Formula 1: Russell pips Norris to Zandvoort Sprint pole in thrilling qualifying

Zandvoort, Aug 21 (IANS) George Russell returned from the Formula One summer break in style, securing pole position for the Zandvoort Sprint after edging McLaren’s Lando Norris by just 0.041 seconds in a closely fought Sprint Qualifying session on Friday.

In the final stretch, Russell achieved the fastest lap with a time of 1 minute and 11.567 seconds, which put Mercedes at the head of the grid, Norris ending up in second place and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc securing third position.

Oscar Piastri was just a little way behind Leclerc in fourth position, with Kimi Antonelli from Mercedes finishing in fifth place. Max Verstappen from Red Bull managed to qualify in sixth place, beating Lewis Hamilton, Pierre Gasly from Alpine, Gabriel Bortoleto from Audi and Arvid Lindblad from Racing Bulls.

The race for the pole position stayed open during the session, with Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari taking turns to set the fastest times in the three qualifying parts.

At first Norris seemed to have secured the pole position after completing a lap in 1:11.608, but Russell then launched a late surge to win it by only 0.041 seconds over the McLaren driver.

The man who had taken the lead during the only hour of Free Practice earlier that day could not maintain that speed when it counted. During qualifying the Italian had a tough start, running over the gravel on his first flying lap before going back to the pits. Mercedes subsequently stated that there was no immediate damage to his car.

The race got off to a start with the drivers using medium tyres as they got used to the completely dry Zandvoort track after it had previously rained lightly.

Before Leclerc, Hamilton and Norris took the lead, Russell established the starting benchmark, and Piastri then got involved in the race at the front as McLaren seemed to gain from its most recent improvements.

Leclerc ultimately completed SQ1 in first place, beating out Norris and Piastri, with Hamilton, Russell and Lawson also managing to progress.

In the first part of the session Aston Martin had another tough time. After locking up at the first corner Fernando Alonso had difficulties, and it was later found that his rear wing’s Straight Line Mode was not working properly. Alonso finished the session in 22nd place and was therefore eliminated together with Lance Stroll, Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Perez, Carlos Sainz and Ollie Bearman.

In SQ2 Piastri set a new standard with a lap time of 1:12.026, which was almost five-tenths of a second faster than Norris’s. McLaren decided to remain on the track and thus ended the session in first and second place, while Russell, Leclerc, Hamilton, Antonelli, Verstappen, Gasly, Bortoleto and Lindblad all also obtained positions in the final shoot-out.

Liam Lawson, driving in place of Isack Hadjar, came very close to securing a spot in SQ3 and ended up in 11th position, just 0.009 seconds in front of his Racing Bulls team-mate Yuki Tsunoda. Franco Colapinto, Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban Ocon and Alex Albon were also the other drivers who were eliminated.

The last eight-minute stint involved the use of soft tyres and ended in a tight one-lap race for pole position.

Norris was the first of the top contenders to complete a flying lap and thus secured provisional pole position with a time of 1:11.608; although Antonelli was unable to beat the McLaren, Russell performed when it was important by finishing with a time of 1:11.567 and thus took the lead.

As a result of Leclerc’s last move he ended up in third position, which dropped Piastri to fourth, while Verstappen and Hamilton took the second and third positions respectively.

The top 10 positions were completed by Gasly, Bortoleto and Lindblad.

–IANS

hs/