Formula 1

George Russell takes Sprint Pole for Dutch Grand Prix

Fraser Masefield
2 months ago
3 min read

George Russell began the second part of the 2026 Formula One season in fine style, taking pole position for Saturday’s Sprint race ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix.


Russell had endured a torrid first half of the season, a combination of poor luck, mistakes and a flying Mercedes teammate in Kimi Antonelli leaving him a frustrated man.

But having had time to clear his head, allied to a recent summer break engagement, Russell looked in relaxed mood to finish ahead of compatriot and defending champ Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc.

“It was obviously a tough end to the first half of the year,” commented Russell in the post-race interviews.

“We’re really happy to come back. It’s been a little while since I’ve done one of these interviews, so, yeah, it was nice.

“It all came together nicely. It’s always difficult, this sprint qualifying, when you just got one shot on the soft tyre.

“The track always takes a step, the grip takes a step, but it all came together nicely.

“Obviously, the sprint qualifying and the big points are on Sunday, so just try and carry this momentum into tomorrow.”

Oscar Piastri lines up fourth on the grid, highlighting the big strides McLaren has made, with Antonelli fifth ahead of home hero Max Verstappen who recently re-signed with Red Bull through 2030.


“It was a reasonable lap, and considering how close it was, you know, easy could have been first, easy could have been fourth or fifth,” commented defending champ Norris.

“I think just to step onto the soft, there’s probably a little bit more grip that I didn’t quite get out of it from the medium onto the soft for Q3, so I think maybe I should have pushed it a little bit more.

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“But otherwise the car’s been performing well, and it looks like it’s continued its strong performance from the past. So plenty of positives and hopefully that just continues for the rest of the weekend.

“And there’s some things I can work on, some things we can maybe get out of the car for tomorrow’s qualifying. And, yeah, probably starting the weekend strong.”

Lewis Hamilton will no doubt be disappointed with seventh on the sprint grid as Pierre Gasly, Gabriel Bortoleto and Arvid Lindblad rounded out the top ten.

“Not a good session, unfortunately,” said Hamilton.

“This is the way it is. P1 felt good. We made subtle adjustments to the car, but when we got into qualifying, it was completely different.

“We need to figure out what went wrong and then we’ll do the best we can tomorrow.”

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Fraser Masefield

Fraser is a sports and motorsports editor with over 25 years experience. The former head editor of WilliamsF1, BMW Motorsport, Jaguar Racing and Virgin Media, he has also worked for Autosport, ESPNF1 and Eurosport amongst others.

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