Formula 1 is currently experiencing a rather competitive era, where the margins are so fine that any one driver can fall eliminated unexpectedly, regardless of their talent and prowess behind the wheel of an F1 car. Mercedes and Red Bull have suffered this fate at Zandvoort.
As McLaren dominated the timing sheets, as they have done all weekend, Max Verstappen was able to close the gap to 0.248s with his Q2 push lap. George Russell, meanwhile, was placed at the lower end of the order, under threat of elimination.
Nevertheless, it was neither senior driver of the Austrian nor the German teams who were eliminated in the dying moments of Q2.
Antonelli and Tsunoda fall in Q2
For Tsunoda, the Japanese driver seemed well on his way to reach Q3, until he started his last run of Q2. As the track was ramping up Verstappen's teammate failed to find the time that others were finding. Gabriel Bortoleto matched his time down to the one thousandth, and Liam Lawson and Fernando Alonso bested it.
As both the Racing Bulls and the Aston Martin driver improved, Antonelli was demoted to P11 with the Japanese driver behind the Italian rookie in P12.
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