If Friday’s first two practice sessions at the Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix are any indication, the second half of the season will begin the way the first half ended.
Lando Norris, who closed out the first half of the campaign by winning three of the final four races before the Summer Shutdown, topped the timing sheets in both FP1 and FP2 on a blustery day at Zandvoort. Norris, who trails teammate Oscar Piastri by just nine points in the Drivers’ Championship race, set a benchmark time of 1:10.278 in the first practice session, with Piastri 0.292 seconds off the pace.
Norris managed to trim some time off that pace in the second hour of practice, posting a session-best 1:09.890.
Perhaps the biggest surprise came from Aston Martin. Not only did Alonso finish second in FP2, just 0.087 seconds behind Norris, but both Alonso and teammate Lance Stroll finished inside the top four in the first hour of practice. Stroll’s time was good enough for third, 0.501 seconds behind Norris, while Alonso finished fourth in FP1, 0.563 seconds behind Norris.
Stroll, however, suffered a large shunt at Turn 3 in the second hour of practice, bringing his FP2 session to an early end:
That brought out the first red flag of the second practice session, with Alexander Albon’s crash at Turn 1 bringing out a second red flag.
On the other side of the ledger, some of the usual favorites endured their share of struggles Friday at the Dutch Grand Prix. Ferrari’s duo of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton languished at the back of the grid in FP1, with Leclerc in P14 and Hamilton in P15. For Leclerc, it was the second sector that was his undoing, as his best time in S2 was eclipsed by most of the grid, including Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, who finished behind him in P18.
At one point, Leclerc radioed into his team that they needed to focus on their own programs and not the other teams, as they are “miles” off the pace.
Things improved for Ferrari in FP2 as Hamilton finished sixth and Leclerc finished eighth, but they are still a bit off the pace of McLaren.
As is the rest of the grid.
The teams will reset overnight, ahead of Saturday’s FP3 session and the all-important qualifying hour at the Dutch Grand Prix.
