At Zandvoort’s sprint qualifying, the final session for Mercedes produced a tight three‑way battle at the front, with George Russell taking pole ahead of Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc. The top five positions were separated by only a tenth of a second. Lewis Hamilton, however, could only manage seventh in the second Ferrari, lagging behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Hamilton described his SQ3 performance as unsettled after subtle set‑up changes appeared to alter the car’s handling between practice and qualifying. The team’s adjustments, he felt, took the car in the wrong direction, resulting in a “completely different” car on track.
“It was not a good session, unfortunately,” Hamilton commented, conceding a 0.624‑second gap to pole‑winner Russell. “FP1 felt good; we made subtle adjustments, but when we got into qualifying, it was a completely different car.”
“We need to figure out what went wrong and then we’ll do our best tomorrow. We have to go through the data and understand the issue. Charles was in a slightly different place than me, so a bit closer to where I was.”
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images
Leclerc believed his third‑place qualifying lap was the best of the season so far.
“I would have preferred to start first, but I’m very happy about today because it was one of the best, if not the best, qualifying laps of the year,” he said after finishing just 0.055 seconds behind Russell. “That shows we are doing something right with the car’s feel. It’s a positive step forward, especially after a long break.”
He also noted that race‑pace assessment remains uncertain due to the sprint format’s limited practice and damp conditions at the start. “In terms of race pace, it’s a bit more difficult,” he acknowledged. “The conditions this morning were tricky, so we’ll have to wait and see how the sprint race unfolds. For now, it looks like a positive start to the weekend.”
