Dutch GP: Second Row on the Grid for George at Zandvoort

Mixed emotions in the first qualifying session after the summer break: George in P4, Lewis P14.

Formula 1 returned from its summer break to changeable weather conditions at Zandvoort this weekend.

George was undeterred by this and qualified in P4 for the Dutch Grand Prix. Meanwhile, Lewis struggled for grip and failed to make it into Q3 in P12.

Unfortunately Lewis was found to have impeded Sergio Perez in Q1 and therefore has been awarded a three place grid drop for tomorrow’s race. After Alex Albon was subsequently excluded from qualifying, Lewis will start Sunday's Grand Prix from P14.

The weather conditions at the start of qualifying were better than in the morning in FP3. The sun was out and the track was completely dry. However, according to the weather forecast, there was still a risk of rain during the qualifying session.

With so much rain so far this weekend, there was no shortage of Soft tyres for the drivers in the three qualifying sessions.

This meant that George had two sets of fresh Soft tyres available for Q3. He struggled with slow speed understeer on his first run, but still managed P4.

George was the last car out for the final attempt in Q3, where he was able to improve his time once again to reclaim P4 from Perez. This means he will start the race from the second row of the grid.

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Tricky Conditions in Qualifying

Lewis set the fastest time on his first Soft run in Q1, while George struggled with understeer and a slipping car in the slow corners. He was P10 after the first run.

In the final minutes, our duo went out again, Lewis on the used Soft tyres from the first run, George on a new set of Soft tyres, with which he set a new fastest time. In the end, George and Lewis finished Q1 in 2^nd and 5^th place respectively, safely through to Q2.

At the start of Q2, the skies over the track became cloudier, but there was still no rain. George and Lewis completed their first runs on new Soft tyres: P3 for George, P5 for Lewis.

While George waited in the pits, Lewis completed another run on new Soft tyres and although he improved, he was unable to make it into Q3 in P12.

Lewis was slower in the first and third sectors than on his first run and it looked like he was struggling with rear grip.

Quiz: Test Your Knowledge of the Dutch Grand Prix

Wind, Rain and Incidents Cost Valuable Practice Time

After two days of changeable weather, the Grand Prix starts on Sunday at 15:00 local time (14:00 BST) with relatively little knowledge from the free practice sessions.

On Friday, drivers and teams were able to gain some experience on a dry track. FP1 was affected by strong winds and rain, but FP2 was dry.

FP3 on Saturday morning was wet again. However, a crash involving Logan Sargeant, who hit the barriers after 20 minutes, had a more significant impact.

The Williams driver was uninjured, but the damage to the barrier required lengthy repairs and the session was restarted with just two minutes to go.

This left the drivers and the team with very little time to set up the car for the different conditions and prepare for the race.

Everything you need to know about the Circuit Zandvoort before the race can be found in our Grand Prix Guide.

Solid Friday in Windy Zandvoort

George Russell

It was a challenging qualifying session today. In Q1 I was really struggling. In Q2, I had the pace to match the McLarens. In Q3, we slipped back a little and ultimately that left us in P4. I think that was probably the maximum for us today.

It was very difficult to get the tyres consistently in the right window. Lewis had great pace in Q1 but suffered from that in Q2. The conditions kept changing too so it was difficult to align everything to get the most out of the car. Finding that sweet spot was definitely not easy. The gap to the front was quite big today but I think we can have a better race tomorrow. We will be looking forward and trying to get on the podium once again.

Lewis Hamilton

Today was frustrating. We had been looking good throughout the weekend and in Q1, I was pleased with the balance of the car. Unfortunately, we struggled more in Q2, and it slipped through our fingers. I couldn’t go any faster than I did on my final lap and that wasn’t enough to get us through. These things happen but ultimately, I didn’t do a good enough job. I will push to get as many points as we can tomorrow and enjoy myself out there.

Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO

We were hoping for a better Saturday. In all the practice sessions, we had looked like we were close to the front of the field. Unfortunately, in Qualifying the car was on a bit of knife edge. It was hard for both drivers to get the most out of it consistently. Lewis was therefore knocked out in Q2, despite showing strong pace in Q1. George likely got the most we could have hoped for today with P4, but we are not pleased with those results.

We look ahead to tomorrow now and will be aiming to move forward with both drivers in the race. Our race pace on Friday looked solid, although it will be difficult to compete with the McLarens. They looked very strong in FP2 so our fight will likely be to get on the podium.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

Our performance today was disappointing, and we had certainly hoped for more. Both drivers looked more competitive at times in the session than the results showed. Lewis was strong in Q1 and George in Q2, but we failed to get it together when it mattered. The car hasn't felt as good for either driver today. We were suffering from understeer yesterday but today we were struggling for rear grip.

Our attention now turns to tomorrow’s race. Our long run pace was reasonable yesterday and hopefully that will remain. If it does, we will be looking to move forwards with both drivers. The McLarens looked very strong on Friday so we may be looking at keeping George in the fight for the lower reaches of the podium, rather than victory. With Lewis, we will aim to recover well and score as many points as we can.

2024 Dutch GP Qualifying Result

1	Lando Norris	McLaren	1:09.673
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:10.029
3	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	1:10.172
4	George Russell	Mercedes-AMG	1:10.244
5	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull	1:10.416
6	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:10.582
7	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	1:10.633
8	Alexander Albon	Williams	1:10.653
9	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	1:10.857
10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	1:10.977
11	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	1:10.914
12	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes-AMG	1:10.948
13	Yuki Tsunoda	Racing Bulls	1:10.955
14	Nico Hülkenberg	Haas	1:11.215
15	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	1:11.295
16	Daniel Ricciardo	Racing Bulls	1:11.943
17	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	1:11.995
18	Valtteri Bottas	Sauber	1:12.168
19	Zhou Guanyu	Sauber	1:13.261
20	Logan Sargeant	Williams	DNS

2024 Dutch GP FP3 Result

1	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	1:20.311	5
2	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	1:20.450	9
3	Valtteri Bottas	Sauber	1:21.155	7
4	Lando Norris	McLaren	1:21.387	6
5	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	1:21.461	6
6	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	1:21.643	4
7	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	1:21.850	10
8	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	1:21.941	7
9	Nico Hülkenberg	Haas	1:22.354	5
10	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	1:22.589	6
11	Zhou Guanyu	Sauber	1:23.240	5
12	Logan Sargeant	Williams	1:23.287	4
13	George Russell	Mercedes-AMG	1:23.958	7
14	Alexander Albon	Williams	1:24.007	5
15	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes-AMG	1:24.098	3
16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:24.158	4
17	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:24.360	3
18	Daniel Ricciardo	Racing Bulls	1:25.433	7
19	Yuki Tsunoda	Racing Bulls	-	4
20	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull	-	2

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