George Russell Bounces Back With a Mini Pole at Zandvoort as Fernando Alonso Is Eliminated by a Strange Failure in Q1

George Russell returns strong from the holidays. The English driver will start first in the Zandvoort Sprint after clocking 1:11.567, in a fiercely tight qualifying where there was less than a tenth separating the top four, and to make matters worse, neither of the two main title contenders are among them.

Aston Martin’s setback. Fernando Alonso’s active aero failed at the crucial moment, causing a spin-out and leaving the Spaniard at the back of the grid. A deficit of more than 20 km/h that leads to a misleading result: with his free practice time, Alonso would have advanced to SQ1.

Antonelli, fifth; Hamilton, seventh

After a diffuse first half of the season, George Russell aims to start the comeback. The Mercedes driver has taken pole in Zandvoort for the Sprint race, though only with 41 thousandths of a second advantage over Lando Norris, 55 ahead of Charles Leclerc, and 99 with Oscar Piastri, in one of the tightest SQ3s on record.

Russell will start first after a Friday in which the three best teams in Formula 1 looked very evenly matched. In fact, McLaren looked stronger on pace, but Russell’s lap was perfect. The most interesting thing is that the two main title contenders failed and will have to climb back.

Kimi Antonelli had a spin-out right at the start of the session, narrowly avoiding disaster. Probably the car was damaged, which explains his lack of pace for the rest of the session, leaving him fifth. But Lewis Hamilton fared even worse, making a mistake in SQ3 that leaves him seventh.

In between will be Max Verstappen, the only Red Bull in SQ3. And his new teammate, Liam Lawson, who is substituting at Zandvoort for the injured Isack Hadjar, did not advance past SQ2 and will start eleventh. In fact, he beat Yuki Tsunoda, his replacement at Racing Bulls, by a mere 9 thousandths.

Pierre Gasly made it into SQ3 with Alpine, which will start eighth. Just behind him will be Gabriel Bortoleto, ninth with Audi, and the rookie Arvid Lindblad, tenth with the other Racing Bulls. As for Carlos Sainz, he was eliminated in SQ1, losing out to Alexander Albon, his Williams teammate, who did pass the cut.

A bittersweet feeling at Aston Martin. Fernando Alonso had never been so close to the best as in FP1, within 1.5 seconds. But in qualifying the active aero on his car failed. The rear wing would not open, and that left him with a top speed deficit of 20 km/h compared to Lance Stroll, which will force him to start from the back. With the FP1 time, he would have made the cut.

Sprint Qualifying Results Formula 1 Dutch GP 2026

Images | Red Bull, Mercedes