Lando Norris storms to Dutch GP pole by 0.3s, Lewis Hamilton only 12th

Lando Norris clinched pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix with a blistering lap, beating F1 title rival Max Verstappen by 0.3s.

After two of the three practice sessions were hit with rain, the competitive order heading into qualifying was unclear.

It was McLaren who immediately appeared to be the team to beat throughout qualifying.

Come Q3, Norris proved to be untouchable as he was the only driver to dip into the 1m09s.

His eventual margin was 0.356s over Verstappen.

Verstappen did make a mistake on his final lap into the Turn 11-12 chicane - but it was enough to secure second for his home race.

Oscar Piastri will start the race from third, 0.499s down on Norris’ pole time.

George Russell will start fourth ahead of Sergio Perez, who was an encouraging fifth.

Charles Leclerc could only manage sixth in the Ferrari ahead of Fernando Alonso, Alex Albon, Lance Stroll and Pierre Gasly.

There were two shock Q2 eliminations with Carlos Sainz in 11th and Lewis Hamilton in 12th - both drivers had scrappy laps.

Daniel Ricciardo was an early elimination, failing to replicate what teammate Tsunoda could produce.

It was a similar story at Alpine with Esteban Ocon lamenting the handling of his car as he was knocked out in Q1.

Both Saubers were also eliminated early on, with Valtteri Bottas 1.1s ahead of his teammate.

Logan Sargeant failed to take part in qualifying after crashing heavily in FP3.