DUTCH GP – Lando Norris makes a clean sweep of practice, topping FP3 by a quarter of a second from Oscar Piastri
Lando Norris made it a clean sweep in practice as he topped third practice for the Dutch Grand Prix. The Englishman set a 08.972 just a tenth off the outright track record, as he went just under a quarter of a second ahead of his McLaren teammate. Norris goes into the second half of the season looking to retain the momentum which has seen him win three of the last four races.
On a track that continued to evolve after morning rain, Norris was faster in every sector in the final soft tyre run compared to Piastri and is on course to repeat his pole and victory from Zandvoort last year. The Englishman seeking back-to-back pole and victory, as well as a grand slam after dominating last years race.
George Russell put his Mercedes third but was over half a second off Piastri, which has further underlined the advantage that McLaren has going into the remaining nine weekends. Russell was six and a half hundredths ahead of Carlos Sainz who showed strong pace going fourth, six hundredths behind the Englishman.
Russell is under investigation for a bizarre incident where he nearly collided with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso before the pit entry during final practice.
FP3 got off to a slow start following heavy rain overnight into the early morning, meaning the rubber and grip that had built up over the weekend and initially made conditions less representative of qualifying.
Sainz was just over a hundredth faster than his former teammates Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, with the Ferrari just over a hundredth off the Red Bull. While his current teammate Alex Albon was seventh six hundredths behind the Ferrari. Aston Martin looked competitive, though along with Albon, the first cars a second off the pace.
Lance Stroll was four thousandths behind the Williams as he went six hundredths faster than Isack Hadjar as he split the Aston Martins with Alonso three-quarters of a tenth ahead of Liam Lawson.
Yuki Tsunoda was twelfth going a hundredth ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto, Lewis Hamilton was a hundredth further behind. However, the seven-time world champion was unable to show the competitive pace he had shown at various points in the session after running wide, forcing him to abort his soft run.
Hamilton was two tenths faster than Ollie Bearman, Nico Hulkenberg and Kimi Antonelli, while Bearman’s teammate Esteban Ocon was a tenth behind the Mercedes. The two Alpine’s completed the field, Pierre Gasly nearly a tenth ahead of Franco Colapinto.