George Russell led a Mercedes one-two in first practice for the Dutch Grand Prix. Russell set a 12.455 on the soft tyres to go four tenths faster than his teammate Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes went into the weekend expecting Zandvoort to suit them better than Spa and the car didn\u2019t appear to struggle from p5orposing around the bumpy circuit.<\/p>\n
The two Mercedes acted late when it came to their soft runs they went out in the final quarter of the session which lead them to take advantage of the track evolution.<\/p>\n
Carlos Sainz put his Ferrari third a further tenth and a half behind Hamilton, however the session topping times from Mercedes were set on the soft tyres and much later than Red Bull and Ferrari. Sainz was less than a tenth faster than the McLaren of Lando Norris who went a tenth and a half faster than teammate Daniel Ricciardo.<\/p>\n
Norris also had an on-track collision with Sebastian Vettel as the two fought for position.<\/p>\n
Max Verstappen\u2019s start to his second home race saw the Dutchman ground to a halt with what looked to be a gearbox failure less than ten minutes into the session, shocking the crowd into silence meaning he finish last. That opened opportunities for Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren to battle it out to top the session.<\/p>\n
The recently knighted Dutchman coasted to a stop on the exit of Hunserug, before vacating the car that had gained a new power unit for the Belgian Grand Prix last time out, which Verstappen won. Notably, the Red Bull mechanics had been permitted to break a seal to change the main shaft locking insert on Verstappen’s gearbox earlier during Friday morning.<\/p>\n
Mercedes looked to be more confident going into the weekend following the difficult race at Spa, it was a much better start to the weekend. Ricciardo went half a second faster than Ferrari of Charles Leclerc with Verstappen\u2019s teammate Sergio Perez seventh. It was a messy session for the Mexican, first locking up through Hugenholtz and then going off into Turn Nine, sliding over the gravel to come within inches of the advertising hoarding.<\/p>\n
Fernando Alonso was a tenth behind and ahead of his Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon by just over four-tenths. Alex Albon continued to over deliver in the Williams going tenth fastest<\/p>\n
No-one crashed as the teams returned to the seaside Zandvoort circuit, which last year was reintroduced to the calendar for the first time since 1985 as F1 and local organisers sought to capitalise on Verstappen’s huge popularity in his home country. A few drivers ran wide through gravel traps – including Perez and the Haas drivers Mick Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen – but there were no serious incidents.<\/p>\n
Schumacher ended the session eleventh fastest going nearly a tenth faster than the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll, who spilt the Haas\u2019s after going a tenth and a half faster than Magnussen. Pierre Gasly put his Alpha Tauri fourteenth going three hundredths faster than Sebastian Vettel.<\/p>\n
Guanyu Zhou was sixteenth but the Alfa Romeo spent a lot of time in the garage, with the team using the red flag to alter his set up. Yuki Tsunoda was seventeenth splitting the Alfa Rome\u2019s after going six and a half tenths faster than Valtteri Bottas, Verstappen\u2019s technical issues saw him shuffled to nineteenth ahead of Nicolas Latifi.<\/p>\n
F1 Today \u2013 Dutch Prixview \u2013 01\/09\/2022<\/a><\/p>\n