Norris stays ahead as Alonso surges in second Dutch GP practice

Lando Norris swept to top spot in the twice red flagged second practice session at the Dutch Grand Prix ahead of an unexpectedly competitive Fernando Alonso.

Norris lowered his FP1 time by 0.4s to top the session with a fastest lap of 1m09.89s. Yet despite McLaren being the heavy favorite in Zandvoort, his quickest time was good enough to beat Alonso by only 0.087s.

Aston Martin has been in strong form all Friday, and Alonso capitalized on the opportunity – and on a powerful slipstream down the front straight – to split the McLaren drivers at the top of the timesheet.

Championship leader Oscar Piastri was much closer this time to his session-topping teammate, lapping just 0.089s slower than the sister car – all of which came from the final split, where he had to traverse slow traffic – but that wasn’t close enough to seize second place.

Piastri will also have to see the stewards after the session over a pit lane incident that saw him come close to contact with George Russell as he searched for his pit box. Russell had to hit the brakes to avoid Piastri as the Australian rejoined the fast lane. No damage was done to the Mercedes, however, and Russell finished fourth and 0.384s off the pace.

Home favorite Max Verstappen was an improved fifth, though the Dutchman lapped 0.588s slower than Norris in a Red Bull Racing car that didn’t appear to inspire great confidence in the three-time Zandvoort winner.

Lewis Hamilton was an unexpected sixth – a significant improvement on his dire 15th in FP1 – despite spinning his car on his first flying lap on softs.

The Briton had just set a purple first sector when his car got loose through the tight Turn 9. Hamilton attempted to control the slide through the corner, but his left-rear tire touched the grass and sent him pirouetting down the road. It spoiled the lap but not his tires, which he took around for a second run to lap 0.848s off the pace with the presumption that more is on the table with fresh rubber.

Yuki Tsunoda was similarly improved, up from 16th to seventh and 0.9s off the pace. His margin to Verstappen was just 0.317s.

Charles Leclerc took the second Ferrari to eighth and 0.1s behind Hamilton.

Franco Colapinto led the way for Alpine in ninth ahead of Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg in 10th.

Oliver Bearman was 11th for Haas ahead of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, the Mercedes junior making up for time lost in the gravel during FP1 on his way to 12th. Gabriel Bortoleto followed in 13th ahead of Liam Lawson, Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz.

Alex Albon followed Sainz in the second Williams but didn’t see the checkered flag after beaching his car in the gravel at Turn 1.

Albon slid across the stones and nudged the barriers, damaging his front wing. He was fortunate to have stopped on an escape road, but in his haste to reverse out of the incident ended up beaching his car in the stones, triggering the session’s second red flag.

The first red flag came courtesy of Lance Stroll, whose afternoon lasted just 11 minutes and six laps before he put his Aston Martin heavily into the outside barrier at Turn 3, Hugenholtz curve.

Stroll was on a hot lap when he carried too much speed into the high line of the banked left-hander, causing his car to understeer and career into the wall. Both right-side corners bore the damage of the impact, which ejected the smoldering Aston Martin back into the middle of the track. A 10-minute red flag was called to clear the wreckage, with Stroll walking away from the scene uninjured.

Pierre Gasly was 19th and last of the drivers to have set a time after his two attempts at a lap on soft tires were spoiled by Albon’s red flag and a virtual safety car to cover the recovery of Isack Hadjar’s Racing Bulls car, which stopped on track with a power unit issue before the French rookie could set a time.

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