Max Verstappen

Picture Credit: Twitter/ F1

After a rather quiet Belgian GP which was way short of any action, things were back to normal in Formula One this weekend with Dutch GP producing a very interesting qualifying round on Saturday. The sport is returning to the Circuit Zandvoort after a long gap of 36 years and the tricky track did produce few extremely exciting moments for all the motorsport fans.

In the end, it was Red Bull's Max Verstappen who clinched the pole position with the fastest lap in front of a jam-packed Orange Army in the stands ahead of the Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.

Vettel and Perez eliminated in Q1

It was an absolutely shocking result for Red Bull's Sergio Perez and Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel who finished P16 and P17 respectively in the qualifying round, getting eliminated in Q1 itself. Due to all the other cars slowing down before their final lap, both Vettel and Perez were stuck behind the traffic and unfortunately failed to register another flying lap in Q1 which resulted in their shocking elimination.

Meanwhile, Kimi Raikkonen's replacement for this weekend - Robert Kubica (Alfa Romeo) - did his best but was behind the pace of the pack and ended at P18. Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin (Haas) were the other two drivers who failed to qualify for Q2.

Russell and Latifi crash into barriers in Q2

After a very entertaining session, it was time for some more drama in Q2 as both Williams' drivers crashed into the barriers. With the session almost coming towards an end, Russell lost the balance of his car and retired. After a brief stoppage, action resumed but this time around his teammate Nicholas Latifi had a very similar crash.

Both the drivers were fortunately unharmed during their respective accidents. However, the session came to a premature end as a result of back-to-back red flags which eliminated George Russell (Williams), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Lando Norris (McLaren), Nicholas Latifi (Williams) and Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri) from Q2.

Perfect outing for Max Verstappen

It was an unbelievable flying lap from Max Verstappen in Q3 as he clinched the all-important pole position for his home Grand Prix. The Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas took P2 and P3 respectively. The top 10 for Sunday's race are as follows: