Dutch F1 GP: Verstappen takes home pole against Leclerc and Sainz

Nothing to do. ferrari he tried and brushed it off, but pole in the Netherlands went to Verstappen. red bull Y Max they are the best and they are heading at the speed of light towards the title. That Max will be the champion everyone thought after the exhibitions in Hungary, where he won on a track theoretically in favor of Ferrari thanks to the low temperature on Sunday, and after his massive superiority in Spa , where he is in another world. This week we come to the champion’s house, Zandvoortin Netherlands GP. ferrari he wanted to at least save his honor and achieve pole position and victory in Holland on a track with the highest load, on paper, again in favor of the red car. On Friday, Max struggled and he didn’t, but a day later, he did it again. The monster, apparently wounded, again came out of his cage to devour his rivals and did not leave even the crumbs behind.

Max Verstappen He took pole position on a track where it was very difficult to overtake. Half a win in his pocket, although Ferrari and Mercedes will want to battle it out in a race that could be tight. Max beat Leclerc (2nd) in his last shot. It has epic and suspense, for Only 21 thousandthsand superior 92 thousandths in Carlos Sainz, who will start third.

So Red Bull got his job back from Friday and Verstappen nailed it. His responsiveness is superb and the drive of the current champion, too. Red Bull and Max do not disappoint, they crush when they are superior and embroider when they are not. They border on perfection that Ferrari lacks. There is the key. They go straight to the title. This Sunday, the Italians will try to at least change that trend for one day.

Max was scared in Q2

In Q2 Verstappen and Red Bull sent a message of strength. His pace was such that he allowed himself the luxury of doing the entire Q2 with old tires. ferrari he wanted to do the same, but while Max was leading with 1’10”927, Sainz was 7th at 0”664, also on old rubber, and Leclerc was 8 tenths behind. Worried faces began to appear on Ferrari’s wall. On a favorable path, where they need to stop their bleeding, they are about to experience another setback. Sainz had to start on new rubber and he was the best in Q2, but he was only 0″113 better than the time achieved by Max on a broken tire. And Leclerc, with a new tire, was not even just beat the Dutchman’s time.

Leclerc and Sainz made it difficult for them in the last lap

With that blow of reality, Q3 was reached. It’s there somewhere charles leclerc everyone was surprised and the pride of ferrari. The Monegasque was surpassed by only 59 thousandths Verstappen in the first test. Max lost time with a whiplash on one of the banked curves. Max and Charles played in the last attempt, with Hamilton 3rd by less than two tenths and Sainz with a second card at his disposal after falling behind by 0.291 on his first lap. Russell, poleman in Hungary, for his part, did not have a good first lap and will try again. The stands roared in support of their champion, a wounded Max who wanted to finish the job and walk out the front door of Zandvoort this Saturday.

The last attempt was near and Leclerc improved his first sector. His stake is still rising with half a tenth of an advantage over Max. But in the second sector, the Monegasque failed and Max took advantage to snatch the pole from him. Leclerc improved the last sector, but in the end Max beat him by 21 thousandths. Some Zandvoort stands filled with the color ‘orange’ erupted with joy. Meanwhile, Sainz was third in only 92 thousandths, with a great improvement, and Pérez (5th) suffered an accident that damaged both Mercedes, because they had to lift their feet. Hamilton starts 4th and Russell, 6th after the Mexican.

Fernando Alonso, distracted by a Red Bull

Fernando Alonso had to play cards in his second attempt in Q2 to return to being among the top 10, something he achieved in all the Free Practices of the Dutch GP. However, at that crucial moment, he recognized ‘Czech’ Perez earlier which prevented him from improving, having to start this Sunday from 13th place.

“I got into traffic from Red Bull at turn 8. I didn’t know what I was doing”Alonso complained on the radio. The energy drinks car pulled away, but it was too late, causing the Oviedo man to lose his good line and go over the next corner. Goodbye to Q3. He crossed the finish line in a similar time as before on a worse track, which shows how far he can progress without being interrupted. The Spaniard improved his time by three tenths in the first sector. He was less than two tenths of the cutoff time. He missed the Top-10 because of traffic.

It will be very difficult for the man from Oviedo this Sunday to score points, because in Zandvoort it will be very difficult to catch up. You will have to test it with DRS and strategy, hoping to take advantage of some mess that may be in front of you. The Oviedo native will start just behind Esteban Ocon, who also missed Q3 (12th), so will experience the next chapter of the teammates’ battle after Hungary, where Alonso was left behind by Ocon’s aggressive defense . This time, they will face each other already knowing that Fernando will not continue in Alpine.