A strong final lap from Max Verstappen handed the Red Bull driver on pole position for the Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix.

The local favourite headed a tight top three, with Charles Leclerc second and Carlos Sainz third, less than 0.1s covering the trio.

As the session began, the heavy hitters remained in the garage for the first few minutes.

When Verstappen finally rolled out, Guanyu Zhou held provisional pole with 1:12.641s.

With his first flying lap, the Dutchman went fastest with a 1:11.317s, Perez slotting in second.

That became third when Leclerc set a 1:12.125s and fourth when Sainz logged a 1:11.767s.

Beating the Ferraris were both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, the duo setting near identical times – the former with 1:11.561s and the latter a 1:11.582s.

Perez’s sluggish opening lap necessitated that he ran again, improving to 1:11.641s to slot in fourth.

Leclerc also improved with another run to climb to second on a 1:11.443s with five minutes remaining in the opening segment.

The order changed rapidly in the final moments, with Hamilton climbing to second, Tsunoda third, and Norris to fifth at the chequered flag.

Falling at the first hurdle were Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen, Daniel Ricciardo, Sebastian Vettel, and Nicholas Latifi.

Sainz narrowly avoided the cut as he fell to 14th at the chequered flag, the Ferrari driver making the grade by little more than 0.2s.

Qualifying 2 was red flagged just seconds after it began when a flare was thrown onto the circuit exiting the Hans Ernst Bocht complex; the culprit was promptly found and ejected from the venue.

Alex Albon was the only driver on the track at the time and proved the first back out once the session resumed six minutes later.

Verstappen also headed out, a set of used tyres fitted which saw him produce a 1:10.927s.

Perez joined his team-mate on track, recording the second-best time with a 1:11.314s.

A lull fell over the track ahead of a final flurry that included 13 of the remaining 15 runners.

Albon remained in the garage after running out of sequence earlier while provisional pole sitter Verstappen kept his powder dry too.

The Red Bull driver slipped to second as the chequered flag fell after Sainz went fastest with a 1:10.814s.

Russell also improved over Verstappen with a 1:10.824s while bundled out were Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, Fernando Alonso, Zhou, and Albon.

On track first, as Qualifying 3 began, Verstappen immediately shot to the top of the timesheets with a 1:10.515s.

It was not an error-free lap, with a mistake exiting Hugenholz costing the local favourite time.

Capitalising was Leclerc, who recorded a 1:10.456s to top the session by 0.059s.

A technical issue at Aston Martin saw Lance Stroll stranded in the pit lane.

The Canadian enjoyed a strong session up to that point, emphasised by the fortunes of team-mate Vettel who was knocked out in Qualifying 1.

Qualifying 3 was again divided largely in half, with the opening runs followed by cars returning to the garage ahead of a final push.

As they filtered out of the pits, with little more than a minute to run in the session, another flare was thrown onto the circuit. It rolled off the track and did not force an interruption though did briefly draw yellow flags.

There was no sporting impact and Verstappen was uninhibited as he charged to pole with his final lap, recording a 1:10.342s.

Leclerc could not match the effort and finished the session second with a 1:10.363s and Sainz third at 1:10.434s.

A late spin for Perez at Kumhobocht drew a yellow flag and prevent those behind him on track from improving their earlier efforts.

That hurt the Mercedes pair with Hamilton ending proceedings fourth from Perez, Russell, Lando Norris, Mick Schumacher, Yuki Tsunoda, and Stroll.

Sunday’s Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix gets underway at 23:00 AEST.