Verstappen found himself on pole after overturning Leclerc’s advantage in the opening races of Q1, with the session spoiled by fans throwing flares onto the Zandvoort track, resulting in Q2 being briefly suspended .
Leclerc trailed Verstappen by 0.059 seconds after the opening races of Q3, with the 2022 leaders converging on pace after Red Bull’s tough start to the weekend.
The Ferrari driver set the best times in the first and last sectors on his final lap, but not being able to replicate his best time in the middle of the track cost him dearly.
Indeed, Verstappen roared into a purple sector and found himself with a best time of 1m10.342s – 0.021s quicker than his rival.
Carlos Sainz was third just before Perez spun at the end of his final lap – the Mexican rider plunging his left wheels into the gravel on the exit of the penultimate corner and heading on the inside of the last banked turn.
This meant the following Mercedes drivers were forced to take off and therefore Lewis Hamilton finished fourth with Perez fifth ahead of George Russell.
Lando Norris took seventh ahead of Mick Schumacher and Yuki Tsunoda, while Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll finished 10th after being unable to race in Q3 due to a technical problem with his car.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari F1-75
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Stroll’s mechanics were spotted inspecting the front damper area of his AMR2022 before the start of Q3 – the final segment with flare smoke blowing from the pit exit but covered by a brief flag yellow before the final races.
Q2 was suspended shortly after starting when another rocket ignited from the stands overlooking the exit of Turn 12 and the final part of the stadium section of the track was launched onto the track.
The FIA, which said the person who launched the rocket “identified and removed by event security”, suspended the action until it died down and could be removed.
During the stop the marshals of turn 7 tried to eliminate the pigeons which had settled on the inside of this turn, which Alex Albon had noted while racing solo at the start of the intermediate segment before that the rounding does not have to be cleared.
Q2 action resumed after a six-minute delay and when it ended Pierre Gasly found himself as the highest-ranked runner eliminated in 11th – despite setting a personal best on his last flyer.
This meant Tsunoda survived to reach Q3, with Esteban Ocon also eliminated after setting his best time at the end of Q2.
Fernando Alonso trailed his Alpine teammate in 13th, but blamed his early exit as he encountered Perez who was slowly advancing one lap into the double-peaked right-hander of Turn 9.
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari F1-75
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Zhou Guanyu finished 14th for Alfa Romeo, while Albon moved from 10th to 15th after completing his final lap well ahead of the others in the dying minutes of Q2.
In Q1, Gasly’s late improvement knocked out Valtteri Bottas in the second Alfa, with Kevin Magnussen initially out in 17th but was quickly dropped in 18th as his flirtation with track limits at Hugenholtz on his final flyer went too far. away and the FIA scrapped its effort.
It meant Daniel Ricciardo finished 17th when team-mate Norris passed the opening segment in fifth, while Sebastian Vettel found himself 19th after making a major error on his final lap.
Just after setting a then-fastest time in the first sector and his fastest central sector of Q1, Vettel couldn’t hold back an oversteer snap in the penultimate corner and so slid wide and into the gravel trap at the exit.
Nicholas Latifi finished last for Williams.
