Dutch GP: Verstappen beat Leclerc by 0.021 seconds as Perez crashes
3rd September 2022Red Bull’s Max Verstappen secured his second pole position, on home turf, by 0.021 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc while the Dutchman’s teammate, Sergio Perez, crashed out at the final corner.
Q1
In an unusual fashion, when the pit exit light went green to start qualifying, no one rushed to get out of their respective garage. After nearly a minute, both Haas drivers were the first drivers to venture out onto the Netherlands circuit with Kevin Magnussen out in front.
Naturally the Danish driver was the first to set a lap time on the board with a 1:12.680. However, this time was soon beaten by Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou who went 0.039 seconds faster than the Dane.
However, it wasn’t long for the Red Bull’s Dutchman, and home hero, to jump to the top of the timing sheet with a blisteringly quick lap: 1:11.317. He was quickly followed by Mercedes’ George Russell and Sir Lewis Hamilton respectively.
Race control were soon made aware of an unsafe release for McLaren’s Lando Norris who was released into the path of Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda. The Japanese driver was forced to slam on the brakes as he returned to his respective garage to avoid a collision with Norris.
As two minutes remained on the clock, the top two drivers of Verstappen and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc remained in the pit lane while Williams’ Alexander Albon returned to the pit lane – to progress into Q2.
Eliminated:
20. Nicholas Latifi, Williams
19. Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin
18. Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren
17. Kevin Magnussen, Haas
16. Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo
Q2
When Q2 went green, Williams’ last surviving driver, Albon, was the first driver to venture out onto the Dutch circuit with used tyres. However, the session was quickly red flagged as a flare found its way onto the circuit, plus the London-born Thai driver almost ran over a flock of pigeons at the apex of turn seven.
It was soon reported, the person who had thrown the flare onto the track had been removed from the circuit as the session got back underway.
Verstappen, Albon and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez were soon out on track as the session went back to green. After their first flying laps, Verstappen set the fastest lap of the session with a 1:10.927 ahead Perez and Albon, respectively.
After the first set of flying laps, Verstappen remained out on top of the timing board ahead of Hamilton (P2) and Perez (P3).
Only three minutes remained as Albon raced around Zandvoort on his own. The Williams driver soon climbed up to P10, temporarily, before the rest of the field decided to pop out onto the circuit to complete their final laps of Q2.
Eliminated:
15. Alexander Albon, Williams
14. Guanyu Zhou, Alfa Romeo
13. Fernando Alonso, Alpine
12. Esteban Ocon, Alpine
11. Pierre Gasly, Alpha Tauri
Q3
When the pitlane traffic light went green, Holland’s home hero: Verstappen was the first driver to drive out onto the circuit first. As the Dutchman crossed the start/finish line, the Red Bull driver was able to drive in clean air as the rest of the pack rolled out of the pitlane.
Naturally, the Dutch driver was the first to set a lap time with an incredible 1:10.515 lap.
After the first set of flying laps, Leclerc jumped up to provisional pole position with a blistering 1:10.456 which was 0.059 seconds faster than his championship rival.
Further down the field, Stroll was forced to retire from qualifying as the team confirmed the Canadian driver had a technical issue within his AMR22.
Verstappen managed to go on to secure his second, consecutive, pole position on home turf as his teammate Perez crashed out at the final corner.
Top 10:
10. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
9. Yuki Tsundoa, Alpha Tauri
8. Mick Schumacher, Haas
7. Lando Norris, McLaren
6. George Russell, Mercedes
5. Sergio Perez, Red Bull
4. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
3. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
2. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull
That’s it for the article: Dutch GP: Verstappen beat Leclerc by 0.021 seconds as Perez crashes! What do you think of flares, should more be done to stop fans bringing them in? Let us know in the comments!
Read more Formula 1 here!
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- Dutch Grand Prix: Leclerc tops FP2 by 0.004 over Sainz
- Oscar Piastri signs McLaren for 2023
- F1 Dutch Grand Prix: Russell heads 1-2 in FP1 as Verstappen retires
- Verstappen will pay tribute to father at Dutch GP
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
