Oscar Piastri found new pace to beat his teammate Lando Norris by just over one-hundredth of a second and take Formula 1 pole position for the first time in three months at the Dutch Grand Prix in qualifying on Saturday.
Piastri set the pace at the start of the final part of qualifying for Sunday's race and Norris couldn't quite match it, ending up .012 of a second off the pace as the title battle between the two McLaren teammates intensifies.
“That was the definition of peaking at the right time," The Associated Press quoted Piastri as saying. “It was looking like a little bit of a tricky weekend so far, so to come out with that, I’m pretty stoked.”
It was the Australian’s fifth pole position of the year but his first since the Spanish Grand Prix, six races ago.
Norris seeks ‘magic’ Norris, who won last year's Dutch Grand Prix and was fastest in all three practice sessions this week, said it was “not the end of the world” to start second, and suggested small changes in the wind could have decided the result.
Piastri leads Norris by nine points in the standings with 10 races left of the season. Norris has closed the gap in recent months with wins in three of the last four races, but said he'd need something special to get past Piastri at Zandvoort, which is among the harder tracks for overtaking.
"It’s going to take some magic, some good strategy or incredible tire saving or something,” he said.
“It’s normally pretty difficult to overtake in the first place. It’s even harder to do that behind your teammate. So, I’ll see what I can dream of tonight.”
Defending champion Max Verstappen is set to start third for his home race. He's third in the standings but a 97-point gap to Piastri means his title chances are remote.
Verstappen said it was “always very special” to compete in front of his home crowd and he was pleased with the improvement after a “tricky” time in practice.
“This is a really good step forward," he said. "I hope that we can keep that up also going into the race tomorrow.”
Isack Hadjar was a surprise fourth for Racing Bulls in a career-best qualifying result for the French rookie, who is considered a contender for promotion to Red Bull next season as Verstappen’s teammate.
George Russell is fifth for Mercedes, while Charles Leclerc in sixth again out-qualified his Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton, who was seventh.
It’s going to be another difficult race for Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli after he qualified 11th. The Italian started his debut season strongly but has only been in the points in two of his last eight races.
Yuki Tsunoda was 12th in a result that doesn’t help his efforts to show he can stay on for next season at Red Bull.
Lance Stroll spun and crashed heavily into the barriers after getting two wheels on the grass. The Canadian was able to return his damaged Aston Martin to the pits but couldn’t continue and qualified last.
