,,I was surprised at how fast everyone was in training on Friday. For us it was a nice feeling to drive a car that is competitive again, but McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull were also good,” said the number 4 in the Formula 1 championship. than 3 tenths of a second. I think it will be very close in qualifying. And so it gets exciting.”
Charles Leclerc set the fastest lap in his Ferrari in the second practice, Sainz only conceded 4 thousandths. George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were the fastest in the first practice in their Mercedes. Lando Norris set the fourth fastest time in his McLaren in the second session. World champion Max Verstappen could not distinguish himself; he retired after 10 minutes in the first session with a broken gearbox and only set the eighth fastest time in the second practice session.
The Dutchman dominated last week in Spa and was behind all his competitors. But the winding and narrow circuit in Zandvoort cannot be compared to the sloping track in Spa with its long bends and straights. ,,More downforce is required here and that suits our car better, so our expectation was that we would be better here than at Spa,’ said Sainz. ,,And we can go even faster, because we still had far from the ideal balance.”