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More from Lewis Hamilton and the W13 has finally woken up from its deep slumber.

After his first-lap incident with Fernando Alonso at last weekend's Belgian Grand Prix ended any hope of another podium finish, the seven-time world champion feels there are now green shoots in the performance of his car.

"I genuinely feel good," said Hamilton. "We have closed the gap somehow over one lap. I can't really understand why.

"But I'm hoping that means we are even closer again in the race and if we are that would be fantastic. If we can fight with these three ahead of me, that would be an amazing experience."

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Lewis Hamilton was unable to improve on his Q3 time due to Sergio Perez's spin but the seven-time world champion still felt like his Mercedes showed the same form as the 2021 season.

"I was fighting for it," Hamilton told Sky Sports. "It was such a positive feeling to come from such a difficult weekend.

"The car has completely transformed because of the different type of track and to be fighting with like a tenth between us and the Red Bull, it felt very reminiscent of good times last year and I was maybe just hoping I could make that little difference to potentially get ahead.

"At the end I was up, but whether I was up enough to be pole, probably not, but definitely fighting for the front row. Either way we're close and we have got to fight these guys in the race."

Something has been left on Lewis Hamilton's car. Not sure what it is but it's dropped off in the pit lane.

Pit lane is open.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

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There has not been a weekend this year in which the cars of the top three teams have been closer on raw pace than this one. Indeed, at one point, it looked as if the grid might be Red Bull-Ferrari-Mercedes-Ferrari-Mercedes-Red Bull. Perhaps it would have been if Sergio Perez had not spun at the final corner on his last run in qualifying, preventing Lewis Hamilton and George Russell from completing final laps that Hamilton felt could have put him on the front row and Russell felt would have put him fifth.

Even the pole fight was agonisingly close, Max Verstappen edging Charles Leclerc by just 0.021 seconds. Had Leclerc not made an error in Turn 10, it could easily have been the other way around. Could, then, this be the first three-team battle for victory this year? Britain and Hungary promised that, but didn’t quite deliver it. Carlos Sainz, third on the grid, thinks it’s a possibility.“I think Mercedes going to be at least as quick as us in the race,” the Ferrari man said. "And I think they're going to be in the mix around the pit stops. And yeah, it's going to be a good fight with the other five cars.”

On any other day a time of 1:10.434 may have been good enough to secure pole position but Carlos Sainz acknowledged the fight between the front-runners was fierce.

The Spanish Ferrari driver started on pole last weekend at Spa due to Max Verstappen's grid penalty and ended the race still on the podium, albeit in third spot.

Alex Withington: It's mad already here at the Tarzan grandstand. Been practising the flag-waving for about 2 hours accompanied by party music. Time for some racing!

Charles Leclerc, who starts P2 today, tells Sky Sports: "Turn 1 will be very important but I think we’ve got the pace in the car. They (Red Bull) have got one new set of softs which will be tricky for us but yeah let’s see what we can do. A good start and then focusing on ourselves, I’m sure the pace is in the car.

"We will give it all and obviously the target is to win and for the championship we are quite far behind now but race by race, we can try and maximise the points team wise and obviously I will try and go for the win."

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Charles Leclerc was so close to grabbing his eighth pole of the season but the Ferrari driver had to settle for the runners-up spot on the grid.

"It was very very close. Max did a great lap in the end," said Leclerc.

"Our car was getting better and better through qualifying. In the beginning I was pretty scared because Max was much, much quicker than those on used tyres. But in Q3, the car came a bit more together and I managed to do that lap which was close enough for P2. Tomorrow is the race and we will give it our all.

"We are much stronger here compared to last weekend, so that's good to see and for tomorrow, I think our race pace looks strong and hopefully it will be close with the Red Bull. We just need to do a great start."

The guy lifting Verstappen up is undisputed glory heavyweight kickboxing world champion since 2013, Rico Verhoeven.

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After a gearbox issue left Max Verstappen stranded out on track in first practice on Friday, it's no wonder the Dutchman called his pole lap "unbelievable" and "insane".

Verstappen said Red Bull had worked hard overnight to iron out the kinks after a difficult day to provide the title leader with a "quick race car again".

"We changed a lot, yesterday was a bit rushed in FP2 to get the car together, but today the car was enjoyable to drive," Verstappen added.

T-shirt cannon has been dusted off from Silverstone and is being fired into the ecstatic crowd by Max Verstappen. Surprisingly, the colour being offered isn't orange.

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Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

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Max Verstappen won a titanic fight for pole at the Dutch Grand Prix, shading Charles Leclerc by just 0.021 seconds.

The Red Bull driver looked to be in formidable form early in qualifying but Leclerc went faster on the first runs in the final session in his Ferrari.

Leclerc improved on his final run, only for Verstappen to pip him, sending the orange-clad capacity crowd at his home race into paroxysms of joy.

Ferrari's Carlos Sainz snuck ahead of Mercedes Lewis Hamilton for third.

Have a read of Andrew's full qualifying report here

Thankfully this week, everyone will be staying in their qualifying positions and not packing up to set up camp at the back of the grid.

Welcome back, folks. Race number two of this post-summer break triple-header is almost upon us.

Max Verstappen was victorious at the Belgian Grand Prix last weekend but can he do the same again today from pole position?

Full commentary of the Dutch Grand Prix will be available to listen to on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, the BBC Sounds app and at the top of this page using the audio icon at 13:55 BST.

Pigeons, yellow flags and unfortunately, flares, were all on the menu during yesterday's qualifying session...

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Max Verstappen has the backing of an enthusiastic home crowd at Zandvoort today but can Charles Leclerc be a Ferrari party pooper and spoil the world champion's parade?

Red or orange. Pick your colour.

Or maybe you fancy a bit of silver instead?

The Dutch Grand Prix gets under way at 14:00 BST.