George Russell returned from Formula 1’s summer break in impressive fashion by securing pole position for the Zandvoort Sprint. The Mercedes driver produced a lap of 1m 11.567s to beat McLaren’s Lando Norris and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in a tightly contested Sprint Qualifying session.

The battle at the front remained close throughout the session, with Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari all showing the pace needed to challenge for the top spot. Norris settled for second, while Leclerc took third, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri only fractionally behind in fourth. Kimi Antonelli completed the top five for Mercedes, finishing around two-tenths of a second behind his team-mate.

Max Verstappen qualified sixth for Red Bull, ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Pierre Gasly, Gabriel Bortoleto and Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad, who rounded out the top 10.

Liam Lawson narrowly missed the final qualifying segment in 11th, finishing just 0.009s ahead of returning Racing Bulls driver Yuki Tsunoda. Franco Colapinto was 14th for Alpine, followed by Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban Ocon and Alex Albon.

Ocon’s Haas team-mate Ollie Bearman was eliminated in 17th, while Carlos Sainz struggled again after suffering floor damage during FP1.

Aston Martin endured another difficult session, with Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso qualifying near the back. Alonso was particularly hampered by a rear-wing Straight Line Mode problem and finished 22nd, behind Cadillac drivers Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez.

Russell will now lead the field into Saturday’s Sprint.

2026 Dutch Grand Prix: Sprint Qualifying Results

P13 and P19 were not identified in the supplied information. Lance Stroll was mentioned as being behind Alonso but his exact position was not given.

The supplied report does not specify the drivers in P13 and P19, or the exact position of Lance Stroll, so those entries are left blank rather than guessed.