Norris roars to Dutch Grand Prix pole, Piastri third

Max Verstappen can be beaten at his home Dutch Grand Prix, after all.

Lando Norris produced a blistering lap to qualify on pole ahead of the three-time world champion on Saturday.

Next, he'll aim to end Verstappen's winning streak on home soil in Sunday's race, further cutting into the Dutch driver's lead at the top of the overall standings.

With gusts of wind off the North Sea creating unpredictable conditions for the drivers, the Englishman's final lap was far ahead of anyone else's pace, beating second-place Verstappen by 0.356sec and his Australian teammate Oscar Piastri by 0.502.

Norris said his McLaren felt "amazing" but that he expected Verstappen would "put up a good fight" in front of his home crowd.

Verstappen, who is heading into his 200th race, had taken pole position and won all three of the races held at Zandvoort since the Dutch Grand Prix returned to the F1 schedule in 2021.

"I think the whole qualifying we just lacked a bit of pace," Verstappen said.

"We'll give it a good go (on Sunday), but of course, when you are more than three-tenths behind in qualifying, I think we have to be realistic."

Norris has started on pole three times before, but has yet to convert a pole into a win.

"I've started toward the front a lot of times. I know my stats are not the best for that and, more often than not, I've gone backwards rather than holding positions," Norris said.

"But that's just what I've done so far and I've worked hard, I'm working hard, to try and change that. But it's not something that affects me. I'm not going to go out tomorrow to try and suddenly prove people wrong."

Mercedes' George Russell was fourth, Verstappen's under-pressure Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez fifth and Charles Leclerc sixth.

There were two big surprises in the second part of qualifying as Carlos Sainz Jr. initially qualified 11th for Ferrari and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, who won the last race in Belgium after Russell was disqualified, had finished 12th for Mercedes.

Hamilton was then handed a three-place penalty for impeding Perez in qualifying, dropping him further back on what he had already called a "frustrating" day.

The stewards ruled Hamilton, who was on his way to the pits, had tried to move out of the way but "could have slowed down more" to make way for Perez, who was trying to set a competitive time.

Logan Sargeant didn't take part in qualifying after a heavy crash in practice Saturday morning which left his Williams on fire.

The American wasn't hurt and is set to start Sunday's race at the back.

Williams' day went from bad to worse when Sargeant's teammate Alex Albon was disqualified from qualifying because the floor of his car was "found to lie outside the regulatory volume." Albon had qualified eighth, so everyone behind him moves up a place. That means Sainz is set to start 10th and Hamilton 14th.