British driver George Russell set the fastest time in practice at the Dutch Grand Prix, with local hero Max Verstappen complaining of a lack of pace as he trailled in fifth.
Mercedes star Russell set a lap time of 1:10.702 early in the second hour-long practice session and it was never beaten, Oscar Piastri coming in 0.061 seconds behind in a McLaren.
World champion Verstappen of Red Bull came in fifth, 0.284 seconds behind Russell, having been pipped into second by Lando Norris from McLaren in the day’s first practice session.
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“We didn’t quite have the pace on the long and the short runs and at the moment, there isn’t a clear answer on how to improve this, but we will look into things,” said Verstappen.
The second session was paused for six minutes while officials cleared debris off the track after Nico Hulkenberg crashed his Haas as his rear tyres locked up.
In the first practice session earlier Friday, the drivers had to deal with typical Dutch weather that swung from torrential rain to bright sunshine and back within minutes.
Even Verstappen spun his Red Bull on the wet track but as the clouds parted and the sun emerged, so did quicker lap times, with the lead changing hands several times.
In a thrilling last lap, Verstappen took the lead only to be pipped by Norris, who turned in a lap of 1:12.322, just 0.201 seconds ahead of his Dutch rival.
“A pleasing first day back on track,” said Norris after the second practice session.
“We made some good progress and the car is in a strong position ahead of qualification tomorrow.”
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Russell said he struggled with “perhaps the windiest conditions I can remember” but added that the car was performing well after an upgrade to the floor.
“We expect to be facing another fascinating battle across the rest of the weekend for the podium spots,” predicted Russell.
Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton could also be satisfied with his day’s work, finishing third behind Russell and Piastri.
Verstappen, 26, has never lost at his “home” Grand Prix since it was reintroduced to the circuit in 2021.
The three-time champion had a blistering start to the season, picking up from where he left off in 2023 with seven wins out of the first 10.
But he has endured a lean spell by his high standards, failing to take the chequered flag in any of the last four Grands Prix — his most barren period since 2020.
This has given the chasing pack, led by Norris, some hope they can somehow prevent Verstappen cruising to a fourth world championship.
Norris sits 78 points behind Verstappen in the drivers’ championship and while he hopes to overhaul the Dutchman, he was realistic about his chances before the race.
Elsewhere, Daniel Ricciardo finished the second practice session 13th fastest, conceding it was a tough day despite running less than a second back from the leading Russell.
“It was windy, we had a little bit of everything,” Ricciardo said.
“I used all three compounds today so there was a bit going on. There’s a bit to find where I think we were kind of just diving head first into the data a little bit and try and understand.
“We struggled a little bit more than anticipated, especially on the medium versus the hard, we kind of split tyres with Yuki and myself. He was a lot quicker on the hard than I was on the medium.
“We started to look on some things and then on the soft managed to get in a bit of a better lap but still not quite there.
“Hopefully we’ll find a few things tonight and then set up ourselves for tomorrow.”
In returning to the Dutch Grand Prix, Ricciardo is also back at the scene of the hand injury he suffered last year, although the Australian said earlier in the week he would not “shy away” from that.
In fact, he told reporters he would get in the car “salute Turn 3, give it a little helo and crack on”. And Ricciardo ended up doing just that in hilarious fashion.
Source Agencies
