George Russell takes pole position for Zandvoort F1 sprint race at Dutch GP
George Russell beats Lando Norris to sprint pole at Zandvoort.
Mercedes’ George Russell pipped McLaren’s Lando Norris to a brilliant pole position for the first Formula 1 sprint race to be held at the Dutch Grand Prix.
Russell, who is 59 points behind his Mercedes team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli in the world championship, took top spot by just 0.041 seconds from reigning world champion Norris in his upgraded McLaren.
It is the third time this season that Russell, who endured a tough first half of the 2026 campaign, has been on pole for a sprint race this season.
2026 F1 Zandvoort: Full Dutch GP sprint qualifying results
Charles Leclerc wound up third-fastest in a thrilling sprint qualifying that saw the Ferrari driver just 0.055s off the pace in a one-lap shoot-out for pole.
Oscar Piastri also got within a tenth of claiming pole but was forced to settle with fourth place in his McLaren, ahead of points leader Antonelli, who will be disappointed to be fifth and over two tenths adrift.
Home hero Max Verstappen, fresh from signing a contract extension with Red Bull, grabbed sixth place ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who could only manage seventh as he finished over six tenths off the pace.
Pierre Gasly secured eighth for Alpine, with Gabriel Bortoleto and Arvid Lindblad completing the top-10 for Audi and Racing Bulls.
Liam Lawson narrowly missed out on a spot in SQ3 on his return to Red Bull as he ended up 11th, while Yuki Tsunoda finished a respectable 12th during his stand-in outing for Racing Bulls.
Franco Colapinto took 13th for Alpine ahead of Nico Hulkenberg’s Audi, Haas driver Esteban Ocon and Alex Albon in the Williams.
Ollie Bearman was only 17th for Haas, ahead of the Williams of Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin. The Cadillacs of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez took 20th and 21st ahead of the Aston Martin belonging to Fernando Alonso.
It was a difficult sprint qualifying session for Alonso, with the two-time world champion going off track, though he managed to keep his newly upgraded Aston Martin out of the barriers.
Aston Martin confirmed the straight line mode on the rear wing of Alonso’s car was not working during the session.
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