ZANDVOORT, Netherlands (AP) 鈥� Lando Norris is aiming for another win as he heads into Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix on pole position with and Kimi Antonelli close behind.
McLaren’s Norris found some unexpected extra pace in to snatch top spot ahead of the Mercedes pair of Russell and standings leader Kimi Antonelli.
Despite some similarities to Hungary, where Norris on July 26, it may not be plain sailing for the defending champion at the seaside Dutch circuit.
Norris was off the pace in Saturday’s sprint race, where he started second but was third after losing out to Charles Leclerc. He said after qualifying he expected another difficult race.
鈥淚n low-speed (corners) we just really still struggle too much to be confident about everything. We definitely made a little bit of progress, but it鈥檚 still going to be on the trickier side of things tomorrow,鈥� Norris said, adding that qualifying with 鈥渘ew tires, low fuel, it just seems to mask quite a few of our issues.鈥�
Russell won Saturday’s sprint at Zandvoort but Antonelli still increased his standings lead to 53 points despite placing fourth. That was because his closest challenger, Lewis Hamilton, could only manage seventh in the sprint. A troubled day continued for Hamilton as he qualified fifth for the Grand Prix.
Antonelli has a 56-point advantage over Russell, with gaps of 79 points to Leclerc and 90 to Norris.
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