Last update on. From the section Formula 1
The BBC Sport website has audio and text coverage of this year's Dutch Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen defeated Lewis Hamilton by 0.038 seconds to take pole position at the Dutch Grand Prix. This sent his loyal home fans wild.
Hamilton, the Red Bull driver, appeared to be in control during qualifying, but Hamilton improved his lap on the final lap and was unable to make it by the smallest margin.
The second Mercedes Valtteri Bottas Mercedes was third, just ahead of Pierre Gasly’s Alpha Tauri Ferraris.
Sergio Perez, Red Bull's Sergio Perez, was eliminated during the first session. He is now 16th.
Verstappen set the benchmark on the first lap final qualifying, beating Bottas by 0.29secs. This is a substantial margin considering that it was one of the fastest laps on the calendar.
Hamilton, who only managed one lap in Friday's second practice session, which reduced his time setting up the car on Friday afternoon, pulled it out with an iconic lap at the finish.
Verstappen's performance was better than he expected, as Hamilton ran exactly the same lap as Hamilton in his first run.
Verstappen admitted that he had done a double-upshift and also had failed to activate the DRS overtaking aid during the run to the finish. Both of these would have been costly in time.
He stated, "It's of course the best place. It is not easy to pass, it takes a lot of laps, the tyres struggle around high-speed corners, but we will get there tomorrow.
Hamilton was booed in front of a capacity crowd of 80,000 people as he conducted his interview right after the session. However, he thanked the enthusiasm from the local fans.
He said, "So close." A big thank you to all of the Dutch orange fans. It was an incredible venue and track. It is a great country to visit.
"Max did an incredible lap and I was so close catching him. It was difficult because of yesterday's missed session, but I tried my best.
It's difficult to overtake, but it's an amazing place to race. This is the largest crowd we have seen in a while. It's great to see so many people and I hope we can put on an amazing race. It's a tough circuit which makes it great to drive.
Verstappen will be supported by more than 70,000 people each day of the race weekend
The big three
Gasly did an outstanding job in placing the Alpha Tauri 4th ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi. He also produced another impressive performance to place 7th.
Kimi Raikkonen, his teammate, was unable to participate in the weekend's racing after he tested positive for coronavirus. Robert Kubica was appointed reserve driver. The veteran Pole finished 18th.
Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon were the ninth and ninth fastest Alpines, respectively, by 0.023 seconds. McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo was third.
Lando Norris didn't look at the pace of qualifying and finished 13th, his worst qualifying position for the year.
George Russell begins 11th despite his mistake
Williams suffered two crashes
Williams had a tough session. George Russell crashed in the penultimate corner of his second lap, after his heroics last weekend in placing his car on the front row wet in Belgium.
He was able to get back to the pits, but he couldn't go out again.
Nicholas Latifi, his teammate, saved him from losing his 11th spot on the grid.
After Russell's accident, the barriers were being repaired and the session was flagged. When it resumed, Latifi crashed at Turn Eight much more than Russell and ended the session early.
Russell stated: "Excuses to the entire team. I was pushing too hard today, which ultimately cost us Q3. There are no excuses.
"P11 will be starting tomorrow. I will do my best to make it up."
