McLaren’s Lando Norris went quickest in the opening practice session for the 2024 FIA Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix, beating championship leading Red Bull driver Max Verstappen by two tenths of a second as F1 returned to action at Zandvoort following its traditional summer break.
Strong winds and rain ahead of the session meant that when running got underway and with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly describing the conditions as “wild” there were few early runners but when the track eventually began to improve Charles Leclerc set the opening timed lap of the session on wet tyres with the Ferrari driving crossing the line in 1:26.530. Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg slotted into second place, 1.5 seconds off Leclerc. The Ferrari driver improved then improved to 1:26.111 to hold onto P1.
Verstappen then emerged on Intermediate tyres, but the local hero took too much kerb in Turn 11 and spun on his first timed run. He made another attempt and went fastest with a 1:21.300s, almost five seconds faster than Leclerc’s lap on wets.
Russell then lowered the benchmark by another chunk as he crossed the line in 1:20.444, before being bumped out of P1 by Norris whose first lap on Inters netted the McLaren driver a time of 1:20.392.
With the sun now breaking through the clouds, the track was improving rapidly and in the closing stages the times tumbled as drivers made the move to slick tyres.
Norris posted a first Soft tyre lap of 1:17.367 to go fastest, but team-mate Oscar Piastri then took over a second off that time with a lap of 1:15.971. Mercedes’ George Russell went 0.071 quicker before both McLaren drivers went quicker again, with Norris eventually working his way to 1:12.818.
Lewis Hamilton then joined the fray, but Verstappen made a late run of 1:12.523 to take rise above the Mercedes driver. However, in the final moments Norris reclaimed the fastest time, with a lap of 1:12.322. with Verstappen and Hamilton completing the top three. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz lifted himself into fourth late on into the session, while Russell took fifth ahead of Williams’ Alex Albon. Piastri was left with seventh place ahead of Hülkenberg and Haas team-mate Kevin Magnussen and the top-10 order was rounded out by Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu.
FIA Formula 1 2024 Dutch Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
1 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1’12.322 17 212.001
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1’12.523 0.201 13 211.414
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1’13.006 0.684 13 210.015
4 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1’13.074 0.752 15 209.820
5 George Russell Mercedes 1’13.142 0.820 17 209.625
6 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1’13.159 0.837 14 209.576
7 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1’13.230 0.908 14 209.373
8 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 1’13.563 1.241 18 208.425
9 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1’13.597 1.275 15 208.329
10 Zhou Guanyu Sauber/Ferrari 1’13.965 1.643 15 207.292
11 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1’14.151 1.829 14 206.772
12 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1’14.279 1.957 12 206.416
13 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1’14.306 1.984 15 206.341
14 Yuki Tsunoda RB/Honda RBPT 1’14.418 2.096 13 206.030
15 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1’14.467 2.145 15 205.895
16 Robert Shwartzman Sauber/Ferrari 1’14.658 2.336 15 205.368
17 Logan Sargeant Williams/Mercedes 1’15.605 3.283 12 202.796
18 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1’15.796 3.474 15 202.285
19 Daniel Ricciardo RB/Honda RBPT 1’16.231 3.909 15 201.130
20 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1’22.036 9.714 8 186.898
