George Russell beats Lando Norris to Dutch GP Sprint pole as F1 returns

Michelle Foster 21 Aug 2026 4:28 PM

George Russell has given his voice to the safety car debate

George Russell returned from the summer break with a first pole position of the F1 2026 as the season resume, beating Lando Norris to pole in the Sprint for the Dutch GP.

Russell will start Saturday’s Sprint ahead of Norris, and Charles Leclerc.

Double Aston Martin elimination in SQ1

One by one, the 22 drivers left the pit lane on medium tyres for the start of SQ1’s12-minute session.

The list included Liam Lawson, behind the wheel of the Red Bull RB22, and Yuki Tsunoda, who was in Lawson’s Racing Bulls F1 car.

Kimi Antonelli was in trouble early in the session, taking the high line and off into the gravel. He had to bail out his lap with Lewis Hamilton P1 in the early running. The Ferrari driver posted a 1:13.151.

“No damage spotted,” Mercedes told Antonelli.

With minutes to go, Charles Leclerc was P1 with a 1:13.013 while Antonelli produced a banker lap to go seventh.

Fernando Alonso in his updated Aston Martin with its upgraded Honda engine went off the track. He was down in 21st place.

The session ended with Leclerc quickest with a 1:13.011, and Alonso slowest of all with a 1:16.014.

Eliminated: Oliver Bearman, Carlos Sainz, Lance Stroll, Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Perez, Fernando Alonso.

F1 2026: The season’s winners and losers

The results of the F1 2026 championship

The F1 2026 Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship standings

Lawson and Tsunoda eliminated in SQ2

SQ2 began with an impeding situation between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen while Oscar Piastri set the pace with a 1:12.026, a tenth up on Leclerc.

George Russell was third ahead of Hamilton and Antonelli.

Audi was the team on the hunt with Nico Hulkenberg in 11th place and Gabriel Bortoleto P12. Bortoleto made it through 10th place but that meant neither Lawson nor Tsunoda made it out of Q2.

Lawson missed out by four-tenths while Tsunado was a further 0.009s down.

Eliminated: Liam Lawson, Yuki Tsunoda, Franco Colapinto, Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban Ocon, Alex Albon

George Russell in Sprint pole

The drivers headed out for SQ with Norris ahead of Russell and Antonelli.

Norris put out the benchmark, a 1:11.608.

Russell upped that to a 1:11.567 to take provisional pole. Provisional pole became pole by 0.05s ahead of Russell.

Dutch Grand Prix: Sprint Qualifying top ten

1 Russell 1:11.567
2 Norris 1:11.608
3 Leclerc 1:11.622
4 Piastri 1:11.66
5 Antonelli 1:11.794
6 Verstappen 1:12.094
7 Hamilton 1:12.191
7 Hulkenberg 1:13.784
8 Gasly 1:12.578
9 Lindblad 1:12.737
10 Lawson 1:13.136

The full results from Sprint Qualifying at Zandvoort

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