Before teammate Sergio Perez, who was running sixth, spun at Turn 13, bringing out a yellow flag and stopping the race, Verstappen recorded a lap time of 1m 10.342s in Q3. No one else was able to beat the Dutchman’s mark.
Formula 1: Verstappen beats Leclerc by 0.021 secs to grab pole at Dutch Grand Prix (Picture Credits - IANS)
In a close race at the Zandvoort track, reigning world champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull secured pole position for the 2022 Dutch Grand Prix. Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc lost out by 0.021s.
Before teammate Sergio Perez, who was running sixth, spun at Turn 13, bringing out a yellow flag and stopping the race, Verstappen recorded a lap time of 1m 10.342s in Q3. No one else was able to beat the Dutchman’s mark.
“Unbelievable. Today we had a quick race car again. A qualifying lap around here is insane,” Verstappen said after the qualifying session.
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Leclerc qualified in P2 0.021 seconds behind the home favourite, Carlos Sainz in P3 and less than a tenth off the pole.
Lewis Hamilton, a former champion, qualified in P4 on the second row for Mercedes. Teammate George Russell settled for sixth place behind Perez after struggling late in Q3.
Lando Norris of McLaren qualified seventh, Mick Schumacher unexpectedly came in eighth, and Yuki Tsunoda also unexpectedly qualified ninth. Although Lance Stroll qualified for Q3, a mechanical issue kept him in the garage and forced him to settle for 10th place on the starting grid for Aston Martin.
Although neither Alpine got it to the top-10 shootout, Fernando Alonso qualified 11th in the Alpha Tauri ahead of fellow countryman Esteban Ocon. In P14, Zhou Guanyu finished ahead of Alex Albon of Williams.
While Zhou, another member of the Alfa Romeo squad, advanced to Q2, Valtteri Bottas was eliminated in P16. Kevin Magnussen of Haas finished 17th due to a track limits violation, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo of McLaren, Sebastian Vettel of Aston Martin (P19 after running into the gravel on his final flying lap), Nicholas Latifi of Williams, and the rest of the field.
(Inputs from IANS)
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