Verstappen Claims Pole as Albon‘s Compromised Out Lap Derails Q3 Bid at 2025 Dutch Grand Prix
Zandvoort – Max Verstappen secured pole position for the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix after a tightly contested qualifying session, while Williams driver Alex Albon narrowly missed out on a place in Q3 due to a compromised out lap in Q2.
Despite demonstrating strong pace throughout the weekend adn in earlier qualifying stages, Albon’s second lap in Q2 was hampered by tire performance issues and a delay in the pit lane. “We’ve been quick all weekend and strong in Qualifying, but on our second lap in Q2 we just didn’t have the tyres,” Albon explained.”The operating window is so small, and after queuing for several minutes in the pitlane our out lap was compromised.Obviously,it wasn’t intentional,but for us every detail has to be perfect,and the out lap is crucial.”
Team Principal James Vowles acknowledged the narrow margins and the need for operational refinement. “With alex, the pace was clearly there today, and I’m confident he had the pace to reach Q3. But we’re right on a knife edge with getting the tyres to work, and a slightly slower out lap behind another car tipped us the wrong way. That’s something we’ll review and make sure we refine operationally going forward. More importantly, tho, we need to give ourselves more flexibility to cope with a wider range of situations.”
Carlos Sainz qualified ninth, noting a performance drop between FP3 and Qualifying due to rising track temperatures. “Once the track temperatures went up, we lost performance from FP3 to Qualifying and I felt it straight away,” Sainz said. “We needed very solid laps to progress through the session and, whilst it’s slightly disappointing to not be higher up the order, we maximised what we could and P9 is a decent position to fight tomorrow.”
The team anticipates a challenging race on Sunday, given the difficulty of overtaking at Zandvoort, but remains optimistic about potential opportunities, particularly if weather conditions change. “Overtaking is never easy here, but there will be potential opportunities tomorrow – especially if the weather comes into play,” Vowles added. Albon echoed this sentiment, stating, ”Tomorrow will be tough as this track can be a bit of a train, but let’s see what the weather brings and what we can do.”
