BERLIN (Dispatches) - Max
Verstappen beat Lewis Hamilton to pole position at the Dutch Grand Prix by just 0.038 seconds, sending his devoted home fans wild.
The Red Bull driver had appeared in control throughout qualifying but Hamilton improved on his final lap to miss out by the narrowest of margins.
The second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas was third, ahead of Pierre Gasly’s Alpha Tauri and the Ferraris.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was eliminated in the first session and is 16th.
Verstappen set the standard on the first lap of final qualifying when he beat Bottas by 0.299secs, a significant margin around one of the shortest laps on the calendar.
But Hamilton - who managed only one lap in the second practic e session on Friday, reducing his time to set up the car - pulled it out with a trademark lap at the end.
Verstappen improved - as he needed to, because Hamilton exactly matched the Dutchman’s lap from his first run.
Verstappen revealed that he had a double upshift on his lap and had also failed to open the DRS overtaking aid on the run to the line, both of which would have cost time.
He said: “It is of course the best position. We know passing is difficult, a lot of laps around here, the tyres are struggling around the high-speed corners but I hope we can finish it off tomorrow.”
Hamilton was booed by the capacity 80,000 crowd as he did his interview immediately after the session, but saluted the enthusiasm of the local fans.