2024 F1 Dutch GP Qualifying: Winners and Losers

The 2024 F1 Dutch GP qualifying on Saturday saw Lando Norris secure another pole position by a dominant margin over Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri. The McLaren driver dragged the lap time out of the car when it mattered, which was good enough for him to beat the competition.

The session also saw a few shockers, with Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz getting eliminated in Q2, while George Russell in Mercedes fading away in the race for pole. At the start of the Dutch GP, Lando Norris had once again lined up on the front row alongside his good friend Max Verstappen.

On the second row, there was Oscar Piastri and George Russell, followed by Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc. After the Dutch GP qualifying, there will be a few happy drivers with how their sessions went, while there will be some disappointed ones. Let's take a look.

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2024 F1 Dutch GP Qualifying

Winner

Lando Norris

Lando Norris needed this result more than many would understood. He was under tremendous pressure that he had put on himself during the summer break. He not only got the better of his friend/rival Verstappen but also dunked a whopping half a second on his teammate Oscar Piastri.

Norris has shown that whenever he's had time to go back and re-evaluate, he has come back better and stronger. The Dutch GP qualifying was a testimony to that.

Loser

Mercedes

Mercedes were, at worst, the second-best car on the grid on Friday. The fact that both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton completely capitulated and struggled in qualifying is something they wouldn't have expected.

Where the performance in qualifying is something Mercedes need to assess. They came into the Dutch GP on the back of two wins, so they are not an underdog anymore.

Winner

Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen was around three tenths of a second down on Lando Norris as he secured a front-row start, but it's fair to say that it was the best he could have done.

The car was noticeably struggling in the slow middle sector, but the fact that the Red Bull driver dragged it through the second sector and still secured a front row is creditable.

For years now, Verstappen has often been termed a better racer compared to a qualifier. Some of the laps this season should dispel that notion, though.

Loser

Ferrari

This was a disaster for Ferrari. If one driver struggles to get through to Q3 and the second just narrowly makes the top-six, that's a poor result. What's worse is the gap that Charles Leclerc had to pole position. It was a case of the driver dragging whatever the car had, but it wasn't good enough.

Ferrari struggled in the Dutch GP last season as well, so Zandvoort might be a bogey circuit for them. For now, though, the focus has to be on damage limitation for them.

Winner

Aston Martin

Aston Martin performed brilliantly at Zandvoort in 2023, and by the looks of it, the same continued in 2024, as both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll had impressive showings in qualifying.

The car has been working well and is much closer to the top-four, compared to years past. It's a step up, at the least for the team, as they try to reverse their regression.

Loser

Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo once again found himself out of Q1 and got outqualified by Yuki Tsunoda.

Following this result, the last bit of argument for the Australian to replace Sergio Perez should come to an end. There's hardly anything separating the two RB drivers, so it's safe to say that Tsunoda holds his own against Ricciardo for the most part.

There were questions raised about Sergio Perez not being replaced at Red Bull during the summer break. This result from Ricciardo should silence a lot of those talks.