ZANDVOORT, Netherlands — Oscar Piastri will start in pole position at the Dutch Grand Prix on Sunday with the chance to extend his lead in the Formula 1 points standings over McLaren teammate Lando Norris, who is his title rival at second.
Piastri was behind Norris in all three practice sessions but produced the pace when it mattered in qualifying to beat Norris by .012 of a second.
It was “the definition of peaking at the right time,” Piastri said.
The Australian driver leads Norris by nine points in the standings, but the British driver has won three of the past four races as the international open-wheel circuit returns to action after three weekends off.
The Dutch GP could provide the fifth 1-2 finish in a row for McLaren, which is running away with the constructors’ title with more than double the points total of any other team.
Four-time reigning F1 champion Max Verstappen, who is a distant third in the standings, will start third for Red Bull and has a history of success in front of his home crowd.
“To see so much orange on the grandstand, it’s always very special,” Verstappen, who is 97 points out of first place, said Saturday.
Isack Hadjar qualified a career-best fourth for Racing Bulls, with George Russell fifth for Mercedes and the two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton sixth and seventh, respectively.