George Russell claimed his third sprint pole of the season for Mercedes in a Zandvoort Formula 1 sprint qualifying where the top four were split by less than a tenth of a second.

Russell trails team-mate Kimi Antonelli by 50 points, but nailed a 1m11.567s lap here - despite a relatively slow middle sector - as the field switched to soft tyres for the one-lap sprint pole shootout.

“Must be a bit lighter after the engagement ring,” joked Russell, alluding to his recent proposal to his partner.

Lando Norris was the first to set a proper flying lap of the SQ3 runners with the upgraded McLaren that has crinkle-cut louvres on its rear-wing endplate, and McLaren was the only team to have two cars in the top four with Piastri in fourth.

Norris was just 0.041s off Russell, while Charles Leclerc led the Ferrari charge just 0.055s off the Mercedes benchmark.

Kimi Antonelli spun in practice and went off at Turn 12 in SQ1, and could only manage fifth and over two tenths off Russell in the final pole shootout.

Max Verstappen, who was noted but soon cleared by stewards for potentially impeding Lewis Hamilton in SQ1, was sixth and over half a second off the pace, while a snap of oversteer at Turn 1 and a struggle to turn in at Turn 9 hampered Lewis Hamilton in seventh.

The upgraded Alpine propelled Pierre Gasly back to the front of the midfield where it lived for the first part of the season before the upgraded Racing Bulls took over, with Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto actually ahead of the top Racing Bulls of Arvid Lindblad.

Lindblad’s statement

The promoted Liam Lawson had staggeringly beaten Verstappen in SQ1, having taken over the injured Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull for this race, but it was a different story in SQ2.

Such is the cut-throat nature of Red Bull’s junior programme, Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad will be absolutely delighted that he relegated Lawson out of SQ2 in the so-called B-team.

“I have no idea what happened,” said Lawson, who appeared to be struggling with understeer, and ended up 11th and the first car out of SQ2.

“Come on, boys, well done!” was Lindblad’s message.

On the plus side, taking the context of being beaten by Lindblad out of it, being just over three tenths off Verstappen in sprint qualifying is a decent result for Lawson's first time in this Red Bull car.

Yuki Tsunoda was three tenths off team-mate Lindblad, despite just getting his first taste of a 2026 car today in place of Lawson for this weekend.

Franco Colapinto suffered as his Alpine team-mate Gasly’s upgraded car sailed into SQ3 while he had to settle for 13th, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg - who perhaps suffered from setting his best lap earlier in the session, eight-tenths off stablemate Bortoleto.

Esteban Ocon and Alex Albon managed 15th and 16th as the top Haas and Williams respectively…

More Aston woe

Ollie Bearman and Carlos Sainz have both hammered their team-mates in 2026 qualifying, but were both beaten by their partners and out in SQ1 here in Zandvoort, landing in 17th and 18th respectively.

Late improvements from Ocon and Albon helped relegate their respective team-mates in a great start to the post-summer-break season for both.

Aston Martin’s massive step for Hungary was not replicated in Zandvoort - with Lance Stroll 18th and Fernando Alonso dead last complaining of vibrations on the straight, and “not from the tyres, eh?”. His straight mode rear wing setting was also not working.

The Cadillacs, led by new team boss Marcin Budkowski for the first time this weekend, split the Aston Martins, with Valtteri Bottas 20th ahead of Sergio Perez.

1 George Russell (Mercedes) 1m11.567s
2 Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.041s
3 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.055s
4 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.099s
5 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.227s
6 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.527s
7 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.624s
8 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.011s
9 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.016s
10 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +1.170s
11 Liam Lawson (Red Bull)
12 Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls)
13 Franco Colapinto (Alpine)
14 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi)
15 Esteban Ocon (Haas)
16 Alex Albon (Williams)
17 Ollie Bearman (Haas)
18 Carlos Sainz (Williams)
19 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
20 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac)
21 Sergio Perez (Cadillac)
22 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)