Friday Report - Lando Norris heads session as crashes halt runs

Lando Norris
© McLaren

McLaren’s Lando Norris continued to set the benchmark at Zandvoort by topping Formula 1’s second practice session for the Dutch Grand Prix, though the hour was disrupted by red flags for accidents involving Lance Stroll and Alex Albon.

The session began in cool seaside conditions, with Aston Martin’s Stroll among the first to push on the soft compound. But just nine minutes in, he carried too much speed into the steeply banked Turn 3 and slid heavily into the outside wall. The crash wrecked both corners of the right-hand side of his AMR25 and brought out a red flag.

At that stage Haas rookie Oliver Bearman briefly led with a 1m11.113s on soft tyres, narrowly ahead of Norris and Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto. Once green-flag running resumed, the order quickly shuffled as Nico Hülkenberg moved Sauber to the top before George Russell, Fernando Alonso and Norris each traded fastest laps. Norris’ eventual best was a 1m09.890s, enough to edge Alonso’s Aston Martin by 0.087s and team-mate Oscar Piastri by just 0.089s.

The running was again interrupted when Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar stopped on track with a suspected power unit issue, briefly requiring a Virtual Safety Car. Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton also had a moment as he spun exiting Turn 9, though he later recovered to record 1m10.738s for sixth place.

Further drama followed when Albon misjudged his first push lap on softs and locked up into Turn 1. The Williams ran wide into the gravel, nudging the wall with his front wing and forcing the session’s second stoppage with 16 minutes to go.

The final green-flag phase saw most drivers focus on longer runs with heavier fuel, meaning Norris’ earlier flyer remained unbeaten. Alonso’s 1m09.977s held second, while Piastri was third with 1m09.979s. Russell placed fourth at 1m10.274s, ahead of home favourite Max Verstappen’s 1m10.478s in the Red Bull.

Hamilton slotted sixth, just clear of Yuki Tsunoda who recovered from his Turn 12 off in FP1 to post 1m10.795s. Charles Leclerc backed up Ferrari’s effort with eighth in 1m10.834s, while Alpine rookie Franco Colapinto impressed in ninth with 1m10.957s. Hülkenberg’s earlier flyer of 1m11.080s was good enough for tenth.

The mixed session confirmed McLaren’s strong one-lap pace while hinting at Aston Martin’s competitiveness, though both red flags limited teams’ ability to refine race runs. Final practice begins at 11:30 local time on Saturday before qualifying at 15:00 CEST.