FP1: Norris heads dominant McLaren one-two, Aston Martin delivers impressive performance

Lando Norris headed a dominant one-two for McLaren, beating his team-mate Oscar Piastri in the opening practice session at this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix. F1Technical’s senior writer Balazs Szabo reports from the Zandvoort circuit.

Using Pirelli’s soft tyres for his quickest lap, Lando Norris set a time of 1m 10.278s to head his team-mate Oscar Piastri in the opening one-hour session at Zandvoort.

Aston Martin displayed an impressive performance in FP1, with Lance Stroll slotting his AMR25into third, followed by his team-mate Fernando Alonso.

Williams driver Alex Albon took fifth from reigning champion Max Verstappen. The Dutch driver endured a small drama in front of his home crowd after the chequered flag had fallen, having gone off track and become beached in the gravel following a practice start at Turn 1.

George Russell had a relatively quiet session bar a trip across the gravel trap at the Tarzan corner. The Mercedes driver ended up seventh while Williams’ Carlos Sainz, Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly completed the top 10.

The Racing Bulls duo of Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar claimed P11 and P12 respectively, ahead of Sauber driver Nico Hulkenberg for Kick Sauber in P13.

Ferrari, meanwhile, suffered a disappointing opening session at Zandvoort. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton took only 14th and 15th which prompted the Monegasque to claim that the Italian outfit was “miles off".

Yuki Tsunoda looked strong in the early stages of the practice, but he ended up down in 16th place, with the Haas pair of Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman claiming 17th and 19th.

Alpine’s Franco Colapinto separated the Haas duo, while Antonelli was classified in 20th, having been unable to rejoin after going off the track in the early stages of the one-hour session.