Dutch GP: McLaren’s class shines in FP1 as Verstappen suffers a late practice start off

McLaren was in a league of its own around the banked corners at Zandvoort as Lando Norris set the pace in FP1 ahead of Oscar Piastri.

The team-mates were half a second up on third-placed Lance Stroll in what proved to be a good start to the Dutch Grand Prix weekend for Aston Martin with Fernando Alonso fourth fastest.

McLaren blitzs the competition in FP1 at Zandvoort

Almost four weeks after turning their last laps in anger in Hungary, the Formula 1 drivers were back on track for the opening practice session for the Dutch Grand Prix with championship hopeful Lando Norris leading out the field.

Heading out on the medium Pirellis, all the tyres one step softer than they were for the 2024 edition of the Zandvoort race, Kimi Antonelli was notably hitting the ground with the rear of his Mercedes W16. His time put him 1.5s down on the session’s early pace-setter Oscar Piastri.

Racking up the laps, Alex Albon and then Max Verstappen took over at the top while Lewis Hamilton went spinning into the banked Turn 2. “I’ve got flat spots all around,” he said.

Yuki Tsunoda and Antonelli were also in trouble, Tsunoda spinning off the track and Antonelli beaching his W16 in the Turn 9 gravel. Several drivers were complaining about gusty wind.

The Mercedes driver’s off brought out the red flags as he told Mercedes that he was stuck in the gravel. “Yip, we see that,” was race engineer Pete Bonnington’s understated response.

Asking if he could rejoin the session, Bonnington told the rookie that was a “negative” as the car needed to be recovered. A total of six laps on the board for the Italian.

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The session resumed with a flurry of activity, the drivers wanting to get laps before the afternoon rain. Carlos Sainz climbed into the top five only to have a moment in the kitty litter himself at Turn 11.

Lando Norris was the first driver to move onto the soft Pirelli tyres and shot up into P1 with a 1:10.2, four-tenths up on Piastri who didn’t have a scruffy lap, his MCL39 just didn’t stick like Norris’ had.

As McLaren’s rivals switched to the soft Pirellis, Nico Hulkenberg got within 1.5s, Alex Albon slashed the deficit to 0.9s and Fernando Alonso reduced it even further to 0.56s before his team-mate Lance Stroll went faster, closing the gap to half a second.

Verstappen was the last driver to bolt on the red Pirelli tyres, but was slower than the Aston Martins and Albon.

With the rain threatening, the drivers moved onto race runs for the final 15 minutes, adding an extra 50 or 60kgs of fuel to the cars.

Down in 14th place, and over 1.6s off the pace of Norris, Charles Leclerc wasn’t happy with the performance of his SF-25. “My opinion is that we should focus on what we are doing now. We are miles off. Like, miles off!” he said.

Stroll was annoyed with Tsunoda as he seemed to block the Aston Martin, “what is he doing man!”, while Russell had a late trip through the gravel.

Verstappen had a late very unusual incident when he practiced a start after the session only to find himself beached in the Turn 1 gravel.

Norris will line up on Sunday’s grid for round 15 of the F1 2025 championship nine points behind his team-mate Piastri in a two-way fight for the Drivers’ Championship title.

Dutch GP FP1 Times

1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:10.278
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.292
3 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +0.563
4 Alexander Albon Williams +0.893
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +0.940
6 George Russell Mercedes +1.108
7 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1.114
8 Carlos Sainz Williams +1.180
9 Gabriel Bortoleto Kick Sauber +1.231
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1.335
11 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +1.475
12 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +1.494
13 Nico Hulkenberg Kick Sauber +1.597
14 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +1.673
15 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +1.682
16 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull Racing +1.848
17 Esteban Ocon Haas F1 Team +1.866
18 Franco Colapinto Alpine +1.998
19 Oliver Bearman Haas F1 Tea +2.286
20 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +3.997

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