Dutch Grand Prix – Free Practice 2: Norris and Verstappen neck and neck

He took back his place. After being forced to let Robert Shwartzman take his seat, Carlos Sainz was able to get back behind the wheel of his Ferrari for this second practice session. Lance Stroll, who was also stuck in the pits due to a problem with his Aston Martin, was able to get back on track.

Most of the men started with medium tires. Only Alpine, McLaren, and AlphaTauri opted for the hards for the early moments of this session. Despite this tire choice, Daniel Ricciardo managed to drive almost faster than everyone else on his first lap. Sergio Perez is the only man with a better time, as Max Verstappen was hindered in his first attempt.

A new red flag

A few minutes later, the Dutch driver managed to navigate through the traffic and set the provisional fastest time, leaving his teammate two tenths behind. At the same time, Oscar Piastri and Daniel Ricciardo hit the wall at turn 4, causing a session interruption. The McLaren driver went off track first. The Honey Badger was caught off guard by the presence of the orange car, causing him to also deviate from the racing line.

Once the red flag was lifted, the soft tires made their appearance. With this allocation, Sergio Perez returns to the top of the leaderboard, just ahead of Alex Albon, by a tiny thousandth. But the Mexican doesn’t hold the best time for long as Logan Sargeant, followed by Lance Stroll, set the new provisional reference.

Ferrari remains discreet

Lando Norris, who did not receive the new upgrades brought by McLaren, is leading the pack. Max Verstappen, on his first attempt with soft tires, was unable to go faster than the British driver. The second attempt will bring him closer to his friend, but not enough to surpass him.

At the start of the second part of the session, the Ferraris still seemed to be struggling. They were constantly searching for solutions. Charles Leclerc had the slowest time, even behind the two drivers who crashed into the wall. His teammate, Carlos Sainz, had a discreet thirteenth time.

They climbed up the hierarchy in the following races, but struggle to deliver impressive performances. The drivers seem to struggle with their rear tires.

The lap times did not change afterwards as the teams focused their efforts on race pace. Haas worked on hard tires and Mercedes tested mediums for their long stints. Carlos Sainz caught attention by narrowly avoiding hitting the wall at the penultimate corner with one minute to go.

The session ranking