Under the sun of Zandvoort, a seaside resort on the shores of the North Sea, the reigning world champion beat the Scuderia driver for only 21/1000th.

"Incredible! Especially after the day yesterday, we worked really well last night to reverse the situation", reacted the poleman on Saturday after qualifying.

And for good reason: in the face of an orange tide - the national color of the Netherlands - all won over to its cause, the venue for the event had so far shown itself to be more withdrawn than usual, not tearing the lesser best time at the end of the three practice sessions held on Friday and Saturday morning.

If he had suffered from a gearbox problem during the first session on Friday, forcing him to stay in the garage most of the first tests, back on track, he set the third fastest time of the last two sessions before the qualifications.

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“This morning again, it was about learning a lot about the car and fine-tuning the settings for qualifying,” he explained afterwards.

Now, "I think we have a complete car," he said.

New victory?

On home soil, "Mad Max" had already taken pole last year before winning the race the next day - a performance he hopes to repeat this year in front of his home crowd.

The second row goes to the other Ferrari, that of the Spaniard Carlos Sainz and the Briton Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), 4th after qualifying briefly interrupted by the presence of a smoke bomb on the track.

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The third row goes to Mexican Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) and Briton George Russell (Mercedes).

The third Briton on the grid, Lando Norris (McLaren), German Mick Schumacher (Haas), Japanese Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) and Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), complete the Top 10.

Behind, the French Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) and Esteban Ocon (Alpine) - who could run together next season for Alpine, still looking for a 2nd driver to replace Fernando Alonso - will start from 11th and 12th places respectively, ahead of Alonso , 13th.

Before this Dutch round, the 15th of the season (out of 22), Verstappen leads his teammate Sergio Pérez by 93 points in the championship, a gap which rises to 98 units with Leclerc, 3rd.

In the constructors' championship, Red Bull largely dominates the debates in front of the prancing horse team, second and which continues to give ground to its rival: 118 points separate the two teams today.

Narrow circuit

Visited by F1 between 1952 and 1985 and renovated to regain its place on the calendar last season, the Zandvoort circuit, on the edge of the North Sea, is a challenge with its short, narrow, hilly layout and above all its banked turns taken at high speed.

Knowing that it is usually difficult to overtake in the race, the positions on the grid and the quality of the starts are likely to be crucial at the start of the race given on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. GMT.

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However, the drivers are expecting more overtaking than last year, in particular thanks to the new single-seater aerodynamics.

"These cars should make it easier to follow us than last year, added to that a few hundred meters of DRS (the flap mounted on the rear wing which opens to gain top speed, editor's note) in addition, it will certainly be easier than last year", explains Sainz, who warns all the same that "it will not be easy, because it is a very difficult circuit to overtake".

© 2022 AFP