The momentum of Max Verstappen’s victory in the Belgian Grand Prix last weekend did not carry over to free practice at Circuit Zandvoort for the Dutch Grand Prix — instead, it was his title rival Charles Leclerc who emerged on top.
Ferrari went 1-2 in the second practice session, with Leclerc leading and teammate Carlos Sainz finishing .004 seconds behind.
Red Bull Racing’s Verstappen, on the other hand, dealt with transmission issues during the first practice and came back to claim eighth in the second session.
“Today wasn’t great, but we’ll have a look at everything overnight. For sure we can do better than this,” Verstappen said. He’ll set his eyes on Saturday morning’s free practice session to make a few final adjustments to the car before qualifying.
After a trying few weeks of getting mediocre results, Mercedes found much-needed success during practice at Zandervoort, with Lewis Hamilton setting a fast time of 1:12.417 in third.
“This is a lot better than my Sunday last week and better than the Friday, too,” Hamilton said. “It’s been a decent start to the weekend, we’ve landed in a much sweeter spot with the car.”
His Mercedes teammate, George Russell, settled for fifth.
McLaren’s Lando Norris slotted in between the Mercedes teammates in fourth.