George Russell beat Oscar Piastri to the highest of the timesheets in a dry second apply session for the Dutch Grand Prix.
Russell mastered the gusty circumstances — regardless of a visit via the gravel at Flip 9 along with his Mercedes — to set the benchmark at 1m10.702s, besting McLaren’s Piastri by simply 0.061s on a busy afternoon at Circuit Zandvoort.
The rain from earlier within the day had utterly dissipated in time for the weekend’s second hour of apply, enabling uninhibited mileage in lieu of misplaced operating from FP1. The dry observe time was essential for groups and drivers given the forecast for the remainder of the weekend, with Saturday anticipated to be moist however Sunday’s grand prix predicted to be sunny and dry. Consequently, all three dry-weather tire compounds have been on present all through the hour, with groups deploying various run plans to clock up laps.
Each Russell and Piastri carried out lengthy stints on the comfortable tire, whereas their teammates, Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris — third and fourth respectively within the order — hung out evaluating the medium compound.
With Mercedes and McLaren locking out the highest 4 locations, Max Verstappen dropped to fifth within the order, the Crimson Bull man 0.284s off the headline time and forward of a blended set of midfield drivers.
Fernando Alonso headed the pack at 0.655s off the tempo for Aston Martin, main RB’s Yuki Tsunoda and Haas driver Kevin Magnussen.
Charles Leclerc was ninth in the one Ferrari that made it to the tip of the session. Whereas the Monegasque accomplished 31 laps, teammate Carlos Sainz received via solely seven excursions earlier than a gearbox downside pressured him again to pit lane and into an early retirement for the day.
Catastrophe struck the Spaniard earlier than he had had the prospect to make use of the comfortable tire. Having not used it throughout FP1 both, he might not get an opportunity to evaluate the softest rubber earlier than qualifying, relying on the climate, or probably Sunday’s race.
Alex Albon accomplished the highest 10 forward of Lance Stroll, each of whom will see the stewards after the session over an unsafe launch. Sergio Perez radioed his group that he was struggling along with his brakes, notably into Flip 1, on his solution to twelfth forward of Daniel Ricciardo and Pierre Gasly because the final drivers to lap inside 1s of the chief.
Logan Sargeant was fifteenth forward of Zhou Guanyu, the Chinese language driver additionally set for a post-session investigation for an unsafe launch forward of Ricciardo.
Esteban Ocon was seventeenth forward of Valtteri Bottas and the retired Carlos Sainz.
Nico Hulkenberg ended the day after simply 10 laps when his rear axle locked on the first nook, sending his Haas automobile spinning off the street and into the boundaries.
“I don’t know what occurred there,” he radioed. “Simply the rear utterly locked up on braking.”
The crash triggered a five-minute pink flag to wash up the wreckage, after which the session received again underway with out additional situation.
