George Russell secured pole position for the sprint race at the Dutch Grand Prix on Friday, marking his first pole in four races for Mercedes.
The British driver set a time of 1:11.567 around the 4.259-kilometre Zandvoort circuit, finishing 0.041 seconds ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris in second place. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc claimed third, 0.055 seconds behind Russell, while McLaren's Oscar Piastri rounded out the top four, separated from Russell by just 0.099 seconds.
The tight margins reflected the competitive balance among the leading teams. Russell said the pole was "the perfect start to the second part of the season" after losing ground to Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli during the three races before the summer break. Russell won in Austria at the end of June but has since fallen 59 points behind Antonelli in the championship standings.
Antonelli, the championship leader, qualified only fifth. Lewis Hamilton, driving for Ferrari and second in the standings 50 points behind Antonelli, lined up seventh. Red Bull's Max Verstappen, running his final Dutch Grand Prix before the circuit leaves the calendar in 2027, qualified sixth.
Gabriel Bortoleto, the Brazilian driver, qualified ninth. Spanish drivers Carlos Sainz of Williams and Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin finished eighteenth and last respectively in the qualifying session.
The sprint race is scheduled for Saturday at Zandvoort.
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