ZANDVOORT, Netherlands — Lando Norris set the pace during Friday practice for the Dutch Grand Prix, beating home hero Max Verstappen to the fastest time by 0.023s.
The session was suspended after 10 minutes when Oscar Piastri and Daniel Ricciardo crashed at Turn 3, with Ricciardo reporting over team radio that he hurt his left hand in the incident.
After visiting the medical centre at the circuit, Ricciardo was taken to hospital for further checks. The Australian returned to F1 two races ago, replacing Dutch driver Nyck de Vries, after losing his McLaren seat to Piastri last year.
Piastri hit the wall first after misjudging his entry speed to the corner, with Ricciardo crashing at the same corner after coming across the stricken McLaren. The two cars did not collide.
The two drivers finished at the bottom of the standings.
After a series of car upgrades at recent races, McLaren has emerged as one of Red Bull’s closest rivals and, judging by Norris’ time, appears to be well-suited by the high-speed nature of the Zandvoort circuit.
Verstappen is chasing a record-equaling ninth straight victory this weekend as well as his third successive win at the Dutch Grand Prix.
While Norris’ performance over one lap indicates that Saturday’s qualifying could be close, Red Bull’s advantage over the field has been far more prominent over a race distance, making Verstappen the clear favourite to extend his winning streak on Sunday.
“Still feel good,” Verstappen said on Friday. “I think the car has a lot of potential to again have a good day tomorrow. Just need to fine tune a few things and I’m pretty confident that we can be ahead.”
Behind the top two, Alex Albon impressed with the third fastest time for Williams. The Thai driver has often looked fast in Friday practice only to drop down the order later in the weekend, but on a circuit where Williams was expecting to struggle, his lap time, just 0.269s off Norris, shows promise.
Lewis Hamilton set the fourth fastest time ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, Pierre Gasly and Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez.
Lance Stroll was eighth fastest for Aston Martin, which has introduced an upgraded floor this weekend, ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and Stroll’s teammate Fernando Alonso in tenth.
Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg, who finished the session 18th, was under investigation after the chequered flag for allegedly impeding Verstappen.