Dutch Grand Prix: Oscar Piastri beats Lando Norris to pole position at Zandvoort

Oscar Piastri pipped McLaren team-mate Lando Norris to pole position at the Dutch Grand Prix.

Piastri turned the tables on Norris, who had appeared the quicker McLaren driver all weekend, by 0.012 seconds as their title battle continues to be intensely close.

The Australian leads Norris by nine points in the championship with 10 races remaining.

Both times were set on their first laps in final qualifying at Zandvoort. Norris was actually quicker than Piastri by 0.004secs on their final runs, but neither driver improved on their initial attempt.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took third, 0.263secs slower than Piastri, while Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar put in the best performance so far of his impressive rookie season to qualify fourth.

Mercedes’ George Russell took fifth, ahead of the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton. Leclerc had trailed Hamilton pretty much all weekend but beat the seven-time champion by 0.05secs when it mattered.