 Lando Norris (pictured) was fastest in free practice 1. Credit: Clive Rose via Getty Images After three weeks away for the annual summer break in the Formula 1 season, the world championship returned to action on Friday for the opening two practice sessions of the Dutch Grand Prix, at Zandvoort. After little running in the first half of the one hour free practice session, there would be running completed with wet and windy conditions playing their part in hampering the teams collecting data and testing their upgrades. Lando Norris would set the quickest time in the opening practice session as he beat home hero and championship leader Max Verstappen, who was to tenths back in second. Lewis Hamilton would finish in third place for Mercedes, after winning the last Grand Prix before the summer break, in Belgium Free Practice 1 would see Robert Shwartzman participate in place of Valtteri Bottas as part of a young driver test, for what would be his fourth in his Formula 1 career, after three with Ferrari across 2022 and 2023. On the intermediate running he would set a very impressive time to go third before the final 10 minutes as dry tyres would be used. However, as for free practice 2, there would be a tight top five as they would be separated by just three tenths. It would be Mercedes' George Russell who would finish top of the time sheets ahead of McLaren's Oscar Piastri, who was second and less than a tenth off Russell. Piastri would split the two Mercedes drivers with Lewis Hamilton, Russell's teammate, in third. The other McLaren of Lando Norris would be fourth, while home hero and championship leader Max Verstappen finished fifth. The day would be started off with news before the sessions even began. Alpine confirmed early on Friday morning, that Jack Doohan will partner Pierre Gasly in 2025 after signing a contract to race with the team next season. After being their reserve driver in 2024, and impressing in his Formula 2 and Formula 3 career, Doohan will make the graduation to Formula 1, becoming the second Australian to do so.
The opening hour of practice on Friday would see little to no running in the first 30 minutes of the 60 minute session due to the rain and wind playing its part as no drivers would be wanting to risk their cars with their new upgrades on and burn out their wet tyres, with the risk of wet weather for Saturday and qualifying. Charles Leclerc would be the driver who would feel the bravest in the full wet stages of the session and his 1:26.111 would hold first position in the early stage of the season. Nico Hulkenberg would also be testing the wet weather conditions early doors but would be having a few difficulties as he would go a bit wide and into the gravel, on two occasions in sector 2, with the German driver being able to prevent the car from being beached. Soon after the first half an hour, the track would dry slightly, with the rain stopping and the sun shining on the Zandvoort circuit. Therefore, intermediate tyres would be used on circuits, with all of the drivers heading out to test the circuit and set a couple of laps One driver who was pushing hard was Max Verstappen but maybe a little too hard as he clipped the curb at turn 11 and went into a spin but kept it out of the wall. After safely rejoining, Verstappen continued on attempting to set a time. On the following la, he would, going provisionally fastest. As the track continued to dry, Verstappen's time would be beaten on intermediate tyres with Lando Norris holding the fastest time for McLaren, ahead of his fellow Brit George Russell, with 10 minutes to go. Robert Shwartzman was having a great session in third. Soon though, with 10 minutes remaining, drivers would fancy the dry compound of tyres and Lando Norris would continue to shine around zandvoort. A 1:17.367 would see him go fastest on the first runs. George Russell would split the two McLarens to go second quickest - demoting Norris' teammate Oscar Piastri to third. Piastri would not be third for long, as he would go quickest. The track was ramping up and constantly improving as George Russell would then bump the Hungarian Grand Prix winner down to second. Five minutes to go and George Russell would re-claim first place after he lost it Norris and once again to Piastri. Many times were improving and the timing sheets were changing an awful lot, heading into the final five minutes. Russell's time would soon be beaten by almost a second by Norris and his teammate Lewis Hamilton, who would jump ahead into second. Russell would soon re-claim second from his Mercedes teammate, Hamilton, as the session entered the final two minutes. By the end of the session, despite the order chopping and changing consistently, Lando Norris would have the top spot at the end of the session ahead of championship leader and home hero Max Verstappen. Two tenths separated the leading pair with Norris' best time on the soft compound being a 1:12.322. Lewis Hamilton finished third for Mercedes, with his teammate George Russell finishing fifth, as Ferrari's Carlos Sainz finished fourth. Alex Albon was sixth for Williams ahead of McLaren's Oscar Piastri in seventh. Nico Hulkenberg, Kevin Magnussen finished eighth and ninth for Haas with Kick Sauber's Zhou Guanyu completed the top 10.
After a break from the opening practice session on Friday afternoon, at Zandvoort, which ended with many lap times, as the track eventually became dry for the final stages. Lando Norris would be looking to go back to back and make it the perfect Friday, by topping the second practice session, after earlier topping the first. However for FP2, it would be a dry session throughout unlike the day's earlier Fp1, which meant the drivers would not have to worry about a slippery circuit. However, they would have to be cautious as there would be a strong wind, with the track being right next to the sea. Drivers would be finding some difficulties with the wind, with George Russell being one of the drivers having a bit of trouble down in sector 2. The infamous turn 1 Tarzan corner was also a place where drivers were being caught out. Sergio Perez spinning into the gravel with his teammate Max Verstappen almost repeating the same result. Perez would be able to continue on. However, not being able to continue would be Nico Hulkenberg, who had been struggling with the braking in both sessions. After spinning at turn 1, there was nothing he could do to keep his car out of the barrier and the red flag would be brought out to suspend the running. Carlos Sainz, who had his move to Williams announced over the summer break, would find an issue in the session too. A gearbox issue caused him to pit, while the team would have a close inspection. This would ruin the Spaniard's session, leaving him with work to do in the final practice session on Saturday morning. In terms of drivers being able to put a fair amount of lap times, Hamilton would go top, with around half of the session to go on his medium tyre run. However, he would not finish there as all the drivers including himself would improve upon the track condition. By the end of the session, all of the top 10 had set their best lap times on the soft compound of tyres, which is regularly known as the fastest compound. The top 10 was separated by under nine tenths of a second while the top five were separated by just under three tenths. At the chequered flag, George Russell would end the session fastest overall with a great lap of 1:10.702 for his Mercedes team, with a really promising session for the team as a whole. Lewis Hamilton would finish third, which is where he finished in the opening session. McLaren would also have a positive session like Mercedes with both cars in the top four. Although Oscar Piastri had a bit of trouble with the visors on his helmet, he would split the Mercedes pair, to be 0.061 off Russell's time in second place. Piastri would finish ahead of his teammate Lando Norris, who was fourth, but still close and very much showing he could be a contender for Sunday's Grand Prix with strong pace. Home hero and championship leader Max Verstappen could only manage fifth, but does have a 100% record around Zandvoort in his F1 career, so he could very much use that as a confidence boost. Fernando Alonso for Aston Martin, Yuki Tsunoda of Visa RB and Charles Leclerc of Ferrari would finish in the top 10 for the first and only time on Friday, while Kevin Magnussen would make a return in eighth, with Alex Albon for Williams finishing 10th.
 Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal
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