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Lance Stroll and Alex Albon crashed out in second practice to continue an incident-filled opening day to the Dutch Grand Prix weekend which saw Lando Norris narrowly outpace Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso at the top of the timesheet.
Four weeks after F1 was last on track in Hungary, the sport’s return to action produced one of the most chaotic Fridays of the session so far as gusty winds created tricky conditions at an undulating Zandvoort circuit which sits on the banks of the North Sea coast.
Norris stayed at the top of the timesheet in the second session thanks to a best lap of 1:09.890 although McLaren were denied successive practice one-twos by the impressive Alonso, the Aston Martin driver capping a competitive day for the team by finishing just 0.087s behind the Briton and 0.002s ahead of title leader Oscar Piastri.
Outpaced by championship rival Norris on day one, Piastri will head to the stewards after the session following a pit-lane incident that saw him nearly collide with Mercedes’ George Russell.
The Australian initially went to turn in to McLaren’s pit box from the front as normal but it was then signalled by a mechanic to drive to the other side, so they could push him back in to the garage. But Piastri swerved back into the path of the oncoming Russell, who was forced to take avoiding action.
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Mercedes driver George Russell almost collided with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in the pitlane during P2 at Zandvoort
That incident came as drivers returned to the pit lane for the session’s second red flag after Albon had beached his Williams in the Turn One gravel trap, damaging its front wing in the process after nudging the barriers.
Earlier, Stroll had crashed more heavily entering the banked Turn Three, doing major damage to his Aston Martin in the only apparent downside to the team’s otherwise impressive day.
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Lance Stroll’s huge crash in his Aston Martin saw the red flag brought out during second practice
Aston Martin were the only team to show any semblance of a challenge to McLaren on the short-fuel runs all day.
Russell finished fourth fastest, 0.3s back on Norris, ahead of home favourite Max Verstappen, who was fifth in the Red Bull.
Ferrari appeared to particularly struggle, lapping over 0.8s off the front-running pace. Lewis Hamilton spun in each of the day’s two sessions, although his sixth-quickest time was ultimately their best of Friday.
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Lewis Hamilton’s struggles at Ferrari continued during Friday’s practice sessions as he suffered two massive spins
Hamilton finished a tenth quicker than eighth-placed Charles Leclerc, with Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda finishing between the two Ferrari cars in seventh.
Franco Colapinto took a promising ninth for Alpine just hours after Flavio Briatore, the team’s executive advisor, had admitted the Argentine’s form since being handed the seat at Jack Doohan’s expense in May was “not what I expect” from the 22-year-old. Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top 10.
More to follow…
Sky Sports F1’s Dutch GP schedule
Saturday August 30
9.20am: F1 Academy Qualifying
10.05am: Dutch Grand Prix Practice Three (session starts at 10:30am)*
1pm: Dutch Grand Prix Qualifying build-up
2pm: DUTCH GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING
4pm: F1 Academy Race 1
Sunday August 31
9.35am: F1 Academy Race 2
10.50am: Porsche Supercup Race
12.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Dutch GP build-up
2pm: The DUTCH GRAND PRIX
4pm: Chequered Flag: Dutch GP reaction
*also on Sky Sports Main Event
Formula 1 returns after the summer break with the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
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