Verstappen becomes the 35th driver to take a home pole, Red Bull start from the front for the 70th time and Giovinazzi records his career-best Saturday result. Here are the facts and statistics from qualifying at the 2021 Dutch Grand Prix.
VERSTAPPEN ON POLE AT HOME
Max Verstappen delighted his home fans by taking pole position at the 2021 Dutch Grand Prix. This marked the 77th time that a driver has taken pole on home soil, while Verstappen became the 35th different driver to achieve the feat.
Verstappen is the first Dutch driver to take pole position at the Dutch Grand Prix. The previous best qualifying result for a Dutch driver at Zandvoort is fourteenth place, which has been recorded three times – by Dries van der Lof in 1952 and by Carel Godin de Beaufort in 1959 and 1962. Verstappen is the 21st different driver to start the Dutch Grand Prix from pole.
The Netherlands is the twelfth nation to have a driver record a home pole position in Formula 1.
As well as becoming the 35th driver to record a home pole, Verstappen also became the 35th driver to have recorded ten pole positions during his Formula 1 career.
The 2021 Dutch Grand Prix marks Verstappen’s sixth pole position in the last seven races.
Red Bull became the sixth F1 team to record 70 pole positions in Formula 1. Mercedes were the last team to achieve the feat, doing so at the 2016 United States Grand Prix.
Red Bull are the eleventh different team to take pole position at Zandvoort.
Verstappen took pole position by 0.038 seconds. The 2021 Dutch Grand Prix is the fifth race at which the pole margin has been 0.038 seconds. It also happened at the 1990 Portuguese Grand Prix, the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, the 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix and the 2017 Brazilian Grand Prix.
This was the 250th time that pole position has been decided by 0.1 seconds or less in Formula 1 and the eighth time that pole position has been taken by less than a tenth of a second at the Dutch Grand Prix.
THREE HOME ‘POLES’ IN A SINGLE SEASON
Max Verstappen is the third driver to set the fastest time during the qualifying hour in 2021 – but will be the first driver to start from pole at home this year. Charles Leclerc failed to start the race having taken pole position at the Monaco Grand Prix, while Lewis Hamilton was usurped from pole at the British Grand Prix as a result of Sprint Qualifying.
No previous F1 season has had three different home polesitters – though a home driver started from pole on three occasions in 2004. Michael Schumacher took pole at both the German and European Grands Prix that year, while his Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello was on pole at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
THE TOP 10
Mercedes qualified with both cars in the top three, with Lewis Hamilton second and Valtteri Bottas third. This was the 61st consecutive race at which both Mercedes cars have appeared in Q3, with the Brackley team recording their 480th Q3 appearance since the current qualifying system was introduced in 2006.
Pierre Gasly equalled his best qualifying result of the 2021 season with fourth place. The Frenchman also qualified fourth at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc set the fastest time in Q1. It was the first time a Ferrari driver has been fastest in Q1 since the 2019 Japanese Grand Prix. Leclerc went on to qualify in fifth place – the best qualifying result for a Ferrari driver at Zandvoort since Patrick Tambay’s second place at the 1983 Dutch Grand Prix.
Despite crashing out in Free Practice 3, Carlos Sainz recovered to qualify in sixth place for the Dutch Grand Prix. This was the first time that both Ferrari drivers have reached Q3 since the British Grand Prix. It’s also the first time both Ferrari drivers have qualified in the top six at the Dutch Grand Prix since 1982.
For the second time in 2021, Antonio Giovinazzi reached Q3. He also appeared in Q3 at the Monaco Grand Prix. Giovinazzi qualified in seventh place – the best qualifying result of his Formula 1 career to date. His previous best qualifying result is eighth place, recorded twice – at the 2019 Azerbaijan and Austrian Grands Prix.
With both Alpine cars in Q3, Team Enstone reached 300 Q3 appearances since the current qualifying system was introduced in 2006.
Fernando Alonso qualified ninth for the Dutch Grand Prix. This was the sixth time that Alonso has qualified ninth at the twelve race weekends so far this season.
OUT IN Q2
Qualifying in thirteenth place, Lando Norris failed to reach Q3 for the first time since the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix.
Both Williams drivers reached Q2 at the Dutch Grand Prix. With both drivers also having reached Q2 at last week’s Belgian Grand Prix, this is the first time since the 2017 Bahrain and Russian Grands Prix that both Williams drivers have reached Q2 at two consecutive races.
For the first time in his Formula 1 career, Nicholas Latifi has reached Q2 at two consecutive races.
Qualifying in fifteenth, Yuki Tsunoda recorded the Red Bull junior team’s 300th Q2 elimination.
OUT IN Q1
Sergio Perez failed to make it through to Q2, becoming the first Red Bull driver to be eliminated in Q1 since Alex Albon at the 2019 Russian Grand Prix. This was Perez’s first Q1 elimination since the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix.
This was Red Bull’s 33rd Q1 exit since the current qualifying system was introduced in 2006.
Having encountered traffic, Sebastian Vettel qualified only seventeenth for the 2021 Dutch Grand Prix. This was his second Q1 exit of the year, having also been eliminated in Q1 at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
RAIKKONEN OUT, KUBICA IN
After testing positive for coronavirus, Kimi Raikkonen is forced to miss the remainder of the 2021 Dutch Grand Prix. That makes this race the first time that he will not start since recording a DNS at the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix, and the first race for which he has not qualified since the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Replacing Kimi Raikkonen at Alfa Romeo is Robert Kubica, who makes his first race appearance since the 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Kubica returns to the former Sauber team, for whom he last raced at the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Kubica qualified for the race in eighteenth place. It was the fifth time he has qualified eighteenth in his F1 career – the first time he has done so since driving for Williams at the 2019 Russian Grand Prix.