Pole for Piastri at Dutch GP inMcLaren lock-up

AFP | Zandvoort

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Oscar Piastri snatched pole position Saturday for the Dutch Grand Prix, locking up the front of the grid with his teammate Lando Norris as McLaren maintained their dominance of Formula One.

Piastri clocked a lap record time of one minute 8.662 seconds, 0.012 seconds ahead of Norris to give himself a valuable advantage for Sunday's race.

It was the fifth pole position of the season for the Australian driver, who is seeking to extend his nine-point world championship lead over Norris.

Norris had had the edge over the Australian in all three practice sessions so far, but Piastri hit back when it counted to give himself an advantage for the race.

"That was the definition of peaking at the right time," Piastri said after the qualification.

"It was looking like a bit of a tricky weekend so far so to come out with that, I'm pretty stoked."

No ris was phleg matic about his second place on the grid, noting there was barely anything between the two McLarens.

"There's not too much to complain of. I think there were a couple of places where I wasn't quite on a good enough limit and consistently losing a bit too much lap time today," he told reporters.

"So, some places and things I need to work on, but otherwise the laps were good and I'm still pretty happy."

'Very happy'

Home favourite Max Verstappen -- in the unfamiliar position of outsider for his home Grand Prix -- qualified in third position.

Verstappen currently sits 97 points behind Piastri in the world championship standings and has admitted that his Red Bull is off the pace this season.

He will be hoping that the famously unpredictable weather at the North Sea beach circuit of Zandvoort will play a role, as he is regarded as a brilliant wet weather driver.

He declared himself "very happy" with his third place on the podium, saying the crowd "really got the adrenaline pumping".