Nobody had George Russell down as the favourite for this pole. Not even him, since he hadn’t topped either of the two earlier segments. But on the lap that mattered, with the session already winding down, he pulled out a 1:11.567 good enough for sprint pole at the Dutch Grand Prix. Just 41 thousandths clear of Lando Norris, who’s still very much in the fight after coming out of the summer break with the 2026 title spread across several names.
The top of the sheet was a battle of inches. Less than a tenth covered the top four: Russell, Norris, Charles Leclerc at 0.055s, and Oscar Piastri just 0.099s back. That kind of margin doesn’t show up every week, and it says a lot about a front pack that came out of the break with almost nothing separating them.
The blow nobody saw coming: Hamilton out of the top five
Championship leader Kimi Antonelli finished fifth, 0.227s down, after clipping the gravel earlier in the session and picking up floor damage. Not ideal, though hardly a disaster given the gap was only two tenths.
The real trouble belonged to Lewis Hamilton. The Briton arrived at this weekend under plenty of noise, between Ferrari renewal talk and comments about how he used the break, and on track he ended up seventh, more than six tenths off pole and over half a second behind former teammate Leclerc. For someone who needs to start clawing back points in the championship, that’s not the result he was after. Max Verstappen split the two, sixth, at 0.527s.
Further back, the two drivers stepping into new seats this weekend, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda, did more than enough: 11th and 12th, eliminated in SQ2, with barely an hour of practice behind the wheel of these cars. On the other end, a rough day for Aston Martin. Both cars, Fernando Alonso’s and Lance Stroll’s, went out in SQ1. Alonso later admitted a problem with his straight-line deployment mode, in the very weekend the team rolled out its new-spec Honda power unit.
Full results – Sprint Qualifying, 2026 Dutch Grand Prix
| Pos | Driver | Team | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:11.567 |
| 2 | Lando Norris | McLaren | +0.041s |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +0.055s |
| 4 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | +0.099s |
| 5 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | +0.227s |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | +0.527s |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | +0.624s |
| 8 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | +1.011s |
| 9 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | +1.016s |
| 10 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | +1.170s |
| 11 | Liam Lawson | Red Bull | Eliminated in SQ2 |
| 12 | Yuki Tsunoda | Racing Bulls | Eliminated in SQ2 |
| 13 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | Eliminated in SQ2 |
| 14 | Nico Hülkenberg | Audi | Eliminated in SQ2 |
| 15 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | Eliminated in SQ2 |
| 16 | Alex Albon | Williams | Eliminated in SQ2 |
| 17 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | Eliminated in SQ1 |
| 18 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | Eliminated in SQ1 |
| 19 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | Eliminated in SQ1 |
| 20 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | Eliminated in SQ1 |
| 21 | Sergio Pérez | Cadillac | Eliminated in SQ1 |
| 22 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | Eliminated in SQ1 |
That grid sets up tomorrow’s sprint, 100 short kilometres with zero room for error. Russell heads in with a shot at real points right when he needs them most in the title race. Do you think the pole holds through turn one, or do Norris and the Ferraris get by before the lights even go out?
Sources: Formula1.com, GPFans, The Race, Grandprix.com, Autosport.
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