Max Verstappen has taken pole position for his home Grand Prix this weekend just three-hundredths of a second ahead of Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton and his teammate Valtteri Bottas.
The 72-lap Dutch Grand Prix would suggest that a two-stopper and one-stopper are about on par with each other from a strategy standpoint but there many elements that could impact that such as tire degradation, heat, wind, safety car periods etc. In fact there were six red flags over just four hours of total running leading up to Sunday’s race.
The return of the Dutch Grand Prix was initially scheduled for 2020 but postponed to this year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. With some high-energy corners and no relevant previous data to fall back on, the strategy and tire performance is a bit of an unknown.
Qualifying Results:
| Pos | Name | Car | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda | 1m10.036s | 1m09.071s | 1m08.885s |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m10.114s | 1m09.726s | 1m08.923s |
| 3 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1m10.219s | 1m09.769s | 1m09.222s |
| 4 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1m10.274s | 1m09.541s | 1m09.478s |
| 5 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m09.829s | 1m09.437s | 1m09.527s |
| 6 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Ferrari | 1m10.022s | 1m09.87s | 1m09.537s |
| 7 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1m10.05s | 1m10.033s | 1m09.59s |
| 8 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1m10.179s | 1m09.919s | 1m09.933s |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine-Renault | 1m10.435s | 1m10.02s | 1m09.956s |
| 10 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m10.255s | 1m09.865s | 1m10.166s |
| 11 | George Russell | Williams-Mercedes | 1m10.382s | 1m10.332s | |
| 12 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1m10.438s | 1m10.367s | |
| 13 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m10.489s | 1m10.406s | |
| 14 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams-Mercedes | 1m10.093s | 1m11.161s | |
| 15 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Honda | 1m10.462s | 1m11.314s | |
| 16 | Sergio Pérez | Red Bull-Honda | 1m10.53s | ||
| 17 | Sebastian Vettel | Aston Martin-Mercedes | 1m10.731s | ||
| 18 | Robert Kubica | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1m11.301s | ||
| 19 | Mick Schumacher | Haas-Ferrari | 1m11.387s | ||
| 20 | Nikita Mazepin | Haas-Ferrari | 1m11.875s |
