Let’s see who was on it in changeable conditions as Formula 1 returned in Zandvoort!
Q1
In Qualifying 1; Zhou Guanyu, Esteban Ocon, Kevin Magnussen, Valtteri Bottas, and Liam Lawson were the five slowest drivers. Zhou Guanyu will be gutted to have missed out on a spot in Q2 by just 31 thousandths of a second whilst Esteban Ocon had a horrible outing in Qualifying. Kevin Magnussen proved why he was lucky to keep hold of his Haas seat for another year whilst Valtteri Bottas put in another disappointing performance on a Saturday. Liam Lawson rounded out Q1 and it’s really hard to rate his performance given he’d barely had any time to prepare. Williams’ Alex Albon managed to narrowly top Q1 over Max Verstappen by just 26 thousandths.
Q2
In Qualifying 2; Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly, Lewis Hamilton, Yuki Tsunoda, and Nico Hulkenberg all failed to make it into the Top 10 shootout. Lance Stroll will definitely be frustrated with being knocked out in Q2 whilst Pierre Gasly wasn’t quite able to get his Alpine into the Top 10. Lewis Hamilton had a very disappointing day as he only managed P13 whilst Yuki Tsunoda did a solid job by finishing in 14th. Nico Hulkenberg rounded out Q2 and he’ll be a little bit disappointed that he maybe wasn’t slightly higher up the order. Max Verstappen topped the session by some 5 tenths of a second to Alex Albon who was continuing to show great pace in his Williams.
Q3
In Qualifying 3, a massive 1:10.567 was enough for Max Verstappen to take Pole Position by well over 5 tenths! Max continued where he left off before the Summer Break, and his home crowd will certainly be cheering him on for a record-equalling 9th consecutive Race victory tomorrow. McLaren’s Lando Norris can be absolutely delighted with a front-row start for tomorrow’s race whilst George Russell did really well to Qualify third. Alex Albon pulled out one of the performances of the season to put his Williams car into P4 whilst I also thought Fernando Alonso did a great job to get his Aston Martin up in P5. Carlos Sainz could only manage 6th for Ferrari whilst Sergio Perez's woes at Red Bull continued as he qualified 7th and a massive 1.3 seconds behind his teammate which is simply unacceptable! Oscar Piastri also struggled as he could only manage 8th (some 8 tenths behind his teammate) whilst both Charles Leclerc and Logan Sargeant managed to find the barriers in Q3 which really ruined both guys’ days.
Starting Grid for the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix and my Qualifying Grades
Max Verstappen: 10
Lando Norris: 10
George Russell: 9
Alex Albon: 10
Fernando Alonso: 8
Carlos Sainz: 6
Sergio Perez: 3
Oscar Piastri: 4
Charles Leclerc: 2
Logan Sargeant: 6
Lance Stroll: 4
Pierre Gasly: 4
Lewis Hamilton: 2
Yuki Tsunoda: 5
Nico Hulkenberg: 4
Zhou Guanyu: 3
Esteban Ocon: 1
Kevin Magnussen: 1
Valtteri Bottas: 1
Liam Lawson: -
My Predictions for the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix
Max Verstappen
Lando Norris
George Russell
Fernando Alonso
Sergio Perez
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