Norris leads McLaren 1–2 in scrappy Dutch GP opener

McLaren wasted no time in reasserting its form after the summer break, with Lando Norris topping a scrappy opening practice at the Dutch Grand Prix and Oscar Piastri breathing down his neck.

Lying down rubber for the first time since Norris’ triumphant outing at the Hungarian Grand Prix earlier this month, the Formula 1 summer break came to a long-awaited end when Free Practice 1 kicked off in Zandvoort. 

Leading the charge out of the pitlane, Piastri began chasing his target of extending his championship lead across the final ten race weekends of the season.

The first order of business was FP1 at the Dutch Grand Prix, with the Australian putting his best foot forward as he set a lap 1.4 seconds quicker than the #4 to start the hour.

From there, the duo fell down the order, however, it was a short-lived stint before they found their way back into the top three — Piastri momentarily leading the charge with a benchmark time of 1:12.678s.

Bouncing back from the lull of a Red Flag, Piastri lit up the timesheets with a purple first sector followed by two personal best sectors to aid him in setting a new benchmark time of 1:11.794s,  two-tenths clear of Max Verstappen.

It wasn’t long before the Australian made the switch to the soft compound tyre, following his teammate and championship rival around the 4.3km circuit in a failed attempt at holding onto the benchmark.

Despite going purple, his time of 1:10.700s fell four-tenths short of Norris’ blistering attempt, a margin he halved on his next run despite a snap of oversteer at Turn 3 threatening his run.

After a brief stint in the garage, the Australian rejoined the session with a long-run focus for the final ten minutes, donning the yellow-marked tyre to round out FP1 in a steady fashion. 

With the order unchanged when the chequered flag waved, Piastri ended the first session as the second fastest driver, just three-tenths shy of his teammate.  

It was a back-of-the-pack start for Liam Lawson, whose first few runs around the familiar circuit left him over two-tenths shy of the top ten when a Red Flag hit after just over ten minutes of practice. 

The Kiwi finally made his way up the order at the halfway mark of the hour, setting a time of 1:12.644s to move into P11 while his teammate found comfort within the top five. 

Lawson breached the top ten on his first flying lap on the soft tyre, recording a time of 1:11.753s which placed him one-tenth ahead of Isack Hadjar. 

The next five minutes of Lawson’s session were spent in the RB garage before he returned to the Circuit Zandvoort on the C3 tyre. 

Ten laps of race simulation rounded out the #30’s first practice session in The Netherlands, with Lawson taking the chequered flag as the 11th fastest driver of the hour. 

As for the rest of the field, the medium tyre was the most popular preference to start the first hour of practice in The Netherlands, with Pirelli bringing the softer C2, C3 and C4 compounds to the table this year — a decision that could see two-stop strategies shape Sunday’s contest.

Unsurprisingly, McLaren picked up where it left off, with the two papaya cars topping the early tables before being joined by their fellow Mercedes-powered competitors of the Williams duo and Fernando Alonso.

The next five minutes of running saw gravel being sprayed across all areas of the circuit. 

Lewis Hamilton was the first to misstep when he completed a 360 spin through Turn 2, reporting “flat spots all round” as he aborted his flying lap.

Yuki Tsunoda followed suit in abandoning his plans shortly after, with the Red Bull driver’s poor run through Turn 11 seeing him bouncing across the gravel at the next corner, all the while his home hero teammate shot to the top of the order with a time of 1:12.101s.

The session was brought to a complete halt just seconds later when Kimi Antonelli met a similar fate, however, he was unable to recover after finding his Mercedes beached in the gravel at Turn 9 — a mistake made all the more costly by a forecast reflecting a wet FP2 session — resulting in a Red Flag. 

When the session restarted with just over 40 minutes on the clock, it was business as usual on the medium compound tyre, with the field lapping within two seconds of each other before the red-marked tyre was deployed.

Norris was the first to fly on the soft compound, instantly raising the bar with a time of 1:10.278s, which left him four tenths clear of his teammate’s first C4 attempt. 

All remaining Mercedes-powered cars filed in behind the McLaren duo, with Alonso completing the top three fastest times ahead of Cars #23, #63, #18, and #55 before the Dutchman spoiled the party.

Unable to join the competitive ranks for the entirety of the session was the Ferrari duo, who, even on the soft compound tyre, sat all the way down in P14 and P15, 1.6 seconds behind Norris’ benchmark during the final 20 minutes of FP1. 

A lull fell over the Circuit Zandvoort before long runs ruled the final stint of the dry hour, with the remaining 19 drivers reverting to the medium compound before the wet weather is set to arrive for the afternoon session. 

Blue flags failed to grab Tsunoda’s attention late in FP1, leaving Lance Stroll frustrated as he was forced to back out of his lap, however, the Canadian bounced back, jumping into the top three in the minutes that followed.

The #18 replicated the incident, however, Ollie Bearman was on the receiving end of the traffic this time as FP1 simmered down.

Sitting half a second off the McLarens, Stroll remained the third fastest driver through to the first post-summer break chequered flag, leading over his teammate as the field rounded out FP1 by completing their first practice starts on the grid. 

The drama wasn’t over, however, with the home hero clearly wanting to spend more time on display for his adoring crowd after beaching his Red Bull at the first turn on the in-lap.

The track marshals were tasked with removing the “stuck” reigning world champion’s challenger from the gravel trap, working to hand the RB21 back to Verstappen’s team as the gusty conditions picked up.

With a few hours to debrief the dry run, a potentially damp second hour of practice will kick off at 00:00 AEST.

Image: McLaren

Free Practice 1 Results:

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