F1 qualifying, crash chaos, pole
Verstappen reaches for ten-year-old F1 record
08/26/2023, 4:40 p.m
Max Verstappen takes pole in front of a home crowd: The Dutch F1 driver from Red Bull wins qualifying in Zandvoort on the last lap. Now a record beckons. Before that, the rain and a few crashes whirl up the Formula 1 day.
Max Verstappen has secured pole position for his home Grand Prix and is now reaching for a decade-old Formula 1 record. The world champion in the Red Bull turned the fastest lap in qualifying at Zandvoort on Saturday, relegating Lando Norris in the McLaren and Mercedes driver George Russell to second and third place. There were two red flag stoppages in a chaotic time chase after first Logan Sargeant and then Charles Leclerc crashed.
In the race on Sunday (3 p.m. / Sky), Verstappen is now aiming for his ninth win in a row. Only Sebastian Vettel has managed such a series so far, and he was also in the Red Bull in the 2013 season. Verstappen is on pole position for the eighth time in the 13th race of the season. Williams driver Alex Albon surprised in fourth, Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez showed another disappointing performance in seventh.
Hulkenberg disappointed
Qualifying, which was influenced by the rain, was also extremely disappointing for record world champion Lewis Hamilton, among others, the Mercedes driver only finished 13th. Nico Hülkenberg, who had renewed his contract on Thursday for 2024, made it into Q2 in the weak Haas, but started only from rank 15.
Daniel Ricciardo suffered a metacarpal fracture in training, which gave Liam Lawson a very short-term Formula 1 debut at AlphaTauri. Unsurprisingly, the New Zealander ended up in last place. At the start of the summer break, Verstappen clearly leads the World Cup with 314 points, while Perez, in second place, is already 125 points behind. There are still ten races to be completed this year.
The Formula 1 Grand Prix in the Netherlands will again be accompanied by protests this year. Before the qualifying session, environmental activists took to the streets to criticize the staging of the race in Zandvoort as part of a bicycle demo. The route is in the middle of a nature reserve. “Zandvoort is the worst place for an event like this,” Karel van Broekhoven told SID. The former Greens politician is chairman of the “Silence on the Coast” foundation and also spokesman for the environmental protection organization MOB. Together they have been suing the Grand Prix for years, the bike demo was organized by the Extinction Rebellion movement.