Qualifying at Zandvoort delivered a spectacle rich with drama, irony, and storylines that stretched across the grid, from McLaren’s front-row lockout to rookies rewriting expectations, Ferrari’s contradictions, Aston Martin’s chaos, and Haas stumbling into an unusual rule breach.
McLaren Lead the Way
Oscar Piastri sealed pole position with a lap that not only edged teammate Lando Norris but also set a new Zandvoort lap record at 1:08.662, beating Max Verstappen’s 2021 benchmark. The pole lap was aided by a perfectly-timed slipstream from Isack Hadjar, a detail that underscored how closely teamwork and circumstance can matter in modern F1. Earlier in Q2, Yuki Tsunoda had even been used to provide Hadjar with a tow, which ironically contributed to Tsunoda’s own elimination.
The result capped a weekend of steady McLaren momentum. In FP2 both drivers had already been summoned to the stewards over a pit-lane infringement involving George Russell, where the team was fined €5,000. Rather than derail them, it seems to have sharpened their focus, qualifying was a statement of control.
McLaren’s intra-team battle remains one of the sport’s highlights. Narratives often paint Norris as the quicker over one lap and Piastri as the calmer under pressure, but in truth they are remarkably evenly matched, producing what feel like 24 individual duels across a season. Statistically, Piastri has had the edge this year, even if the margins remain razor thin. This qualifying session, with Norris close but not close enough, reinforced that balance.
Verstappen Keeps Pressure On
Max Verstappen’s P3 at his home race was a reminder that even without the outright best package, he remains the grid’s benchmark. He continues to extract extraordinary performance from a car many still consider compromised.
The Dutchman’s build-up was not without friction: FP3 saw him narrowly avoid a pit-entry incident with George Russell, who had been instructed to pit but cut across Verstappen’s line, forcing both drivers into evasive action. The stewards fined Mercedes €7,500 for the “dangerous situation.” That flashpoint made Verstappen’s clean qualifying execution under home pressure all the more impressive.
His post-session message of gratitude to the crowd captured the weekend’s atmosphere: the “orange army” once again turned Zandvoort into a cauldron, their energy carrying him even as McLaren locked out the front row.
Debate now turns to whether Sunday will deliver racing action or a processional affair. History suggests overtakes are possible here, last year produced 43 passes in dry conditions, and both 2021 and 2022 had 24. But the ruleset still makes moves tyre-dependent, requiring deltas that can punish mistakes. Rain remains a wild card.
Ferrari: Bipolar Again
Ferrari’s weekend embodied contradiction. Charles Leclerc qualified P6 and Lewis Hamilton P7, yet both drivers carried different emotions. Leclerc was unusually harsh on himself, describing his qualifying as “very poor.” Hamilton, meanwhile, struck an upbeat tone, saying that small tweaks in his preparation had made the weekend “a lot smoother.”
It reflected a theme present since FP1, when the team’s form swung wildly session-to-session. Even in free practice, Ferrari seemed to embody inconsistency, quick one moment, clumsy the next. As one wry observation had it: to confuse your enemies, you must first confuse yourself. Zandvoort qualifying was no exception.
Williams: Split Fortunes
Carlos Sainz delivered with P9, while Alex Albon languished in P15, his lap compromised by traffic at release. This inconsistency has defined Williams’ year, one car flying, the other buried.
In practice, Sainz had been closer to the sharp end, showing that the package has one-lap potential. Albon’s radio frustrations in qualifying, though, were foreshadowed by the traffic issues the team had battled earlier in FP2 and FP3.
Rookies Steal the Spotlight
The rookie class again shaped the narrative. Isack Hadjar stunned with P4, describing it as the best lap of his career so far. His resilience since crashing out behind the safety car in Australia has been remarkable. Hadjar’s form had already been building across the weekend, shining in FP3 where he comfortably sat inside the top 10. His performance confirmed what insiders had suspected: he’s no longer just “promising,” but already delivering at a very high level.
Gabriel Bortoleto, meanwhile, continues to quietly impress. Out in Q2 this time, he once again outqualified Nico Hülkenberg, making it 9–6 in their head-to-head. The pattern was visible as early as FP1, when Bortoleto’s composure contrasted with Hülkenberg’s repeated mistakes, particularly in the final sector.
Kimi Antonelli, who qualified P11, showed flashes of maturity after an FP1 crash left him chasing balance all weekend. His recovery to within two tenths of Q3 showed encouraging progress, and with Monza next, the pressure only grows.
Aston Martin: From Hype to Humiliation
No team fell harder from expectation than Aston Martin. FP1 and FP2 pace had hinted at a revival, and pundits noted the team’s confidence in banking four new sets of softs for qualifying. But Stroll’s crash in Q1 undid that entire strategy, while Alonso salvaged only P10.
The result fits a broader theme that developed across practice: Aston oscillating between looking quick and looking fragile, their hype never materializing into results. The irony was brutal, a plan built on pace collapsed into ridicule, with fans dubbing it “consistency in crashing” rather than consistency in points.
Haas Missteps
Haas’s Oliver Bearman not only fell out in Q1 but also saw his car referred to the stewards after the team failed to cover it within the required two hours post-session, breaching parc fermé regulations. It was an unforced, avoidable error, the sort of detail that separates polished operations from midfield strugglers.
The Grid Ahead
By the close of Saturday, McLaren had locked out the front row, Verstappen was still very much in contention at home, Ferrari embodied contradictions of hope and frustration, Williams split their results, Antonelli showed flashes of progress, Haas blundered on process, and Aston Martin’s hype crumbled.
Pulling the threads across the weekend together: FP1 had already shown Aston overplaying their hand, FP2 had underscored McLaren’s sharpness despite a fine, and FP3 had warned of how quickly mistakes, from Antonelli’s crash to Russell’s pit-entry scare, could flip the narrative. Qualifying was the culmination of those storylines.
Above all, the rookie class stole the spotlight, with Hadjar’s career-best lap and Bortoleto’s continued edge over Hülkenberg reframing expectations for the midfield. With Piastri’s record-setting pole, Norris alongside, and Verstappen lurking in third, Zandvoort is set for a race where anything from strategic chaos to rookie heroics could define the outcome.