ZANDVOORT (Netherlands) • Max Verstappen put Red Bull on pole position for his home Dutch Grand Prix in front of 70,000 ecstatic fans yesterday, with Formula One rival and championship leader Lewis Hamilton starting in second place.

Britain's Hamilton, three points clear in the standings after 12 races, was 0.038 seconds slower for Mercedes than Verstappen's best effort of 1min 8.885 seconds around the seaside circuit.

Silver Arrows teammate Valtteri Bottas qualified third, with Pierre Gasly fourth for Red Bull's sister team AlphaTauri.

The pole was the sixth in the last seven races for Verstappen and the 10th of his career.

"It's an amazing feeling of course to get pole position here," he said as an army of orange-clad fans let off flares and celebrated.

"The crowd is incredible and today was also very enjoyable. The car was really nice to drive and this track in qualifying, once the fuel comes out, is really cool."

Today's race will be the first Dutch Grand Prix in 36 years, the return driven by Verstappen's success and huge following.

Last year's race was axed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"He did a fantastic lap and deserves the pole," said seven-time world champion Hamilton, as some boos could be heard from the crowd.

"It was so close. First, I want to say a big thank you to all the orange fans, the Dutch fans, what an amazing venue, what an amazing track.

"It's a difficult circuit to overtake, but what a place for us to be racing. Strategy will come into it and it's great to see so many people here. Hopefully, the track provides a great race."

Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz qualified fifth and sixth, with Antonio Giovinazzi standing out in seventh for Alfa Romeo.

Alpine's Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso will line up eighth and ninth, while Daniel Ricciardo qualified 10th for McLaren.

Poland's Robert Kubica, standing in at short notice for 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen at Alfa after the Finn tested positive for Covid-19 hours before qualifying, came in 18th.

Williams added their team boss Jost Capito would also be absent from the paddock for the rest of the weekend as a precautionary measure, despite testing negative, after meeting the Finn on Friday.

"Kimi is displaying no symptoms and is in good spirits. He has immediately entered isolation in his hotel. The team wishes Kimi a speedy recovery," Alfa Romeo said in a statement.

Raikkonen's participation at next weekend's Italian Grand Prix at Monza, the fastest track on the calendar and a home race for Italian team Alfa, is also in doubt as he cannot return to the paddock until he receives a negative test.

The 41-year-old, who is the oldest driver on the starting grid, announced earlier week that he was retiring at the end of the season, 20 years after his F1 debut.

REUTERS

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