A quarter of a second advantage in the first sector of the Zandvoort circuit laid the foundations for Lando Norris' decisive Dutch Grand Prix pole, built upon by a solid final split.
The final 0.356-second gap between Norris and Max Verstappen in qualifying was representative of a comparative gulf, given the closeness of the field. Norris unearthed the only sub-70 second lap of the weekend with his final flying effort, culminating in his third pole of 2024, superior traction out of the slower corners underpinning that effort.
In assessing GPS data between Norris and Verstappen's laps, the Briton's exits from Turn 1 and Turn 3 set up a significant cushion over Verstappen in the duel for pole, as the Dutch driver was perhaps chasing the time a little bit more. There are small nuances in Verstappen's braking traces that hint towards this, particularly attempting to carry more speed into the first corner - Tarzanbocht - but ultimately falling short when on the power.
For a fleeting moment in the first corner, Verstappen's delta is marginally up on Norris as he releases the throttle a little later; Norris, by comparison, lets his foot off the pedal sooner - but he's also very slightly later on the brakes as he chooses to use the engine braking a little more to slow the car down. Norris also keeps the revs up by selecting a lower gear for the corner, gathering more acceleration out of the corner and building the momentum towards the banked third corner.
Norris is already 0.15s up through the second corner and, although Verstappen is marginally quicker through the corner itself, Norris has much more rear-end grip - and there were moments throughout qualifying where Verstappen cut a more ponderous figure on the exit of Turn 3.
Again, Norris is in a lower gear - third, rather than fourth; although the Honda-powered Red Bull and the Mercedes-powered McLaren will require different gear ratios to keep the power band at its widest, Norris seems to prefer keeping the engine speed up for more acceleration.
Throughout the undulating sweepers that lead up to Turn 7, Norris is hence building more speed - around 4-6kph (2-4mph) in hand versus Verstappen at the same point - to flex that advantage; it's 0.249s between them at the end of sector one, and growing as the two prepare for the long-radius right-hander at the top of the circuit.
Norris bleeds the throttle off more through the corner, which allows the delta to creep down; Norris is more ponderous on the throttle in this area of the circuit, cutting the difference between them by about a tenth, and Verstappen is again faster in the middle part of the corner to suggest that the Red Bull is more adept at carrying the speed up to the apex.
But in the traction phase when the car is in yaw, McLaren seems to be able to build the downforce. Although there's a very slight snap in Norris' car on the exit of Turn 10, he doesn't get too crossed up with it and is able to apply the right amount of steering lock to counteract the understeer. With a traction-acceleration phase to follow into Turn 11, Norris can recover: sure, Verstappen is faster into the turns, but Norris is faster on the exit.
At the end of the second sector, Norris has lost a tenth to Verstappen through the highly technical part of the lap, one where it's very difficult to nail the correct line through the right-right-switchback-left. And, as Verstappen brakes deeper into Turn 11, he very briefly noses ahead of Norris in their comparative deltas, but this is soon recovered as the McLaren gets out of the corner quicker.
Norris properly guns the throttle here at the exit of Turn 12. He's on the gas earlier than Verstappen, clears the tighter of the two remaining right-handers with more speed, and is far more settled on the throttle again compared to his adversary.
Verstappen is a little bit more tentative out of Turn 13 and, in that, cannot gather the same momentum - he's a tenth down on his own best second sector time, while Norris is two tenths in the final part of the lap to cross the line with his final 0.356s in hand. Had Verstappen matched his third-sector best, he still would have been 0.25s shy - the second and third sectors cancelling each other out.
Oscar Piastri couldn't extract the same level of performance from his MCL38 as Norris, and this largely falls in four areas. The first two include his much more speculative exit from Turn 1, which is shown in the throttle traces by a smidgen more hesitation compared to the two drivers ahead of him on the grid. This is also true of Turn 3 to a smaller extent, compounded by a bigger lift through the Turn 2 kink that means he arrives into the Hugenholtzbocht with less momentum.
The Australian also looked wayward on the Turn 10 exit, the part of the circuit most affected by the gusting winds prevalent around the seafront circuit, which held him back on the run to Turn 11/12, where his through-corner speed through the first phase is quite ordinary.
He tries to correct that by booting the throttle slightly more - all three drivers opting for a quick press of the pedal in the middle of the corner to inject a smidgen more speed into the car - to push his McLaren through the second phase more. But this seems to unsettle the car and forces him to be more wary when properly applying the gas on the exit.
Thus, Norris carries much more momentum through the final part of the lap - and where the first sector helped the polesitter build his lap, the final part of the lap was the finishing blow to those hoping to snatch pole in the concluding corners.
