Norris will start from pole position for Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix after a stunning lap late in qualifying.

The McLaren driver was more than three-tenths clear of Max Verstappen with Oscar Piastri poised to line up third on the grid.

Daniel Ricciardo meanwhile will start only 16th after he was eliminated from the session at the first hurdle.

Conditions had improved sharply from Free Practice 3 with the sun having broken through to dry the circuit.

There were concerns earlier in the day that Qualifying would be wet, which saw teams reluctant to burn up their limited intermediate compound tyres.

It remained windy, with a tail wind into Tarzan at the start of the lap while both track and ambient temperatures had climbed since final practice.

Leading in to qualifying, there had been comparatively little dry running; opening practice started wet but dried during the hour, with Free Practice 2 completely dry.

Teams therefore had little data available on the soft compound tyres, on a circuit that had been routinely doused over the weekend, washing away what little grip that had built up.

The short lap length saw small margins between drivers nonetheless, Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris, and Max Verstappen split by 0.018s at the top of the timesheets.

Missing was Logan Sargeant, who crashed heavily in Free Practice 3 earlier in the day.

There was significant damage to his car, which also caught fire, though the team reported that the chassis itself appeared to have survived.

The turnaround to get the car ready for Qualifying, however, was simply too tight and the American missed the session.

Ahead of the final runs in Qualifying 1, Daniel Ricciardo, Yuki Tsunoda, Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu, and Sargeant sat in the bottom five.

With the exception of Sargeant, everyone was on track in the closing minute of the segment, including Verstappen though on a set of used soft tyres.

As the chequered flag waved, Carlos Sainz shot to the top of the timesheets before George Russell and then Sergio Perez (who’d burned up two sets of soft tyres are being impeded by Hamilton on his first lap) bumped the Ferrari driver.

That bumped Ricciardo back to 16th; the Australian was eliminated along with Esteban Ocon, Bottas, Zhou, and Sargeant.

As Qualifying 2 began, cloud cover hid the sun, though the wind speed had eased.

The McLaren pair recorded near identical laps on their first runs, a 1:10.496s for Norris proving 0.009s faster than Piastri.

Verstappen, meanwhile, was battling understeer in his Red Bull Racing and was three-tenths back from the Papaya pair.

After the initial flurry, Kevin Magnussen, Pierre Gasly, Tsunoda, Nico Hulkenberg, and Alex Albon were in the danger zone.

Gasly was the first to begin his second run, improving to fifth in the Alpine.

Others were also improving, including Sainz who was only capable of the 10th fastest time.

Hamilton couldn’t best the Ferrari as he missed the cut in 11th, which became 12th as Charles Leclerc want sixth best.

That pushed his team-mate out of the session too, along with Tsunoda and the two Haas.

Albon impressed in seventh place, and Gasly in ninth, the pair occupying positions in the top 10 that would have typically seen Sainz and Hamilton progress.

Norris topped the segment from Piastri, the pair progressing to Qualifying 3 having used only two sets of soft tyres.

They were the first on track as Qualifying 3 commenced, followed by Verstappen who also had two new sets of tyres available.

Piastri logged a 1:10.193s with his first lap, a time that stood only until Norris completed his lap just over a tenth faster than his team-mate.

Verstappen was 0.148s slower than Norris, with Russell fourth in the sole remaining Mercedes.

Perez did not run initially, one of four to remain in the garage initially, the Mexican with only a single set of new tyres available.

Aston Martin ran Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso off sequence, the pair starting their flying laps with five minutes remaining.

The bulk of the field returned to the track with just over three minutes remaining, Perez and Albon among them.

On his final lap, Norris flew through the first sector, the McLaren driver a tenth slower than Verstappen through the middle third of the lap.

The Dutchman moved onto provisional pole with a 1:10.029s, a time quickly destroyed by Norris with a 1:09.673s.

Piastri slotted in third, the Australian joined on the second row by Russell who pushed Perez back to fifth.

The balance of the top 10 was Leclerc, Alonso, Albon, Stroll, and Gasly.