ZANDVOORT, Netherlands : George Russell beat McLaren’s Lando Norris to pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix sprint on Friday, making a strong start to his bid to revive a difficult Formula One season.
The Mercedes driver posted a best lap of one minute 11.567 seconds, edging reigning world champion Norris by 0.041 of a second to secure his third sprint pole in five opportunities this season.
“It’s great to be back here after the break. It’s a circuit I love. It needs a lot of commitment,” said Russell, who is third in the championship and 59 points behind teammate Kimi Antonelli.
“It was a tough end to the first half of the year and I’m really happy to come back.”
Russell said his qualifying lap came together well despite the limited opportunities available in sprint qualifying.
“It’s always difficult these sprint qualifyings with just one shot on the soft tyre,” he said.
LECLERC THIRD FOR FERRARI
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc qualified third, ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Antonelli, who recovered to fifth despite damaging his Mercedes after an early trip into the gravel.
Home favourite Max Verstappen qualified sixth for Red Bull, with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton seventh and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly eighth.
The sprint winner will score eight points, with points awarded to the top eight finishers. The main race on Sunday offers the larger points haul after qualifying on Saturday.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff joked that Russell had returned from the summer break with added confidence after proposing to his fiancee Carmen Montero Mundt.
“George is coming back. I think he feels so much pressure is off his shoulders after she accepted his marriage proposal,” Wolff said.
Norris, who won the Hungarian Grand Prix before the break, said the tightly packed field meant he could easily have qualified anywhere from first to fifth.
“Maybe I could have just pushed it a little bit more, but otherwise the car has been performing well and looks like it’s continued its strong performance from Budapest,” Norris said.
ANTONELLI RECOVERS AFTER DAMAGE
Antonelli went into the gravel during the opening phase of qualifying and was only eighth fastest at the time. Wolff said the incident caused significant damage to the car’s floor.
“I had a couple of holes in the floor,” Antonelli said. “When I came in, they initially said it was a loss of 25 points (of downforce). They tried to repair as much as possible, but definitely the damage was still there.”
The Italian said the damage affected his performance particularly through the slower corners.
Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto qualified ninth, ahead of Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad.
Liam Lawson, promoted to Red Bull to replace injured Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar, qualified 11th, while Yuki Tsunoda, who moved in the opposite direction, was 12th.
Fernando Alonso had a particularly disappointing session for Aston Martin. A rear-wing problem prevented the Spaniard from showing the potential of the team’s upgraded Honda engine and left the two-time world champion at the back of the grid.
