Lando Norris charges to second straight F1 pole ahead of Mercedes pair at Dutch Grand Prix

Reigning Formula 1 world champion Lando Norris beat the Mercedes pair to claim his second consecutive pole position at the Dutch Grand Prix. 

Norris pipped George Russell to pole by 0.103 seconds in a tense and competitive qualifying at Zandvoort, with championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli 0.133s adrift in third. 

The Briton had cut a downbeat figure after finishing third in the sprint race on Saturday, having bemoaned that McLaren “don’t have the pace” to challenge its rivals for the title this season.

But Norris was the man to beat over one lap on Saturday afternoon as he made it back-to-back F1 poles. With overtaking difficult at the tight and twisty Zandvoort circuit, Norris will be hopeful of converting pole into his second straight victory. 

F1 2026 Dutch Grand Prix: Full qualifying result at Zandvoort

"A little surprised, honestly," Norris said after qualifying. "Just a decent lap. I was pushing because you have seen how close it is and one hundredth, two hundredths can make a big difference in the end.

"But just a good turnaround from earlier today where I felt like we struggled a little bit. We felt very strong so the team did a good job, so credit to them. on trying to get a little bit more out of the car.

"We had to try something because what we had before wasn't going to be enough. So we made some small changes, nothing that wasn't going to make us gain two tenths or one tenth even, but enough to maybe give me a bit more confidence.

"I felt like I could do that more today and it paid off." 

Oscar Piastri was fourth and just 0.142s behind his McLaren team-mate, ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, with the Ferraris never really in the pole battle and over three tenths off the pace. 

Home hero Max Verstappen outpaced his Red Bull team-mate Liam Lawson for seventh but was nearly half a second adrift. 

Gabriel Bortoleto and Arvid Lindblad rounded out the top-10 qualifiers for Audi and Racing Bulls respectively. 

Pierre Gasly could not replicate his sprint qualifying efforts by reaching the top 10 in his heavily-upgraded Alpine and was forced to settle with 11th, ahead of the returning Yuki Tsunoda in the Racing Bulls. 

Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg could only manage 13th with Franco Colapinto placing 14th in the old-spec Alpine, while Esteban Ocon was the highest-placed Haas in P15. 

Alex Albon took 16th at the expense of his Williams team-mate Carlos Sainz, who suffered a narrow elimination in Q1 as he pipped Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso to 17th. 

Lance Stroll was 18th in the other Aston Martin, ahead of Ollie Bearman’s Haas and the Cadillacs of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez, who ended up slowest of all in 21st and 22nd. 

Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix gets underway at 2pm UK time.