Dutch GP: Lando Norris just exceeds Fernando Alonso as Lance Stroll, Alex Albon Crash in second chaotic practice | F1 News

Lance Stroll and Alex Albon collapsed during the second try to continue an opening day filled with impact at the weekend of the Dutch Grand Prix which saw Lando Norris narrowly exceed Fernando Alonso from Aston Martin at the top of the time sheet.

Four weeks after F1 was the last on track in Hungary, the return of sport to action produced one of the most chaotic Fridays of the session with regard to the burst winds created delicate conditions in a circuit of corrugating Zandvoort which is on the banks of the North Sea coast.

Norris remained at the top of the time sheet during the second session thanks to a better round of 1: 09.890, although McLaren was refused a successive Un-Twos practice by the impressive Alonso, the pilot of Aston Martin capping a competitive day for the team of the Oscar Piastri team.

After being exceeded by the Rival of the Norris Championship on the first day, Piastri headed for the delegates after the session after a standard track incident which has almost collided with George Russell de Mercedes.

The Australian first went to transform into McLaren’s pit box from the front as usual, but he was then reported by a mechanic to drive on the other side, so that they can repel him in the garage. But Piastri returned to the Russell ventilation path, which was forced to take measures by avoiding.

This incident came while the drivers returned to the lane of the stands for the second red flag of the session after Albon failed his Williams in the trap of the Gravel Tour, damaging his front wing in the process after having pushed the barriers.

Earlier, Stroll crushed more in the Tour three in the bank, doing major damage to his Aston Martin in the only apparent drawback of the day otherwise impressive of the team.

Aston Martin was the only team to show any semblance of challenge to McLaren on short -term races.

Russell finished faster fourth, 0.3 s back on Norris, in front of the home favorite Max Verstappen, who was fifth and half-second in his Red Bull.

Ferrari seemed to be particularly fighting, clappating more than 0.8 s out of the front pace. Lewis Hamilton filmed in each of the two sessions of the day, although his sixth fastest time was finally the best of the Italian team on Friday.

Hamilton finished a tenth faster than Charles Leclerc, eighth, with Yuki Tsunoda from Red Bull between the two Ferrari cars in seventh place.

Franco Colapinto took a ninth promising for Alpine just hours after Flavio Briatore, the team’s executive advisor, had admitted the form of Argentinian since he had been given to the Jack Doohan costs in May “not what I expect”.

Nico Hulkenberg de Sauber completed the Top 10, with Kimi Antonelli 12th on his return to the track after having marked his Mercedes in the first stages of Practice One. Isack Hadjar of Racing Bulls stopped on the right track before defining an hour due to a power unit unit problem.

Norris takes a quick start – and is Resurgent Aston a threat to hunt the pack?

Having ended the first part of the season by winning three of the four races before the summer break to close the advantage of the Piastri championship at only nine points, Norris seemed to pick up where he stopped on a track he dominated last year.

“Today was a good day,” said Friday pacesetter. “You come back to things fairly quickly.

“The car was good. I felt that we had made good FP1 to FP2 improvements, but at the same time, the others caught up more than we would like.

“Even Aston and Fernando were faster than they were recently. A good start but a little closer than we want.”

This is because Alonon finished in a tenth of the rhythm of the head of the head championship, Aston Martin continuing with the improvement of the performance of the plans that led Spanish to a better fifth of the season in Hungary.

Could they now be even more a threat to the front here?

“I feel more optimistic than others Friday,” said Alonso.

“Hungary was strong for us and now we are always showing a good rhythm. It’s good to see our time up there.

“I do not think it is within our reach to fight with the McLarens, but perhaps Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull, they do not seem so far, so we will try to be in the mixture.”

Taking Red Bull’s scalp for the second successive event might certainly not be out of the question after Verstappen admitted that they “always struggled with the same things”.

“We have tried a lot with the car, but that does not seem to change anything in terms of underlying problem,” said Verstappen, who is on a four-races race without podium.

“We are going to look at the night to find a little more, but I do not expect a massive turnaround. It is simply delicate and the layout of the track is not suitable for our problems that we have with the car.

“It will be difficult to be in the top five but we will see tomorrow.”

Dutch GP schedule for Sky Sports F1

Saturday August 30
9:20 am: F1 Academy Qualify
10:05 am: Practice of the Dutch Grand Prix three (the session starts at 10:30 am) *
1 p.m.: Accumulation of qualification of the Dutch Grand Prix
2 p.m.: Qualification of the Dutch Grand Prix
4 p.m.: F1 Academy Race 1

Sunday August 31
9:35 am: F1 Academy Race 2
10:50 am: Porsche Supercup Race
12:30 p.m.: Grand Prix Sunday: Dutch GP Build-Up
2 p.m.: The Dutch Grand Prix
4 p.m.: Checkered flag: Dutch GP reaction

* Also on the main event of Sky Sports

Formula 1 returns after the summer holidays with the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort this weekend, live Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with now – no contract, cancel at any time