ZANDVOORT, Netherlands (AP) — Oscar Piastri starts on pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix on Sunday with the chance to extend his Formula 1 standings lead over McLaren teammate and title rival Lando Norris.
Piastri was behind Norris in all three practice sessions but produced the pace when it mattered in qualifying to beat Norris by .012 of a second.
It was “the definition of peaking at the right time,” Piastri said.
The Australian driver leads Norris by nine points in the standings but Norris has won three of the last four races.
The Dutch Grand Prix could see the fifth one-two finish in a row for McLaren, which is running away with the constructors' title with more than double the points total of any other team.
Max Verstappen starts his home race third for Red Bull and has a history of success in front of his home crowd. “To see so much orange on the grandstand, it’s always very special,” Verstappen said Saturday.
He's third in the standings, too, but his chances of defending the title seem to have gone. Verstappen is 97 points off Piastri.
Isack Hadjar qualified a career-best fourth for Racing Bulls, with George Russell fifth for Mercedes and the two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton sixth and seventh.
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