Lando Norris put McLaren on pole for the Dutch Grand Prix, but qualifying at Zandvoort may have disguised some of the MCL40’s weaknesses while making Ferrari’s limitations over a single lap painfully clear. The Scuderia failed to meet expectations despite arriving with significant SF-26 updates, although its stronger race pace offers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc hope of recovering over the longer distance.
McLaren secured a second consecutive pole position after Budapest, once again demonstrating the quality of the MCL40 without proving that the car is free of weaknesses. Those shortcomings could become more visible in race conditions, potentially opening the door for Mercedes, where George Russell has rediscovered the feeling he enjoyed earlier in the season. Ferrari is also looking towards Sunday for redemption after a disappointing qualifying session at a circuit that had appeared favourable on paper. The broader competitive picture had already suggested that Zandvoort could suit the Ferrari SF-26 while McLaren remained a major victory threat.
McLaren’s qualifying pace hides some MCL40 weaknesses
Lando Norris claimed Dutch Grand Prix pole with an aggressive lap in which he left little margin for error. The reigning world champion admitted that he had taken more risks than usual to make the difference in an increasingly compressed Formula 1 field, with 17 cars separated by only one second during Q1.
McLaren also deserves credit for the set-up changes introduced after the Sprint. The modifications were primarily intended to improve tyre management over the Grand Prix distance, but they also gave Norris and Oscar Piastri slightly more confidence over a single lap. That extra assurance was particularly valuable on a demanding circuit such as Zandvoort.
The updated MCL40 continues to look like an excellent car, although it may still be premature to define it as the outright benchmark. According to its drivers, the combination of fresh tyres and a low fuel load helped conceal some of McLaren’s weaknesses during qualifying.
The main difficulty remains the slower corners, precisely the type of sections that can have a major influence on rear-tyre degradation during the race. Norris had already encountered that limitation during the Sprint.
Why the Dutch GP race could expose McLaren
McLaren’s upgrade package introduced in Hungary delivered its biggest improvements in high-speed corners. Those sections are more frequent at the Hungaroring than at Zandvoort, where the wind has also often blown from behind through the slower corners, worsening the MCL40’s difficulties.
Fresh-tyre grip helped compensate for that limitation in qualifying. During the Grand Prix, however, the car will increasingly have to generate grip through aerodynamic load as the tyres age, and that could produce a more difficult situation for McLaren.
Norris and his team do have one major advantage: overtaking remains extremely difficult at Zandvoort. Even so, securing a second victory of the season is far from guaranteed.
Mercedes stays at the front as George Russell finds his rhythm
The first challengers to Norris will be the two Mercedes cars, which continue to feature prominently at the front despite development of the W17 having effectively remained static for several months.
As in Sprint Qualifying, George Russell once again led the Brackley team’s challenge. The British driver appears particularly comfortable at Zandvoort and explained that he is experiencing sensations in the car similar to those from the beginning of the year and previous seasons.
Russell does not believe the improvement comes from a sudden breakthrough or a fundamental change in approach. Instead, he feels his driving has simply become more natural. Rather than consciously analysing every detail in an attempt to adapt his style to the 2026 cars, Russell used the break to absorb what he had learned during the first part of the season and is now applying it more instinctively.
He will still need to convert that form into a result after beating Kimi Antonelli by just 0.021 seconds in qualifying. Antonelli acknowledged that he had struggled throughout the session with an imperfect balance, although adjustments made through the steering wheel gradually improved the situation.
The Italian then made a mistake at Turn 1 in Q3 and was also still feeling the consequences of an error in Friday’s qualifying session, after which he had not recovered the same level of confidence. Nevertheless, Antonelli can remain optimistic about the Grand Prix, where his strengths tend to become more evident. He will also start from the clean side of the grid.
Ferrari’s Dutch GP qualifying weakness becomes clear
For Ferrari, the Zandvoort qualifying result inevitably brought disappointment. The circuit was theoretically expected to suit the SF-26, while the Maranello team also arrived as the only outfit with significant upgrades. Ferrari’s latest aerodynamic work included substantial changes to the floor, with the SF-26 floor, diffuser and inlet revisions forming an important part of its Dutch GP package.
The result was not caused by Ferrari’s risky decision to complete two tyre-preparation laps in Q3 while rain threatened to arrive. If anything, that approach allowed Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc to benefit from the maximum track evolution available.
Hamilton explained that Ferrari needed the double preparation lap because of its difficulty bringing the tyres up to temperature. At least the set-up modifications made before qualifying improved the seven-time world champion’s confidence in the SF-26. Hamilton will start ahead of Leclerc, who was hindered by an incorrect power mode during the transition between Q2 and Q3. A closer look at why Hamilton and Leclerc ended qualifying fifth and sixth highlights just how tight Ferrari’s margins became in the decisive phase.
The improvement in Hamilton’s confidence was nevertheless an encouraging sign after his earlier difficulties during the weekend, and the British driver remained positive about the Grand Prix following qualifying. His assessment of Ferrari’s race prospects at Zandvoort reflected the stronger feeling he had found in the car.
Charles Leclerc explains why Ferrari is stronger in races
Regardless of the circumstances surrounding Q3, the final qualifying positions broadly reflected Ferrari’s current potential over a single lap. Leclerc’s excellent Sprint Qualifying performance had created greater expectations, but the main qualifying session exposed the SF-26’s limitations in a field where the gaps between the leading teams continue to shrink.
One possibility is that the fundamental philosophy of the Ferrari favours race performance more than outright Saturday speed. Charles Leclerc stressed, however, that the trade-off is not as simple as transferring performance directly from one area to the other.
“It’s not black and white,” Charles Leclerc commented. “It’s not as simple as saying, ‘OK, I’ll take a bit of race pace away and put it into qualifying,’ or vice versa. With the characteristics we have, [the car] works a little better in the race than in qualifying.”
That tendency was visible during the Sprint, when Leclerc produced very strong pace on the Soft tyres. The run also gave Ferrari valuable information about the softest compound, strengthening the team’s understanding ahead of the longer Grand Prix.
The SF-26’s underlying performance has also offered encouragement despite the third-row qualifying result. Analysis of the latest package indicates that Ferrari achieved the balance improvement it wanted from the new floor, even though other limitations prevented Hamilton and Leclerc from fighting for pole.
Ferrari race pace offers hope, but overtaking remains the problem
Ferrari’s rivals believe the Prancing Horse possesses the strongest race pace, which gives Hamilton and Leclerc reason to look beyond the disappointment of qualifying. The problem is that Zandvoort is one of the hardest circuits on the Formula 1 calendar for overtaking.
That creates a difficult contradiction for the Scuderia. Its strongest characteristic may emerge over the Grand Prix distance, yet starting further back means track position could prevent the team from exploiting that advantage fully. McLaren, meanwhile, begins from pole with weaknesses that may become more significant as the tyres age, while Mercedes has both cars positioned to apply immediate pressure.
Qualifying therefore produced only part of the picture. Norris and McLaren maximised the conditions that best suited the MCL40, Mercedes again established itself at the front, and Ferrari paid heavily for the SF-26’s limitations over a single lap. The Dutch Grand Prix will determine whether those roles remain unchanged once fuel loads rise, tyres degrade and race pace becomes the decisive factor.
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