After a nearly month-long break, the Formula 1 season continues this weekend with the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort. The reigning champ, Max Verstappen, claimed pole position after topping the qualifying rounds in a wet-dry affair.

Being Verstappen’s 3rd pole position in a row and a possible 9th consecutive win this weekend, the home crowd is definitely more excited than ever as Max takes to his own turf. Formula 1 reported that if Verstappen takes the chequered flag  this week he’ll be equalling Sebastian Vettel’s extraordinary nine wins in a row.

For Verstappen, he can almost not believe his current record, stating that he never thought he’d be on eight wins already.

This week, despite the wet to dry conditions and multiple crashes during qualifying, Verstappen finished ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Mercedes’ George Russell in a table-topping time of 1m 10.567s.

Norris will start alongside Verstappen in the first row and Alex Albon will start alongside Russell in the second row as Russel placed 3rd with Albon following thereafter. 

The orange army would like nothing more than to see Verstappen inch closer to defending his World Champion title with a 9th consecutive win. The win being on home soil will make it that much more special for both the driver and his supporters.

Unfortunately for Ferrari, this week’s qualifying round saw Leclerc crashing out on turn 9 at Zandvoort in the Q3 phase. Crashing out meant he had to watch the rest of the session from a trackside camping chair, leaving him to qualify in 9th on the grid for today’s start. Ferrari teammate, Carlos Sainz, will begin in 6th on the grid this week. 

Leclerc wasn’t the only driver meeting the barrier as Logan Sargeant's Q3 lasted all of a minute before he smashed into the barrier at turn two, prompting a red flag. The Williams driver begins this week at 10th.

Lewis Hamilton begins at 13th after also not managing his best performance in this week’s qualifying.

The race at Zandvoort begins today at 3pm.