F1 Dutch GP LIVE: Qualifying latest updates, times and result as Lando Norris eyes pole – UK Times

We’ve just got 10 minutes to go until qualifying in Zandvoort!

Lando Norris is the favourite given his displays in practice, with McLaren teammate and championship leader Oscar Piastri needing to catch up on the timesheet.

It would be a mighty old shock if a McLaren was not on pole position but, much like Charles Leclerc’s pole last time out in Hungary, you can never count out Ferrari, Red Bull or Mercedes!

Winner in Zandvoort from 2021-2023, last year was the first year Verstappen didn’t win his home race.

In a car no longer able to match McLaren, how will the Dutchman fare this year?

The doom and gloom was writ large on Lewis Hamilton’s face in the Budapest media pen last weekend. After a dozen or so races to forget in Ferrari red, the 40-year-old needs a reset.

Hamilton is yet to secure a podium in 14 rounds for his new outfit, with aspirations of competing for an eighth world championship dead in the water this year. As for 2026? Regardless of car performance, at this point, who knows?

But while we have seen glimpses of the seven-time world champion’s stardust on raceday in the last 18 months – not least his sumptuous victory at Silverstone a year ago – his performances on a Saturday, by his own admission, have been below-par.

Qualifying performances are, to a large degree, how you are judged when it comes to raw pace in Formula One. In the same machinery as your teammate, the quicker driver comes to the fore throughout the course of the season. It is in this department that Hamilton should be most concerned.

Now, The Independent breaks down the 40-year-old’s qualifying record, why it shows the issues did not just start at Ferrari and whether his downward spiral can be reversed.

Piastri has a nine-point lead in the world championship to McLaren teammate Norris:

1. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) – 284 points

2. Lando Norris (McLaren) – 275 points

3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) – 187 points

4. George Russell (Mercedes) – 157 points

5. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – 139 points

6. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) – 109 points

7. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) – 64 points

8. Alex Albon (Williams) – 54 points

9. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) – 37 points

10. Esteban Ocon (Haas) – 27 points

11. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) – 26 points

12. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) – 26 points

13. Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) – 22 points

14. Pierre Gasly (Alpine) – 20 points

15. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) – 20 points

16. Carlos Sainz (Williams) – 16 points

17. Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) – 14 points

18. Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) – 10 points

19. Ollie Bearman (Haas) – 8 points

20. Franco Colapinto (Alpine) – 0 points

21. Jack Doohan (Alpine) – 0 points

For the first time in four years, F1 returns after the traditional summer interval with the race for the drivers’ world championship very much in the balance.

McLaren’s impressive dominance – but intriguing refusal to label a driver their clear No 1 – means it is a straight shoot-out between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris for their first ever title, in a battle set to go down to the wire. Ahead of round 15 this weekend in Zandvoort, the Australian has a lead of just nine points.

Further down the pack, there are plenty of talking points, not least Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton’s tumultuous partnership so far. The seven-time world champion is yet to finish on the podium; a record he will be desperate to extinguish in the remaining 10 races.

With less than four months left of the 2025 season, The Independent takes a look at the five main talking points ahead of this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort.

As an F1 summer break distinctly lacking in speculation and conjecture draws to a close, confirmation of Cadillac’s first-ever Formula One driver line-up on Tuesday did not ruffle any feathers. For many months, the talk of the paddock was that Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez were the frontrunners to occupy the seats at F1’s soon-to-be 11th team. Ultimately, the powers that be at Cadillac’s new UK-based hub in Silverstone, and across the Atlantic in Indiana and North Carolina, ignored widely held wishes for youth and American involvement and instead plumped for both drivers.

In many regards, it is a decision steeped in realism and common sense. For an outfit joining the world’s most technical sport at the start of a new era, their driver line-up presented a chance to add know-how and expertise to their roster, less than seven months out from the team’s daunting debut in Australia.

6. Aston Martin – 52 points

8. Racing Bulls – 45 points

“It’s not been the worst of days,” Hamilton admitted on Friday. “I think we were making progress.

“We were obviously quite far off in FP1, a lot further than normal. First lap felt pretty decent, getting back, but a bit of a challenge from then.

“We made some progress over lunch, but still quite a chunk off, so still some work to do overnight.”

“Probably the worst Friday of the season,” Leclerc said. “Which is right after the holidays and it’s a little bit of a wake-up call.

“We have had some difficult Fridays and now it’s up to us to turn the situation around.

“For sure, it has not an easy day. FP1 was extremely difficult. FP2 was slightly better but still very far off where we want to be.

“I don’t expect to fully turn the situation because I think McLaren is in a league of its own with Aston Martin in what was a surprise for us. We will try to improve the car because there is plenty to be done.”

“Still struggling with the same things and again we tried a lot of things with the car but it just doesn’t really seem to change anything in terms of my underlying problem,” he said.

“We’ll look overnight to find a bit more but I’m not going to expect a massive turnaround.

“It’s just tricky, plus the layout of the track also probably doesn’t suit our problems that we have with the car.

“Just understeer, that’s my main problem. And you know, in the middle sector there are a lot of long corners, so it’s not, not, not great.”