Max Verstappen is very disappointed after second free practice, driver second at Zandvoort

At the start of the second practice there was a crash. Australian drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Oscar Piastri both finished alongside the race track. That was especially painful for Ricciardo, because his hand was bothering him. A red flag followed and the race deadlocked. After a break of just over ten minutes, racing resumed.

Lando Norris then made it very difficult for Verstappen. The Briton was the fastest with 1.11.330. The Dutchman tried to dive under that time, but that turned out to be a utopia, partly due to the busy job.

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Loud cheer

Max Verstappen started the first free practice session in Zandvoort on Friday afternoon on his ‘home circuit’, amid loud cheering. The leader in the World Cup standings shared the fastest time with his teammate Sergio Pérez: 1.15.393. It then continued to exchange penny between drivers for the lead for a long time. Lewis Hamilton, Logan Sargeant and Pérez smoke in the lead.

In the final phase, Verstappen switched from hard (slower) tires to softer (faster) tires to still record the fastest time. Those aspirations could quickly be put on hold after Nico Hülkenberg completely planted his car in the wall. The German had a broken front wing and the red flag led to a short break. All cars had to go to the pit box so that the car could be towed away.

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Verstappen had ten minutes after the interruption to knock his teammate off the throne. That reaction came quickly, because the Dutchman beat Pérez’s time by four tenths: 1.11.852. In the final lap, Verstappen drove through the gravel trap, but that did not cause any damage and he did not relinquish first place. Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton were second and third. Teammate Pérez was fourth fastest.

The last practice session for qualifying is from 11.30am on Saturday, followed by qualifying for Sunday’s race at 3.00pm.