F1 Dutch GP live commentary and updates - qualifying

And that's that! We'll catch you again tomorrow for the final (well, for now) Dutch Grand Prix.

See you then!

Qualifying report

Formula 1

F1 Dutch GP: Norris pips Russell to grab pole

Lando Norris achieved his second pole of F1 2026 after Budapest last time out

George Russell: "Lando did a great job. It was a strong session, we thought we had it in there to fight for pole but P2, I'm pretty satisfied with after such a tough last few races before the break. I'm in my groove again, and hopefully we'll fight with them tomorrow.

"I feel in a good place, and feel myself again. It was nice to drive around here, and these cooler temperatures made it feel really fast."

Kimi Antonelli: "It was a difficult session for me, overall I always found myself on the back foot. Last lap I did a mistake in Turn 1, lost a couple of tenths, and it was my mistake and it's a shame for that because we had a real shot for pole."

Lando Norris: "I don't think I could do any better, a little surprised but a decent lap. I was pushing because you can see how close it is. It's a good turnaround from earlier, where we struggled and we certainly looked very strong.

"We had to try something because what we had wasn't going to be enough. We had some small changes, nothing that would give us two tenths, not even one tenth, but it gave me good confidence in the car."

Lawson went seventh, still staying about a tenth down on Verstappen which is a pretty decent effort. 

Leclerc improves to fifth, ahead of Verstappen, as Hamilton unwraps a 1m11.494s to clinch fifth over his team-mate. 

That's pole for Norris!

You can see a smidgen of rain on Russell's camera, as he's hounding Norris for track position. He's really in a hurry here. 

Will anyone have enough time for a lap? Will the rain hold off?

The teams are hurrying their cars back into the garage, hoping to get a second run in on new tyres before the expected rain falls. 

Indeed, Bortoleto's out already, as is Antonelli, Norris, Piastri, and Russell. 

Russell splits the McLarens to go second, and Leclerc then shuffles up to third.

Lawson is seventh, just over a tenth shy of Verstappen, as Hamilton only goes eighth - he's not really been at the races so far this weekend. 

So, the first-run order is Norris, Russell, Piastri, Leclerc, Antonelli, Verstappen, Lawson, Hamilton, Lindblad, and Bortoleto.

"Is the rain still expected to hit?" Russell asks, who's told that it might strike in the final five minutes of the session. So, perhaps we'll have a single-lap shoot-out if that's true. 

"We'll probably have George crying about that on the radio, but it was nothing unsafe," Verstappen says as he comes out ahead of Russell in the pitlane - perhaps a bit closer for comfort than expected.

Piastri leaves the pit lane much later than everyone else, giving himself a lot of clean air. 

Drivers in Q3

Norris
Piastri
Verstappen
Leclerc
Antonelli
Russell
Hamilton
Lawson
Bortoleto
Lindblad

Eliminated in Q2

11. Gasly
12. Tsunoda
13. Hulkenberg
14. Colapinto
15. Ocon
16. Albon.

Lindblad belately completes the full-house on-track.

Important laps for Red Bull here, although Verstappen should be okay if he can make the most of these soft tyres. 

The Mercedes pair, the Ferrari pair, and the Red Bulls are on-track now - aiming to secure Q3 places. The McLaren pair also appears...

Elimination Zone with five minutes remaining

11. Gasly
12. Tsunoda
13. Colapinto
14. Hulkenberg
15. Ocon
16. Albon

Lindblad moves up to seventh, ahead of both Red Bull cars, as Tsunoda goes 11th. 

Hulkeberg improves on his second run, but remains in place. Bortoleto then eclipses the Red Bulls too, going eighth. 

Just a second separated the top 17 in that session, so it's all very close. Alonso just fell the wrong side of that marker, but reckoned his outlap was a bit problematic. 

Bortoleto was annoyed at himself for an error, but he's through. 

Eliminated in Q1

17. Sainz
18. Alonso
19. Stroll
20. Bearman
21. Bottas
22. Perez

Stroll moves up to 13th on his lap, after losing his previous effort due to track limits. 

Lindblad improves to fifth, before Hamilton grabs a tow and moves up to second. Bortoleto finds safety with 10th place.

Sainz can't improve enough to get out of the drop zone and doesn't outqualify Albon. Lawson improves fractionally but he's already safe. 

The final runs are now about to begin, and it looks like the plan for most will be to do a second prep lap if there's time. Antonelli goes out of the pit lane, so it looks like there won't be time to do so for him. 

Hulkenberg is on another lap, gets a tow off a Ferrari, and moves up to sixth with a purple middle sector. 

Colapinto and Gasly move up to 12th and 13th, before Alonso moves ahead of the Alpine pair. Sainz and Bearman are now on the cusp of the elimination zone.

Albon then gets up to 14th, while Bortoleto only moves up to 17th - so it's probably safe to assume something went wrong there. 

Bearman and Ocon break into the top 10 for the time being, although we're waiting for some Audis to set some laps...

...and indeed, Hulkenberg posts a time good enough for fifth, before Leclerc then gets up to fourth.

Tsunoda then moves up to seventh, 0.541s off Piastri's best lap, while Lindblad gets a little tow through the final corner and goes ahead of his team-mate. 

Hulkenberg is out on mediums for...whatever reason, and he's done a prep lap - as have a number of drivers, the Racing Bulls chose to do their laps straight after the out-lap.

Bearman backs off from this lap, so it seems like he got caught out by some traffic. 

Stroll, Bottas, and Perez do their laps and are in that order on the timing boards, but the trio is beaten by Alonso. Sainz's lap got deleted. 

Tsunoda opens with a lap, posting a 1m14.287s on his first effort. Lindblad is 0.3 behind his temporary team-mate. 

Most of the field is on track; the Mercedes pair, the McLarens, and Alpines are the only cars yet to sit out the early jostling for position. 

18 minutes, with positions 17-22 to decide on tomorrow's grid. Shall we begin?