Dutch GP FP1: Norris tops, Piastri chases, trouble for Verstappen
F1 NewsFriday, 29 August 2025 at 13:30
Lando Norris went fastest in the first practice session for the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix with teammate Oscar Piastri chasing him as Max Verstappen was way off the pace.
McLaren picked up from where they left before the summer break as Norris posted a 1:10.278 to go fastest of all and almost three tenths clear of his teammate, Piastri who who is leading the championship, was second.
It was a tricky session overall for the drivers who had several off moments as conditions were winding which made the handling of the banked corner of Zandvoort quite a task.
Aston Martin showed some decent form early on in the weekend with Lance Stroll third fastest, half a second off the pace while Fernando Alonso was close behind him in fourth.
Alex Albon finished the session fifth fastest ahead of Max Verstappen who seems to have a mountain to climb this weekend as he was sixth fastest and almost one second off the pace.
George Russell was seventh fastest in the Mercedes, a couple of tenths behind Verstappen, and was the only Mercedes driver taking part for most of the session as Kimi Antonelli was out after ending up in the gravel early on.
Carlos Sainz was eighth fastest in the other Williams and ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto in ninth as Pierre Gasly completed the top ten.
It was a terrible opening session for Ferrari as Charles Leclerc was down in 14th, 1.673s off the pace while Lewis Hamilton right behind him with just 0.009s separating them.
Buildup towards FP1
The summer break is over, and it is time to go racing again with the Formula 1 season resuming from Zandvoort for the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix, Verstappen's home race.
But it will be a tough one for the Dutchman in front of his Orange Army, as McLaren will be favorites once again and will give the reigning Champion a tough time this weekend, but will he be able to pull off something special with the extra motivation provided by the home crowds?
Norris and Piastri will therefore resume their battle for the Drivers' Title this weekend the former now on a roll as this will probably be a fight till the end between the pair.
One of the other points of focus will be Hamilton and Ferrari, as the Briton gave the media enough material to survive the summer break with speculation surrounding his future at Ferrari and after his "useless comments" following the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Sir Lewis seems to be in higher spirits as he heads into this weekend, and we actually do hope to see him in better form in the final leg of this season.
In terms of tyres, Pirelli have brought their C2 (Hard), C4 (Medium), and C5 (Soft) compounds this weekend.
As for car upgrades, only three teams made Car Presentation Submissions.
Red Bull revealed a revised front wing with longer chord front wing flaps to suit the requirements of Zandvoort, while Alpine has rear brake duct furniture to improve rear wheel wake management.
Finally, Sauber have brought a revised rear brake duct vane design.
An additional change this season is the speed limit in the Zandvoort pitlane was raised from 60km/h to 80km/h. That may open up more options for tyre strategies in the race.
FP1 Session Highlights
The session started in dry but relatively cool conditions with track temperatures at 25 degrees Celsius while air temperature was 20 degrees. Rainy conditions were expected for FP2.
The FIA started the session with a test for the Virtual Safety Car procedure as Bortoleto and Norris were the first to hit the track.
Moments later, the VSC was over and the serious running began with all drivers except Yuki Tsunoda opting for the Medium tyres at the start. The Japanese driver went for the Hards.
Sainz reported that it was "quite windy" as the track action ramped up.
Soon a brief Yellow flag came out as Hamilton spun going into the banked Turn 3, performing a 360, not crashing but then fat-spotting all his tyres.
But then the Yellow flag came out again as Tsunoda ended up in the gravel at Turn 12 but managed to return to the track, but then the flag became Red as Antonelli understeered into the gravel trap at Turn 9 and could not reverse back on track.
The session was resumed with 41 minutes remaining as Russell, the only Mercedes driver now taking part, the first driver the head out again.
Then Norris went a bit deep into Turn 11, dipping a wheel in the gravel, while Sainz soon after that had a gravel trip in his Williams at the same place.
Then Hamilton was a bit out of shape at the same place.
Halfway into the session, the Soft tyre runs began with Norris the first driver to start a qualifying simulation on them. Piastri followed.
Russell had a tank slap coming out of Turn 10 while on his first qualifying run and had to abort the lap.
Norris' engineer then offers some coaching giving him information about the line Piastri is using in Turn 2. The Australian then was out of shape taking too much kerb out of Turn 3.
Replay showed Hamilton almost running into Gasly who was leisurely driving on the racing line.
In the final 15 minutes, the teams returned to long runs with higher fuel loads.
Then Stroll had a moment with Tsunoda who did not get of the Canadian's way while on another qualifying run.
But then Stroll then did the same with Oliver Bearman who was on a timed lap in the Haas.
The Russell locked up and ran wide into Turn 1, drove through the gravel and rejoined. He radioed: "Sorry about that."
The session was concluded with practice sessions. But then Verstappen locked up after his start into Turn 1 and ended up in the gravel and got stuck. Was he testing his braking limits in preparation for race day?
Dutch GP FP1 Classification
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