The 2026 Dutch Grand Prix qualifying gaps provided an important indication of how Formula 1 teams progressed over the summer break, with McLaren confirming its strength at the front while Ferrari emerged as the only team to lose ground compared with Hungary. Zandvoort’s characteristics are relatively comparable to the Hungaroring in areas such as traction and low-speed agility, making the two weekends a useful reference for assessing pure performance changes.
This comparison focuses exclusively on the outright performance of the drivers and cars over a qualifying lap, leaving aside what happened during the race. Using a single flying lap inevitably introduces a margin of uncertainty, but it still provides a concrete benchmark for measuring how the competitive gaps have evolved.
Ferrari struggles as McLaren confirms its qualifying progress
One important factor must be considered before interpreting the numbers. Ferrari did not have a particularly strong Saturday afternoon at Zandvoort and probably underperformed relative to the SF-26’s actual potential. That conclusion is also consistent with the wider technical picture that emerged from Ferrari’s Zandvoort qualifying performance.
Aston Martin may represent the opposite case. Considering Fernando Alonso’s eventual race result, the team could have sacrificed some qualifying performance in favour of a car configuration that was better suited to Sunday’s Grand Prix. For that reason, the comparison should be treated primarily as an indication of single-lap performance rather than a definitive ranking of each car’s overall competitiveness.
Just as at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Lando Norris put McLaren on pole position. The British driver was able to repeat both pole and victory in the Netherlands, reinforcing the progress made by the reigning world champions, particularly at circuits where strong traction and agility through slower corners are important.
McLaren’s development direction had already been reinforced ahead of the weekend by rear-end upgrades introduced for the MCL40 at Zandvoort. Behind the championship benchmark, almost every team made at least some progress relative to Budapest.
Ferrari SF-26 is the only car to lose ground compared with Budapest
The exception was Ferrari. The SF-26 was the only car to emerge slower relative to the benchmark than it had been in Hungary, producing a disappointing verdict for the Scuderia on its first weekend back after the summer break. The result is particularly notable because Ferrari arrived in the Netherlands with a significant development step, including new SF-26 floor and rear-wing developments for Zandvoort.
However, the qualifying comparison must again be viewed in the context of Ferrari’s difficult Saturday. The numbers reflect what was achieved over one lap rather than necessarily showing the full potential of the updated car.
Red Bull, Racing Bulls and Aston Martin remained more or less static in terms of their gap to the leader. Alpine and Mercedes made slight gains, while Haas, Audi and Cadillac produced more substantial improvements compared with their performance in Budapest.
Williams makes the biggest qualifying improvement at Zandvoort
The largest step of all came from Williams, at least over a single qualifying lap. With Alexander Albon as the reference, the Grove team improved by more than one second compared with Hungary, making it the standout mover in the qualifying comparison.
Unfortunately for Williams, that improvement did not carry over into Sunday’s race. Something went wrong over the Grand Prix distance, and the team was not able to perform at the level of the cars fighting for positions inside the top ten.
The late collision between Alexander Albon and Carlos Sainz ultimately became a fitting conclusion to a Sunday that Williams will want to forget. It also highlighted the limitations of judging overall competitiveness entirely through qualifying: while the Dutch GP gaps showed a dramatic improvement for Williams over one lap, the race produced a very different picture.
For Ferrari, meanwhile, the qualifying comparison is less encouraging. McLaren confirmed the level it had already demonstrated in Hungary, most of the field either maintained or reduced its deficit, and the SF-26 was the only car to move in the wrong direction relative to the benchmark. Given Ferrari’s difficult qualifying session, the scale of that setback may not tell the complete story, but the post-summer-break comparison was nevertheless far from the result Maranello had hoped to see.
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