Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

There were exceptional qualifying performances from Pierre Gasly for Alpha Tauri and Antonio Giovinazzi to go fourth and seventh on Saturday. Gasly matched his career-best qualifying and admitted his strong qualifying performances this year - his average is 7.8 - had left him “wondering why” Red Bull had not called him back into the senior team.

“I don’t think we could’ve done any better,” the Frenchman said, “and obviously as a driver it’s a very good feeling. This year has been very consistent, I think I’ve been performing at my best level in Formula 1, definitely compared to since I arrived. And it’s good that it’s noticed.”

Giovinazzi, about whose future in F1 there has been speculation recently, had a bit of a scare when a problem with a stuck wheel nut risked his progression beyond the second session before the mechanics freed it, described his lap as “mega”.

Robert Kubica, in the other car after Kimi Raikkonen contracted coronavirus, said he felt “always behind” in a car in which he has struggled this year to find confidence and managed 18th fastest.

The Monegasque will start from fifth today, can he snatch a podium and make it a 50th to remember?

And here's what Carlos Sainz posted on Twitter afterwards...

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

Carlos Sainz made an excellent recovery in qualifying after crashing in final practice on Saturday, to line up alongside team-mate Charles Leclerc on the third row, only 0.01 seconds slower than the Monegasque. The Spaniard lost his Ferrari over the crest after Turn Two, and spun into the wall at the entry to the heavily banked third corner, Hugenholtz.

”At the beginning I didn't know what had happened,” Sainz said. “Then I had a bit of an analysis, a bit of a cool-down in my head, and after what I've seen in quali, it's very clear now that centimetres off line there's clearly less grip than online there's a bit of sand.

"And I missed the apex by maybe 20cm in that lap, and you can see maybe that I pull up a bit of dust, and I think that is enough to create an accident at this circuit.”

Sainz was revelling in the Zandvoort track. “In terms of challenges, away from Monaco and Baku, I think this is biggest challenge of the season for the driver. I loved it. Even [in] the accident, I felt like I deserved to crash. To be 20cms off line, because this is how a circuit should be.”

Leclerc, for his part, was slightly disappointed not to have beaten Pierre Gasly’s Alpha Tauri to fourth. He said: “(I) maybe exaggerated the front wing on the last run and lost the rear end a bit but overall it was a good lap. Shame to miss P4, though. I had the possibility to be fourth today. We are starting on the clean line so hopefully we can take benefit from that.”

Lando Norris missed out on Q3 for the first time this season and starts 13th. He told Sky Sports: "I'm excited for today, there's plenty of opportunities to make my way through after yesterday.

"I think our general pace is not as strong as normal so even if I'd have put in a perfect lap, I wouldn't have been P4 or P5 like usual."

It's not going to be easy, but Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton will give it their all to steal a fairy tale home win from Verstappen.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

Mercedes have one key advantage over Red Bull for the Dutch Grand Prix - they have two cars at the front against Red Bull’s one, after Sergio Perez failed to get out of first qualifying because of a slow-ish lap, and then not making it out in time for a second.

That means Mercedes can play with strategy in a way their rivals can’t. "If we’re able to have the same pace in the race,” Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said, “again it’s going to be about survival on a one-stop. Max needs to make a decision. Is he going for a one-stop, or is he going for a two-stop?

“I think we can play both strategies. We’ve seen that you can have two cars that can actually go totally different, and certainly, pitting one, under-cutting, with massive pressure, then leaving the other out, can help you finish one and two.”

That, though, depends on two things - if the cars have similar pace, and if Bottas can keep up. If Verstappen has the pace he appeared to have on Friday, Mercedes’ strategy options might be moot.

It's still more than an hour to go and every space is taken up on the stands and it's a sea of orange.

Superstar DJ Tiesto is getting the crowd even more excited. It's an orange Ibiza.

What an atmosphere. We've got 70,000 fans in, it's one of the sights of the season. It was unable to go ahead because of Covid last year, but hopefully the race lives up to the hype and this becomes an annual event.

It should be an eventful afternoon so as always we want your thoughts and opinions on all the action.

Tweet us using #bbcf1 to get involved.

• 1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
• 2. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
• 3. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)
• 4. Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri)
• 5. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
• 6. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
• 7. Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo)
• 8. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
• 9. Fernando Alonso (Alpine)
• 10. Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren)
• 11. George Russell (Williams)
• 12. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
• 13. Lando Norris (McLaren)
• 15. Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri)
• 17. Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin)
• 18. Robert Kubica (Alfa Romeo)
• 19. Mick Schumacher (Haas)
• 20. Nikita Mazepin (Haas)

Pit lane starts - Nicholas Latifi (Williams, had qualified 14th) and Sergio Perez (Red Bull, had qualified 16th).

If you weren't with us yesterday, Robert Kubica is in the Alfa Romeo instead of Kimi Raikkonen after the Finn was ruled out because of a positive Covid-19 test.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

A new engine for Sergio Perez - the full shebang of components, a fourth power-unit from his permitted three. So he'll be at the back.

It makes sense for Red Bull to do this at this race. Perez was going to need to take a fourth engine at some point anyway (as team-mate Max Verstappen is likely to have to as well), so taking it when he's been knocked out in Q1 is a no-brainer.

Perez will start from the pit lane, as will Nicholas Latifi’s Williams after the team fitted a new gearbox and a different spec front wing following his qualifying crash.

Sergio Perez was a surprise faller in Q1 yesterday and was due to start 16th, but Red Bull have taken the opportunity to fix some new components to his car so that's a start from the pits for him.

However, Max Verstappen is going to be fighting a lone battle as it's a Red Bull right at the front, and a Red Bull right at the back...

Max Verstappen said: "It's an amazing feeling to get pole position here.

"The crowd is incredible. Today [Saturday] was good, I hope we can finish this off."

Of 10 pole positions for Max Verstappen, seven of them have been in 2021 and six of those have been in the past seven races.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

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 practice 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.

We've not had an F1 race in the Netherlands since 1985, what a venue and what a location.

Hello, thanks for joining us and welcome along to BBC Sport's coverage of the Dutch Grand Prix.

I'm Michael Emons and hopefully you're looking forward to this one as much as I am.

As always, we'll have live radio commentary in this page, with lights out at 14:00 BST.

After a deeply unsatisfying Sunday at Spa last week, let's all hope we're treated to something special today.

To the delight of thousands and thousands of home fans, Max Verstappen stuck his Red Bull on to pole position for today's Dutch Grand Prix.

Image source, Getty Images

And that helped set up the situation we all wanted as the top two in the title race are today's front row.

Who could forget the last time Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton were alongside each other, only three races ago at Silverstone?

A first-lap collision after some brilliant wheel-to-wheel racing left Verstappen in the barrier before Hamilton, after serving a time penalty for causing the crash, chased down leader Charles Leclerc for an epic victory that left Verstappen and Red Bull fuming.

What's going to be the next chapter in a truly epic 2021 Formula 1 season?

Can't wait to find out.