The Red Bull driver was 21 thousandths of a second faster than Ferrari man Charles Leclerc in qualifying on Saturday and thus secured a Formula 1 pole position for the 17th time. Third place went to Carlos Sainz in the second Ferrari.
Verstappen celebrated a triumphant victory in Zandvoort last year when Formula 1 returned to the Netherlands after 36 years. The Dutchman is currently going into the 15th World Championship race with a lavish 93-point lead over his team-mate Sergio Perez. The start is on Sunday at 3 p.m. (live ORF1, RTL and Sky).
“Being up front here is crazy,” said Verstappen, who intercepted Leclerc on his last fast lap. On Friday, his Red Bull had technical problems in the first practice session, after which many new parts were installed in the car. “Yesterday was a bit difficult. But today we got it right, the whole team,” added the 24-year-old. “It’s great to see so much Oranje here,” he said in Dutch.
“It was really close. It was a great lap from Max at the end. Our car got better and better during qualifying,” said Leclerc, who is already 98 points behind Verstappen in the world championship standings. “We are much stronger here than last weekend,” he gave hope to the Scuderia fans. But Ferrari needs a good start. Sainz, who was 0.092 seconds slower than the pole sitter, was happy about “a clean lap”.
Verstappen is heading for a new record of victories in a Formula 1 season. He’s currently at nine, and he still has eight chances to break the current record. The two Germans Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel each won 13 races.
Source: Nachrichten
