Piastri pips title rival Norris to Dutch GP pole

Grand Prix of the Netherlands

Date: 31 August 2018 Start time for the race: 14:00 BST on Sunday

Oscar Piastri pipped McLaren team-mate Lando Norris to pole position at the Grand Prix of the Netherlands.

As their title battle is still incredibly close, Piastri turned the tables on Norris, who had been the quicker McLaren driver all weekend, by 0.012 seconds.

With only 10 races left, the Australian holds the championship lead over Norris by nine points.

In Zandvoort’s final qualifying round, both times were set on their first laps. On their final runs, Norris and Piastri were actually quicker by 0.004 seconds, but neither driver had improved since their first attempt.

Max Verstappen of Red Bull placed third, 0.263 seconds slower than Piastri, while Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar placed fourth in his impressive rookie season.

Piastri once said, “That’s the definition of peaking at the right moment. Just a few corners have happened where I wasn’t able to move more quickly. I didn’t do that, but I did spend some time in other places.

Hadjar’s qualifying performance put him in the lead, finishing second behind team-mate Liam Lawson in eighth place and ahead of both Mercedes and Ferrari.

Due to his persistent engine problem, he had missed much of Friday practice. It made things even more eye-opening.

The Frenchman, who is now 20 years old, said: “I feel great. Amazing QA . Sincerely, I had a terrible experience yesterday. Really unanticipated.

We both knew it would be very difficult to reach Q3, and we both did, and I had a really good feeling this morning. On that final lap, I put it all on the line, and it turned out to be a great lap, so I’m happy. He really pushed me.

Hamilton was much happier after finishing 12th overall in Hungary in the opening race of the season.

The seven-time champion asserted, “This weekend, we have definitely seen progress, and that was the goal.” overall, better approach. Everything has just been more enjoyable.

Carlos Sainz’s Williams and Fernando Alonso, who are currently competing for fifth and sixth place in the constructors’ championship, finished third behind Lawson.

Alonso’s promise in practice on Friday, when he split the McLarens, faded, as it was always going to. If he had managed to run the fastest lap he did in the previous session, he would have finished seventh, despite Hamilton.

Alonso had run used tyres on his first run in Q3, just like everyone else except for Verstappen and the McLarens, and the track slowed as the session progressed.

He asserted that while running the final Q3, 10th is not the best starting position, but it is what we deserved. Since the ninth is only 0.15 seconds away from us, it is not even close. We hope it pays off because we have a different tire selection than some other teams.