Formula 1 News: Piastri leads McLaren 1-2 in Dutch GP Qualifying

No. 81 McLaren driver Oscar Piastri (pictured) turned a lap of 1m08.662s to win the pole position for the 2025 Dutch GP at Zandvoort. It was Piastri’s 5th career F1 pole.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Lando Norris in the #4 superior McLaren was 2nd fastest, 0.012s behind teammate Piastri.

“That was the definition of peaking at the right time. I’m super happy to come out with this result, but obviously the points are tomorrow<” said a happy Piastri.

“It was looking like a little bit of a tricky weekend so far, so happy with that.

“You just keep chipping away. Still some things to try and work on, but overall very happy. We are both trying to beat each other every weekend.”

“It’s been close all weekend, could always go one way or another,” said Norris. Yes, a little bit disappointed not to be on pole. It’s tough – I had a good lap, but just a small headwind down the straight and I lost a hundredth.

“We’ll have some fun tomorrow. We both had terrible starts last year, so we’ll see!”

Local hero Max Verstappen carried the Red Bull RB21 dog on his back to third fastest, turning the fastest overall 2nd sector and ending up third, 0.263s behind Piastri. Verstappens’s teammate Yuki Tsunoda could only qualify the RB21 dog in 11th.

A huge effort from Max in front of his home fans, and then Hadjar pips Russell to take P4

What an end to qualifying we had at Zandvoort 🤩#F1 #DutchGP pic.twitter.com/UyZE4yLAY1

— Formula 1 (@F1) August 30, 2025

“This weekend so far was quite tricky for us,” said Verstappen. “Qualifying was the best I’ve felt all weekend. I’m very happy with that, and the energy of the crowd has been amazing.

“The McLarens have been very fast this weekend, so it is very important to focus on our own race.”

Isack Hadjar put in a sensational final lap to go 4th fastest for the Racing Bulls, 0.546s behind Piastri. More importantly, he bumped the Mercedes of George Russell to the third row in 5th.

Charles Leclerc once again outqualified his Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton. Leclerc and Hamilton were 6th and 7th, 0.678s and 0.728s behind Piastri respectively.

Liam Lawson put the 2nd Racing Bull car in 8th, 0.838s behind the McLaren.

Carlos Sainz Jr. and Fernando Alonso rounded out the top-10.

Tomorrow holds 72 laps of fierce battling up and down the grid, with plenty to play for. Up front, looks likely to be a two-horse race unless rain intervenes, while Verstappen will be fighting for a home podium with Hadjar and Russell.

As for that rain, it looks likely to pass over the circuit in the morning, washing away all the rubber, which could lead to a tricky start.

But the clouds have done everything possible to disobey the forecast all weekend long, so we’ll have to wait and see how that pans out.

Piastri leads the championship by nine points, and has six wins to Norris’ five. But the momentum between the two has swung back and forth all season long.

This race forms the first part of a double header too, so a win tomorrow and one of the two drivers could carry that form right into Monza.

2025 Dutch GP Qualifying Results