Verstappen ties the 'pole' after the double misfortune of Mercedes

• Sprint race Starting grid

• Rare atmosphere in Ferrari Pressures, plant and reconciliation dinner

The two previous stops did not drive him crazy, due to red flags, nor the threat of the Ferrari, one step away from the double.

His time (1:04.984) polished

's by only 29 thousandths, while

completed Friday's photo, also in the same hundredth.

,

on the other hand, ran out of steam at the worst moment, when he was overtaken by

and the two Haas.

A sudden drop in performance that could well be attributed to the floor of his Alpine, damaged when he was approaching his first attempt in Q3.

This ninth place does not correspond to the real potential of the car, which from the midday free sessions felt with rhythm for the top-5.

At Mercedes, they also glimpsed other more ambitious goals, given the amazing progress of their car and the particularities of this track.

With such damaging curbs, the height of the suspensions was higher for all of them, so there would be no trace of

.

These forecasts came to fret with two accidents in Q3.

Celebrations in the stands

came

from aborting his lap twice and that rush suddenly came upon him, with an error on the curbs of turn 6. Without support, he could not put the car on the sidewalk and the side impact, after crossing the gravel, smashed the car against the guardrails.

In the Great Central Tribune, Dutch fans celebrated what happened, as an alleged consideration for so many past affronts.

He immediately jumped out of the

, crossing the asphalt without any precautions, so the stewards noted the incident.

When that second red-flag period expired, there were still 2 1/2 minutes left on the clock.

Time for Leclerc and Sainz to sharpen the axe.

Verstappen, almost like a routine, reestablished the order, with four tenths of a margin over

, fourth.

Another difficult session for the Mexican, who lamented several times his total lack of

with the tires.

Gran rendimiento de Haas

We will have to see how they manage the tires in the race, but the truth is that Ferrari had arguments to discuss the dominance of

.

They even threatened to reserve a game during Q2, a maneuver of some risk.

Leclerc had dominated at will in the last two sectors for a 1:05.287 with which he scratched Verstappen by eight hundredths and Hamilton by 18.

Meanwhile, Sainz had to settle for fourth place.

The Maranello engine pushes hard, because

and

looked like shots in Q2.

They even managed to insert themselves between the Alpines, to repeat the success of Silverstone, last Sunday, when the son of

got his first points in F1.

Mick had a couple of laps erased, because here the track limits don't make any distinctions.

and Russell were unable to negotiate

, to the last, into whose trap Verstappen and Sainz, among others, fell.

There was no mercy for the leader of Aston Martin, last, nor for

, eliminated from Q1 by 24 thousandths.

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• Fernando Alonso

• Carlos Sainz Jr.

• Max Verstappen