Norris flies during final practice in Zandvoort

Lando Norris will carry the upper hand into Dutch Grand Prix Qualifying after finishing fastest in the final practice of the weekend and pulling clear of McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri by over two-tenths in Zandvoort.

Overnight rain and cooler conditions meant the track was declared wet at the start of FP3, leading to a quiet start to the final hour of practice. 

Piastri was one to complete a singular installation lap on the hard compound tyre before returning to the pitlane, remaining in the comfort of the McLaren garage until he ventured out onto the Circuit Zandvoort on the soft compound tyre at the 40-minute mark.

Trailing his teammate on track, Piastri upped the pace in comparison to Norris when he went purple through Sector 1, however, a sub-par middle sector left just 0.071s between the duo, leaning in the #4’s favour. 

Sitting pretty in second fastest, the Australian unleashed through the first sector once again to go quickest by one and a half tenths as he crossed the line with a time of 1:10.120s.

Resetting during a short-lived lull, the Australian returned to the circuit on the soft compound tyre, however, he couldn’t quite match Norris’ pace with 15 minutes to go.

Following his teammate’s lead, Piastri charged through the lap, though the purple pace set by Norris was an unattainable feat when the Australian crossed the line with a time of 1:09.214s.

Sitting over two-tenths back on the #4, that lap remained Piastri’s fastest through to the chequered flag.

At the halfway mark of the session, Liam Lawson made his first appearance of the hour after waiting patiently for the track to rubber in.

On the medium tyre, the Kiwi recorded a time that placed him 1.4 seconds back on his teammate, who lapped as the third fastest soft tyre runner in P4. 

Motivated by the margin — albeit running a different program — the Kiwi set three personal best sectors on his next run, jumping less than a tenth of a second behind Isack Hadjar into P7 despite complaining about traffic. 

With his time halved in comparison to the rest of the field — through no choice but his own — Lawson put his head back down to round out the remaining stint of the session on the soft compound tyre and, as a result, finish the final practice session of the weekend just shy of the top ten. 

At the chequered flag, the Kiwi has his teammate 0.134s further up the timesheet, making the possibility of a double Q3 appearance all the more enticing for RB.

Breaking the silence at the start of the hour, Racing Bulls sent Hadjar out on track on the intermediate tyre, with the French rookie needing to make up for lost time after an issue with his power unit forced him to retire from FP2. 

But despite RB’s green-marked installation lap, slick tyres promptly made an appearance as the drivers gradually rolled out of the pitlane throughout the first 20 minutes of the session. 

It wasn’t until two of yesterday’s surprise heavy hitters joined the action that the timesheets started to take shape, with the Aston Martin duo of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll setting the pace on the soft compound tyre. 

In the minutes that followed, the rest of the field joined the Astons on track, with the McLaren duo once again shooting to the top of the order after their initial C4 attempts, while Max Verstappen’s medium compound run placed him third fastest. 

With the green track showing signs of evolution, fortunate timing saw the likes of Ollie Bearman, Carlos Sainz, and the RB duo sneaking into the top ten, while traffic became a constant issue around the 4.3km lap.

Lawson made his frustration clear after encountering multiple cars on his flying run, with both Red Bull drivers facing similar challenges and using the radio and their fists to express their dismay. 

With 20 minutes of practice remaining ahead of Qualifying at the Dutch Grand Prix, a brief lull fell over the seaside circuit, however, the Ferrari duo had a lot of work to do, remaining on track as they lapped in P4 and P5.

When he returned on a fresh set of soft compound tyres, Norris blew the roof off the timesheets as he recorded three fastest sectors to contribute to a blistering time of 1:08.972s, over 1.1 seconds clear of his teammate, whose next attempt was two-tenths too short.

The closest competitor to the papaya challengers was George Russell, sitting eight-tenths behind Piastri while his rookie teammate was bunkered up in the garage and receiving a new steering wheel to combat an earlier issue. 

Mercedes’ focus soon turned to Russell after the #63 had a strange lapse in judgment in the dying moments of FP3.

The Brit cruised across the racing line towards the pit entry, not looking in his mirrors and forcing a flying Alonso into a tight squeeze that nearly ended in contact with both the Mercedes and the wall. 

With no crew ready for him in the box, the Aston Martin driver trundled through the pits while Russell carried on — the incident set to be investigated by the stewards after the session. 

The session ended in a traffic jam between Yuki Tsunoda, Lance Stroll, and Kimi Antonelli, with the Red Bull driver blocking the Mercedes rookie down the main straight on his final flying run. 

More action ensued for Mercedes, however, with the team almost adding more to their to-do list between FP3 and Qualifying when Alex Albon was unsafely released into their path in the pitlane, though the Williams driver avoided Russell and the Sauber pit crew to round out the final hour of practice.

The field completed their final practice starts on the grid before returning to the pitlane to debrief their learnings, with just a few hours standing between the 20 drivers and the shootout for grid glory.

With the McLaren duo all but making certain of a two-horse race for pole position after finishing 1-2 in FP3, Qualifying will take place at 23:00 AEST.

Image: Formula 1

Free Practice 3 Results:

2025 Dutch Grand Prix schedule (AEST)

FP1: 1 L. Norris 1:10.278 2 O. Piastri +0.292 3 L. Stroll +0.501

FP2: 1 L. Norris 1:09.890 2 F. Alonso +0.087 3 O. Piastri +0.089

Saturday, August 30

Practice 3 – 19.30-20.30

Qualifying – 23.00-00.00

Sunday, August 31

Grand Prix – 23.00

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