Lando Norris after securing GP pole at Zandvoort: “I went for it like mad”

Lando Norris has secured the best starting position for the Dutch Grand Prix: the Englishman put his McLaren on pole position, just ahead of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli.

After securing his 18th pole position in the top flight (the same number as Kimi Räikkönen, René Arnoux and Mario Andretti), Norris said: “It doesn’t get any better than this. My lap was decent, but I’m a bit surprised that it was enough for pole.”

“I pushed like mad because we could see the rain was closing in and because the gaps at the front are extremely tight.”

“That’s a great response after the sprint, where we didn’t perform so well. The team managed to find a better set-up, and that laid the groundwork for this pole.”

“We had to react after the sprint, because it was clear – it wasn’t going to work like that. And suddenly I had the confidence again that you need to snatch pole position on a track like Zandvoort.”

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Zandvoort: Das Rennen

FIA Formula One World Championship

23.08.2026 - 13:00

How the GP qualifying session went

Rain clouds were gathering once again as GP qualifying got underway at 4.00 pm in Zandvoort, with temperatures at 18 degrees (track temperature 33 degrees). But one thing was clear: if it was going to rain, it wouldn’t be until the end of qualifying.

In the first qualifying segment, Lewis Hamilton in the Ferrari initially set the pace, before the 2024 Zandvoort winner Lando Norris took the lead, followed by the 2025 Zandvoort winner Oscar Piastri.

The Mercedes cars slotted in between the McLarens: Piastri, Russell, Norris, Antonelli, then Hamilton, with Verstappen only seventh ahead of Leclerc.

This was followed by improvements from Verstappen and Hülkenberg (P6 and P7), before Lewis Hamilton blew a front-right tyre before the Tarzan corner.

On his second set of tyres, Piastri remained in the lead, followed by Hamilton, Norris, Russell, Antonelli, Leclerc, Lindblad, Tsunoda, Gasly and Bortoleto in the top ten. Hülkenberg was P11, Verstappen P12.

Sainz (17th), Alonso, Stroll, Bearman, Bottas and Pérez were out after Q1.

In Q2, the two Mercedes were initially at the front (Russell faster than Antonelli), before Leclerc moved up – but not for long, as Lando Norris was next. Hamilton slotted into P4, with Verstappen on used tyres in P6. But then Piastri took the top spot once again, a full 26 thousandths of a second ahead of Norris.

Towards the end of Q2, Verstappen briefly moved up to third place, whilst Norris took the lead from his McLaren team-mate Piastri (by 13 thousandths!).

Top ten: Norris, Piastri, Verstappen, Leclerc, Antonelli (after over-braking before the Tarzan corner and ending up off the track), Russell, Hamilton (same fate as Antonelli), Lawson, Bortoleto and Lindblad.

Eliminated: Gasly in P11, then Tsunoda, Hülkenberg, Colapinto, Ocon and Albon.

In Q3 (and with the threat of rain), Norris led ahead of Russell and Piastri, followed by Antonelli and Verstappen. Leclerc moved ahead of Kimi and Max. Where was Hamilton? Only eighth!

Then it was all a flurry of activity in the pits, a quick change to the final set of tyres, and straight back out onto the track, as the rain was approaching. At that point, the FIA announced: rain in one minute…

After that, a little private battle between Norris and Russell, as the first drops began to fall. But Norris held his ground, forcing Russell to open up a gap.

In the stands, umbrellas were opened and rain capes pulled on.

Antonelli briefly set the fastest time, but then Norris moved ahead of Russell, leaving Antonelli in third; Piastri, Verstappen and Leclerc were unable to respond – finishing fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.

Leclerc squeezed past Verstappen into P5 right at the very end, whilst Hamilton pushed on to finish fifth. Order: Norris, Russell, Antonelli, Piastri, Hamilton, Leclerc, Verstappen, Lawson, Bortoleto and Lindblad.