Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Zandvoort

Image source, Getty Images

Mercedes' George Russell took his first pole position for four races in qualifying for the sprint race at the Dutch Grand Prix.

The Briton, trailing Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli by 59 points in the championship, was 0.041 seconds quicker than McLaren's Lando Norris in second.

Antonelli could manage only fifth, behind Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen was sixth, ahead of Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton, who is second in the championship, 50 points behind Antonelli.

Russell's pole was the perfect start to the second part of the season for him, having lost ground to Antonelli in the three races before the summer break after his victory in Austria at the end of June.

Read the full report here

Image source, Getty Images

So George Russell reigned supreme and will start tomorrow's sprint race from pole position.

But can he push on and kick off the second half of the season in better fashion than the first?

He certainly looked like Mr Consistency in his Mercedes but with race qualifying coming tomorrow, too, can he keep up that momentum headed into Sunday?

We'll be back in the morning for the sprint race at 10:30 BST on Saturday with lights out at 11:00 BST.

Meanwhile race qualifying gets going at 15:00 BST.

For now that's where we'll leave you. See you tomorrow.

In a post-sprint qualifying interview, Kimi Antonelli has said that the damage sustained to his Mercedes had affected the car's performance in the latter stages of sprint qualifying.

That turn 13 can be brutal.

Soft tyre or no - for the top four to be as bunched up as they are is quite something.

F1's a sport of fine margins anyway but that final lap demanded perfection.

Needless to say, George Russell was rather pleased with that lap and his sprint pole.

Especially off the back of what had been a tough first half of the season prior to the summer break.

"The lap felt really good to be honest. It came together nicely. It's always difficult when you have one shot on the soft tyre," he said.

"McLaren look quick, and Ferrari, but I'm glad to pull it off.

"The big points are on Sunday [but] I'll try and carry this momentum into tomorrow."

Russell: "Nice one."

Engineer: "Beautiful!"

Lando Norris had looked sublime in his McLaren but Russell outdid him by a narrow 0.041 seconds while Charles Leclerc is third with a 1:11.622.

In fact Less than a tenth separates the top four with Oscar Piastri 0.099 seconds behind.

Meanwhile Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Pierre Gasly, Gabriel Bortoleto and Arvid Lindblad round out the top 10.

Under a minute left, can anyone top that?!

And there it is. Lando Norris keeps the party going and sets a 1:11.608 with Kimi Antonelli shortly behind him with a 1:11.794.

But here comes George Russell who goes fastest with a 1:11.567!

Two minutes to go and Lando Norris sets a time.

A 1:19.121 which will obviously come down quite quickly.

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on Sports Extra 3

Drivers have to use the soft tyres in this session, so that means we should see the lap times tumble even further.

Lando Norris is the first man out of the garage and a flurry of cars follow behind him.

Four minutes left on the clock.

So the softs are going on as everyone tries to get in the mix.

There's not much time but with a minute gone, no one's out on track yet.

Right, eight minutes of madness to come in SQ3 then.

Who's going to nab sprint pole? It's absolutely wide open at the minute.

The two McLarens were P1 and P2 in SQ3. But Ferrari and Mercedes look pacey as well.

Not to be for Liam Lawson, then. Or Yuki Tsunoda.

In fairness, given the relative short notice both of them have had in the circumstances, P11 and P12 in sprint qualifying's not too bad.

11. Liam Lawson (Red Bull)

12. Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls)

13. Franco Colapinto (Alpine)

14. Nico Hulkenberg (Audi)

15. Esteban Ocon (Haas)

16. Alex Albon (Williams)

Gabriel Bortoleto's up to eighth with less than a minute remaining.

Liam Lawson's right on the bubble in his Red Bull.

Will he make it through?

Any sign of damage on Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes isn't holding him back too much as he goes fifth fastest with a 1:12.511.

At the minute, Nico Hulkenberg, Alex Albon, Gabriel Bortoleto, Arvid Lindblad, Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly are at risk with two minutes left on the clock.

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on Sports Extra 3

Tyre preparation is key to a good qualifying lap. You need all four tyres to be nicely balanced and within the right temperature window and here, because it's such a short lap, that's quite a tricky thing to do over just one flying lap.