DUTCH GP – George Russell six hundredths ahead of Oscar Piastri in second practice
George Russell was fastest in second practice for this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, the Mercedes driver set a 10.702 which put him six hundredths faster than Oscar Piastri. It was a perfect bounce back for Russell after losing his victory four weeks ago at Spa, Piastri spilt the two Mercedes as he went half a tenth faster than Lewis Hamilton.
Mercedes and McLaren go into the second half of the season having shared the last four wins between their drivers and look to be the closest challengers to Red Bull. Lando Norris put his McLaren fourth, a tenth and a half behind Hamilton, as the top four were covered by around a quarter of a second.
Norris looked to be the strongest on race pace thanks to McLaren bringing their first major upgrades since Miami in May, which allowed him to make a good impression on the medium tyre during race simulations, but Russell looked fastest on the soft. The McLaren driver had topped FP1 by two-tenths.
Max Verstappen could only manage fifth a hundredth and a half behind his championship rival, the Dutchman looking to return to dominance and take his fourth home win at Zandvoort. However, no driver has won a new or returning race four times in a row this century, following its return.
Practice suggest that it remains very close between the top three teams following a wet and wild FP1. But those mixed conditions are set to continue throughout the rest of the weekend, though the forecast suggests that Sunday should be drier.
The first real running of the weekend saw Pierre Gasly set the first time, but Verstappen was the first of the big hitters on track with a 12.131, which suggests track evolution is around two seconds.
Verstappen was almost three tenths off Russell’s session-topping time as he put his Red Bull just under three-tenths faster than Fernando Alonso. Yuki Tsunoda was seventh, he was a hundredth and a half behind Alonso and ahead of Kevin Magnussen’s Haas by half a tenth.
Haas have had a tough start to the day former sponsor Uralkali has made a bid in the Dutch courts to seize the team’s assets, including cars and other equipment – over an outstanding payment.
In a complicated case following the termination of the deal over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a court ruled Haas was within its rights to terminate the deal, it also said that the American-owned team could only keep a portion of the $13 million sponsorship balance paid for the campaign.
Things weren’t as good for the second Haas, Nico Hulkenberg lost the rear under braking before spinning a Tarzan, which sent him into the wall damaging the right side of the car leading to the red flag.
Ferrari had a tough afternoon Charles Leclerc could only manage ninth a tenth ahead of Alex Albon. But for Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz he could only go nineteenth after a gearbox issue limited his running. The team did not manage much low fuel running than Leclerc’s mid-session effort
Lance Stroll put his Aston Martin eleventh going five thousandths faster than Sergio Perez, the Mexican six-tenths off Verstappen. Perez was a hundredth and a half faster than Pierre Gasly, Logan Sargeant and Guanyu Zhou.
Esteban Ocon split the two Sauber’s he was nearly four hundredths behind Zhou as he went nearly half a second faster than Valtteri Bottas. However, the Chinese driver is under investigation for an unsafe release, along with Albon and Stroll.
Sainz was nearly two tenths faster than Hulkenberg, both drivers having their sessions limited by technical issues.