ZANDVOORT, The Netherlands — Lando Norris seized a spectacular pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix under the threat of rain, edging Mercedes’ George Russell and Kimi Antonelli during the final minutes of qualifying.
The McLaren driver braved one more lap as the weather worsened at the Circuit Zandvoort, earning the top spot with a time of 1 minute and 11.163 seconds in a tense conclusion to the session.
“It doesn’t get any better. A little surprised honestly but, yeah, a decent lap,” Norris said. “I was pushing because you see how close it is, so you know every one hundredth, two hundredths can make a big difference in the end.
“But just a good turnaround, a good turnaround from earlier today where I felt like we struggled a little bit. Today we certainly felt very strong. The team did a good job, so credit to them on trying to get a little bit more out of the car and it certainly helped me today.”
While he comprehensively beat Russell by a 10th, the Mercedes pair were extremely close as they took second and third, with Oscar Piastri securing fourth after he looked like the fastest driver on track for the majority of qualifying.
Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were next on the timesheets, heading Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson, who wasn’t far off the lead Red Bull, while Gabriel Bortoleto and Arvid Lindblad completed the top 10.
