F1 Today | Norris secures Dutch GP Pole Position, as Verstappen makes major contract revelation
Photo: Race Pictures
Updated: 21:38, 22 Aug
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Henry Eccles is a freelance Formula 1 journalist for GPblog, covering breaking news, live race blogs, and features across the F1 calendar. Since joining in 2026, he has produced high-volume reporting on the sport’s biggest stories, alongside feature pieces including analysis and historical content.
From Lando Norris' Pole Position at Zandvoort to Max Verstappen's major revelation on his new Red Bull contract - here are the main stories from today, August 22.
Lando Norris secures Dutch GP Pole Position
Off the back of his maiden win of the 2026 season in Budapest prior to F1's summer break, Lando Norris is proving McLaren could be a real problem for the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari, having achieved Pole Position at the Dutch GP.
In a dramatic Q3 session, with rain arriving towards the late stages of Dutch GP Qualifying, Norris beat Mercedes' George Russell and Kimi Antonelli to Pole but is wary he faces a tough challenge during Sunday's race and in the F1 2026 title fight.
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"I don’t know how much the rain affected things," Norris reflected post-Qualifying. "Certainly, the lap time was a bit better than I expected, and honestly maybe it just cooled the track a little bit and actually the tyres performed better through the lap. But I wouldn’t say it affected anything in a bad way.
"Only my Turn 1 was pretty shocking, was probably my worst Turn 1 of the weekend. Otherwise, it wasn’t a lap that felt mega. It was just one where I just had to commit through everything because I knew how close it was going to be."
With McLaren having not changed "that much" on the MCL40, Norris added: "The car is still not our car. It’s certainly the best in high speed, no doubt, or I have the biggest balls, I don’t know! But it’s very, very strong there, and in low speed we just really still struggle too much to be confident about everything. We definitely made maybe a little bit of progress, but it’s still going to be the trickier side of things tomorrow."
Photo: Race Pictures
Verstappen makes major revelation about Red Bull F1 contract after Dutch GP Qualifying
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Meanwhile, after qualifying P7 at his home race in Zandvoort, Max Verstappen admitted that his newly signed Red Bull contract - keeping him with the Milton Keynes team until 2030 - will probably be his last in F1.
"Yes, the chances are high," Verstappen said when asked on the matter. Even with V8 engines possibly on F1's radar for as early as 2030, Verstappen said: "I don’t know. That also depends a bit on how the coming years go."
Credit: Red Bull Content Pool)
Red Bull architect behind Verstappen’s titles nears move to Cadillac
Elsewhere,Cadillac hopes to strengthen its organisation in the short term with Craig Skinner, Red Bull Racing’s former head designer until the start of 2026. At Max Verstappen’s team, he was responsible for the title-winning cars of 2022, 2023 and 2024. He is now in concrete talks with Cadillac about joining the team, GPblog understands.
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Skinner spent no less than 20 years at Red Bull Racing, serving most recently as Chief Designer as he succeeded Adrian Newey at Verstappen’s team. Thanks to Skinner’s cars, the Dutchman was able to celebrate three individual world titles.
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Dutch Grand Prix
Overview
Friday 21.08.26
Practice 1
10:30 AM
Sprint Qualification
02:30 PM
Saturday 22.08.26
Sprint Race
10:00 AM
Qualification
02:00 PM
Sunday 23.08.26
Race
01:00 PM
Friday 21.08.26
Practice 1
Fri 10:30 AM
Sprint Qualification
Fri 02:30 PM
Saturday 22.08.26
Sprint Race
Sat 10:00 AM
Qualification
Sat 02:00 PM
Sunday 23.08.26
Race
Sun 01:00 PM
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F1-stand 2026
Season
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | MercedesMER | 224 | |
2 | FerrariFER | 171 | |
3 | MercedesMER | 168 | |
4 | FerrariFER | 145 | |
5 | McLarenMCL | 134 | |
6 | Red Bull RacingRBR | 112 | |
7 | McLarenMCL | 96 | |
8 | Red Bull RacingRBR | 68 | |
9 | AlpineALP | 43 | |
10 | Racing BullsRCB | 43 |
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