F1 Dutch GP: Russell takes pole in tight sprint qualifying with Antonelli fifth

George Russell has taken pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix sprint race with Formula 1 championship leader Kimi Antonelli down in fifth.

The Mercedes driver pipped reigning world champion Lando Norris by only 0.041s to take his third sprint pole of the 2026 season.

Russell’s pole came particularly out of the blue after topping neither SQ1 or SQ2 - respectively done by Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri - but a 1m11.567s in the final session was enough.

It was a very tight final session too, as third-placed Leclerc was just 0.055s off the pace for Ferrari with Norris’ McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri in fourth and 0.099s behind Russell.

A slightly bigger gap then emerged to Russell’s team-mate Antonelli though, who was 0.227s behind the Briton and suffering floor damage from an off at the penultimate corner in SQ1.

Precisely three tenths behind Antonelli was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in sixth, one spot ahead of seventh-placed Lewis Hamilton who struggled in the sister Ferrari with a 0.624s gap to Russell.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad respectively rounded out the top 10 at Zandvoort ahead of Saturday’s shortened race.  

It was a respectable Red Bull return for Liam Lawson, who has replaced the injured Isack Hadjar, as he qualified 11th after being eliminated by his usual team-mate Lindblad. 

“I have no idea what happened,” reported the New Zealander, who was four tenths off SQ3, and will share the sixth row with his Racing Bulls stand-in and F1 returnee Yuki Tsunoda.

Franco Colapinto will be on the seventh row in 13th, shared with 14th-placed Nico Hulkenberg, while Esteban Ocon and Alex Albon respectively rounded out the SQ2 drop zone. 

In SQ1 a late improvement from Oliver Bearman put him 17th and one spot above Williams man Carlos Sainz, who was pushed into the elimination zone by Bearman’s Haas team-mate Ocon.

The last four spots were occupied by the usual suspects: Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in 19th, Cadillac duo Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez 20th and 21st and Fernando Alonso in 22nd. 

Alonso particularly struggled as he locked up at Turn 1 and finished last despite a tow from a Cadillac and it was later confirmed that the Straight Line Mode on his rear wing didn’t work.

F1 Dutch GP - Sprint Qualifying results

SQ3

All Stats

 

Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	G. Russell Mercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	17	1'11.567		S	214.238
2	L. Norris McLaren	1		McLaren	Mercedes	15	+0.041 1'11.608	0.041	S	214.115
3	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	16	+0.055 1'11.622	0.014	S	214.073
4	O. Piastri McLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	15	+0.099 1'11.666	0.044	S	213.942
5	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12		Mercedes	Mercedes	15	+0.227 1'11.794	0.128	S	213.561
6	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	3		Red Bull	Red Bull	15	+0.527 1'12.094	0.300	S	212.672
7	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44		Ferrari	Ferrari	15	+0.624 1'12.191	0.097	S	212.386
8	P. Gasly Alpine	10		Alpine	Mercedes	12	+1.011 1'12.578	0.387	S	211.254
9	G. Bortoleto Audi	5		Audi	Audi	12	+1.016 1'12.583	0.005	S	211.239
10	A. Lindblad Racing Bulls	41		RB	Red Bull	15	+1.170 1'12.737	0.154	S	210.792
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