F1 Sprint Qualifying Results Today: 2026 Dutch Grand Prix times and positions

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Canada, 2026 — Photo: © IMAGO

Dutch Grand Prix Sprint Qualifying

F1 Sprint Qualifying Results: Lewis Hamilton disaster as title bid falters at Dutch Grand Prix

Full results and times from qualifying for the sprint race at Zandvoort

Chris Deeley Editor

Experienced sports writer covering F1 and other motorsports since 2023

Friday 21 August 2026 17:30

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George Russell took a surprise pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix sprint race on Friday at Zandvoort, while his two main championship rivals struggled.

Kimi Antonelli qualified a quarter of a second down in fifth place after an earlier escapade over the gravel, while Lewis Hamilton in his upgraded Ferrari could only manage seventh on the grid – more than six tenths down on his old team-mate, and more than half a second behind the sister Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

The top of the timing boards were extremely tight, with less than a tenth of a second covering the top four of Russell, Lando Norris, Leclerc and Oscar Piastri, making the six-tenths gap back to Hamilton look truly alarming for the Brit's hopes of clawing back some ground in the title fight.

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Elsewhere, the two men in new seats this weekend, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda, will start 11th and 12th respectively after entirely respectable performances in SQ1 and SQ2.

After a strong weekend last time out in Hungary, Aston Martin were hoping to make another leap with a Honda engine upgrade this weekend – only to have both of their cars eliminated in SQ1, revealing afterward that Fernando Alonso had an issue with his straight-line mode deployment.

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Dutch Grand Prix Sprint Qualifying Results

Dutch Grand Prix Sprint Qualifying Results
Pos	Driver	Team	Gap
1	George Russell	Mercedes	1:11.567
2	Lando Norris	McLaren	+0.041s
3	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+0.055s
4	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+0.099s
5	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+0.227s
6	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+0.527s
7	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+0.624s
8	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+1.011s
9	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	+1.016s
10	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	+1.170s
11	Liam Lawson	Red Bull	ELIMINATED IN SQ2
12	Yuki Tsunoda	Racing Bulls	ELIMINATED IN SQ2
13	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	ELIMINATED IN SQ2
14	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	ELIMINATED IN SQ2
15	Esteban Ocon	Haas	ELIMINATED IN SQ2
16	Alex Albon	Williams	ELIMINATED IN SQ2
17	Ollie Bearman	Haas	ELIMINATED IN SQ1
18	Carlos Sainz	Williams	ELIMINATED IN SQ1
19	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	ELIMINATED IN SQ1
20	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	ELIMINATED IN SQ1
21	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	ELIMINATED IN SQ1
22	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	ELIMINATED IN SQ1

Changes to F1 qualifying in 2026

There are a couple of changes to the way qualifying works this year, not quite as sweeping as the new technical regulations.

Firstly we now have 22 cars on the grid, so instead of 5 cars exiting after SQ1 and SQ2, we will have 6 being eliminated. That still leaves 10 for the pole shootout in SQ3.

Unlike in grand prix qualifying, where Q3 now gets an extra minute and lasts for 13 rather than 12, sprint qualifying timings are unchanged (12 minutes for SQ1, 10 for SQ2, eight for SQ3).

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Written by

Chris Deeley - Editor

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F1 Lewis Hamilton Aston Martin George Russell Charles Leclerc Kimi Antonelli