ferrari, ahead of Hamilton, Liam Lawson, Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso, whose practice pace did not translate into a higher qualifying spot than 10th. 

Tsunoda fails to make Q3 again

In Q2, the big story was the eliminations of Kimi Antonelli and Yuki Tsunoda. 

Antonelli was just 0.021s slower than Sainz in 10th, but was shuffled down as others improved to safety with Lawson, Alonso, Hadjar and Sainz all late in getting through to the Q3 shootout. 

Tsunoda failed to improve on his 1:09.622 initial time and set the exact same time as Gabriel Bortoleto in 13th, but as the Red Bull set it first, he starts P12. 

Pierre Gasly was 14th for Alpine ahead of a furious Alex Albon in 15th, who bemoaned a lack of tyres as he went slowest in the segment.

Up front, Norris set a then-all-time Zandvoort track record of a 1:08.874, beating Verstappen's 2021 pole lap to top Q2. 

Piastri was within a tenth as Verstappen appeared in the top three in a session for the first time in the weekend. 

Stroll misery continues after second big accident

The big story from Q1 was an incident which befell Lance Stroll early in the session.

After his big FP2 crash, Aston Martin elected to change his survival cell on the chassis, but on his first flying lap of qualifying, Stroll clipped the grass at Turn 13, spinning into the gravel. 

He thumped the wall as he did so, also breaking off some of his front wing as he crawled back into the pits, from where he did not emerge. Aston must ask the stewards for permission for Stroll to start the race, as he did not set a time. 

Elsewhere, he was joined in the elimination zone by Franco Colapinto, Nico Hulkenberg and Haas duo of Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman. 

In the late flurry of laps, Leclerc and Tsunoda were under severe pressure and at risk of being dropped, but both safely made it through to Q2.

Bortoleto was the final driver to make it through in P15, 0.067s up on Colapinto's best effort.

At the top, for the first time in the weekend, Norris did not top a session, with Piastri going fastest on his second lap, with Russell slotting into third place.