Piastri splits Mercedes in sunny FP2 in Zandvoort

In a much more streamlined session, Oscar Piastri managed to split the Mercedes duo as the sun beamed down on Free Practice 2 in the Netherlands.

Finally living up to its seaside residence, the sun was shining and the fans in the grandstands were dancing as the light went green on FP2.

The session, potentially representative of qualifying and the race later in the weekend, got off to a much busier start as drivers quite literally raced around the 4.2km circuit to complete their out-laps.

For Oscar Piastri, however, the action momentarily paused after he was very unhappy with his helmet for the session.

On his primary out-lap, the changed conditions didn’t mesh well with Piastri’s visor selection after he declared it “completely wrong” and said he “basically [couldn’t] see”.

That was a quick swap, with McLaren sending him straight back out.

When it came time for the soft tyre runs, Piastri stood out.

He skyrocketed to the top of the order with a time of 1:10.763s, soon forming the filling of a Mercedes sandwich.

From there, he joined the group in the pitlane as a lull fell over the track. 

Upon return, qualifying simulation soon turned into race simulations on the C2, a stint that he ended the session on with the second fastest time to his name.

Oscar Piastri during FP2 at the Dutch GP. Image: Andy Hone / LAT Images.

Under the watchful eye of Liam Lawson, Daniel Ricciardo looked set to start the session closer to the top, however… that didn’t quite happen. 

Although he recovered a few seconds on his next tour of Zandvoort, Ricciardo was still two seconds behind the benchmark and out of top-ten contention.

When soft tyre runs began, Ricciardo again carved into the interval between himself and the top driver, this time reducing the margin to 1.552s all the way back in P18.

Nine-tenths was the difference after crossing the line for the C3 for a second time, with his own lap being 1:11.630s.

As the grid reverted to the medium tyre, Ricciardo’s fastest time was locked in, leaving him in P13 and behind his teammate for a second time on Friday. 

Of the other drivers, Max Verstappen stood out at the top of the order after setting the quickest time on the medium tyre, the most common compound drivers chose to open the session on.

Within the early top three, the drivers had carried over from the morning session, albeit in a different order, with Alex Albon the fastest C1 runner four-tenths off the pace in P4. 

Lewis Hamilton upped the pace, sealing purple sector times in the first and third sector to demote Verstappen, with George Russell edging closer.

Max Verstappen driving on track during Free Practice 2 at the Dutch Grand Prix. Image: Mark Thompson/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool.

Their run was cut short, with Nico Hulkenberg’s stricken Haas to blame after being blown into the barriers at Turn 1.

A Red Flag was called to allow marshals to clear the VF-24 before promptly restarting FP2.

During the delay, Carlos Sainz also became a victim, with the Ferrari unable to rejoin the remaining 35 minutes due to gearbox issues detected after a dodgy gearshift on entry to the pitlane.

When it was time, the restart saw the first soft tyre runs presented on the board, with Norris initially leading the Red Bull duo after breaking into the 1m10s. 

Demoted by his teammate and the two Mercedes, that was only momentary for the #4 who spent the next chunk of the hour in the garage.

Having reset once more, it was finally time for race simulations.

The order remained relatively unchanged as the medium tyre reappeared, with Piastri splitting the Mercedes duo in the top three, followed by Norris and Verstappen.

That was the top five right through to the chequered flag, with George Russell’s 1:10.702s the fastest of the session despite an early, significant lockup that he described as “a little bit strange”.

Russell and Mercedes will have time to debrief that moment ahead of Saturday’s running, with FP3 kicking off at 7:30 PM before the all-important qualifying session at 11:00 PM.

Image: Simon Galloway / LAT Images

Free Practice 2 Results:

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