Dutch Grand Prix: Qualifying Recap

Showers throughout Saturday both ahead of final practice earlier in the morning and then the afternoon’s qualifying session presented a variety of on-track challenges for the field – primarily a damp then drying circuit when it came time to set the grid. 

Kevin Magnussen exited qualifying in the opening Q1 knockout round. Posting a best lap of 1:22.192 (P18) on his second set of the Pirelli Cinturato Green intermediate tires – the Dane was down on track time heading into the session having failed to set a lap in FP3 in similar conditions after an off into the gravel and the barrier at Turn 3.

Nico Hulkenberg fared better in his VF-23 successfully navigating his way out of Q1 and into Q2 courtesy of a 1:21.891 lap – also on his second set of intermediate rubber. Sticking with the compound while the track slowly dried out, Hulkenberg ran two more sets in Q2 finally clocking a best lap of 1:20.250 for P15 on the timesheets.

Home favorite Max Verstappen scored his third consecutive Dutch Grand Prix pole position in Q3 – the track dry enough for a pole battle on slick tires. The Red Bull Racing driver clocked a fastest lap of 1:10.567 ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris (1:11.104) and George Russell of Mercedes (1:11.294).

Kevin Magnussen:

“I set myself up for it a little bit by damaging the car in FP3 and not getting any wet laps in before qualifying. I tried my best in qualifying but it wasn’t fast enough to get into Q2. We damaged the new front wing in FP3 so unfortunately, we can’t use it for the rest of the weekend and I think it helped, so we’ll just have to try and make do in the race.”

Nico Hulkenberg:

“I feel we converted a solid qualifying and we did what we could. We got the running order right, the whole sequence, which is also easy to get wrong in these kind of conditions, but it wasn’t quite enough in terms of pace. It was a similar picture to yesterday. We’ll approach tomorrow with an open mind, push hard, and try what we can but my expectations are frankly not too high.”

Guenther Steiner:

“Obviously a frustrating day for us for a variety of reasons – primarily led by a lack of track time and ultimately a lack of pace when it mattered. There’s not really a lot we can say after a day like this other than we can do better, and we’ll see what we can do to be better prepared for tomorrow’s race.”

Today's Data

Event: Qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix – Saturday August 26
Location: Circuit Zandvoort, Netherlands
Layout: 4.259-kilometer (2.646-mile), 14-turn circuit
Weather: Partly Cloudy
Air Temps: 16.3 degrees Celsius (61.34 degrees Fahrenheit)
Track Temps: 19 degrees Celsius (66.2 degrees Fahrenheit)
Team Result: Nico Hulkenberg qualified 15^th, Kevin Magnussen qualified 18^th 

Free Practice 3 (FP3) Rundown:

Hulkenberg: 15^th overall (1:23.640), 20 laps completed
Magnussen: 20^th overall (No Time - Accident), 0 laps completed
Fastest: Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing (1:21.631)

Q1 Qualifying: 18-mins with all 20 Drivers – Top 15 Advance to Q2 

Hulkenberg: 11^th overall (1:21.891) – Advanced to Q2
Magnussen: 18^th overall (1:22.192) 
Fastest: Alex Albon of Williams (1:20.939)

Q2 Qualifying: 15-mins – Top 10 Advance to Q3

Hulkenberg: 15^th overall (1:20.250) 
Fastest: Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing (1:18.856) 

Q3 Qualifying: 12-mins – Top 10 Drivers

Pole Winner: Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing (1:10.567)