Oscar Piastri grabs Dutch GP pole as McLaren dominate again

McLaren secure front row with home favourite Max Verstappen in third

McLaren's Oscar Piastri, right, is congratulated by Lando Norris after clinching pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix. AFP

Oscar Piastri secured pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix, sealing the front of the grid with teammate Lando Norris as McLaren maintained their dominance this season.

Piastri clocked a lap record time of one minute 8.662 seconds, 0.012 seconds ahead of Norris.

It was the fifth pole position of the season for the Australian driver, who is aiming to extend his nine-point championship lead over Norris.

Norris had had the edge over the Australian in all three practice sessions so far, but Piastri hit back when it mattered.

“That was the definition of peaking at the right time,” Piastri said.

“It was looking like a bit of a tricky weekend so far so to come out with that, I'm pretty stoked.”

Norris was content with second place on the grid, noting there was barely anything between the two McLarens.

“There's not too much to complain of. I think there were a couple of places where I wasn't quite on a good enough limit and consistently losing a bit too much lap time today,” he said.

“So, some places and things I need to work on, but otherwise the laps were good and I'm still pretty happy.”

Home favourite Max Verstappen qualified in third position.

Verstappen currently sits 97 points behind Piastri in the world championship standings and has admitted that his Red Bull is off the pace this season.

He will be hoping that the famously unpredictable weather at Zandvoort will play a role, as he is regarded as a brilliant wet weather driver.

He declared himself “very happy” with his third place on the podium, saying the crowd “really got the adrenaline pumping”.

The four-time world champion admitted that his main aim on Sunday would be to stay at the head of the pack chasing the McLarens.

“Qualifying was the best that I've felt all weekend,” he said.

“Still not of course on the level of McLaren, but at least to be P3 is very good for us.”

Rookie driver Isack Hadjar scored an impressive fourth place on the grid for Racing Bulls, ahead of Mercedes driver George Russell.

One of the key talking points in the paddock ahead of this weekend has been the downbeat mood of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.

His high-profile move from Mercedes to Ferrari has not started as planned and he sparked retirement concerns when he recently described himself as “completely useless”.

He had an unhappy time on Friday, twice spinning his Ferrari, and he qualified in seventh, just behind his teammate Charles Leclerc.

Hamilton may struggle to find much joy in Ferrari's pace this weekend, regularly over a second-and-a-half adrift during practice and his fastest lap was over seven tenths off the pole pace.

Lance Stroll suffered another moment to forget in the early stages of qualifying.

The Canadian walked away from a serious crash into the wall on Friday and was in trouble again at the start of Q1, dipping a wheel into the grass before careering nose-first into the barriers.

Attempts to fix his Aston Martin, which had shown genuine pace throughout the weekend, were in vain.

Mercedes's Kimi Antonelli missed out on the top-10 shootout, as did Verstappen's teammate Yuki Tsunoda (12th fastest), who set the same time as Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto (13th) in the second phase.