FP2: Russell leads Piastri and Hamilton in tight second practice at Zandvoort

George Russell set the pace during Friday’s second free practice session for the Dutch Grand Prix, leading the way from McLaren rival Oscar Piastri and Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton at Zandvoort.

After experiencing mixed weather in FP1, drivers were greeted by much brighter, drier conditions for the start of FP2 at 1600 local time, albeit with gusts of wind still blowing in over the sand dunes and adding to the challenge around the tight, twisty venue.

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The changing winds appeared to play their part in a flurry of early scares, including Russell’s “strange” lock-up and trip through the gravel trap at Turn 8, another for the under-pressure Sergio Perez at Turn 1 and a snap for Max Verstappen through the high-speed Turn 7.

Further drama followed moments later, with outgoing Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg losing the rear of his updated car under braking for Turn 1, sliding across the gravel and thumping the wall – causing damage to the right-hand side and bringing out the red flags.

When the session resumed with around 40 minutes left on the clock, plenty of drivers took the opportunity to bolt on Pirelli’s soft rubber and pump in some qualifying-style laps, initially bringing a 1m 10.986s from Verstappen and a 1m 10.961s from Lando Norris.

Piastri and his recovered ribs then lowered the benchmark further on a 1m 10.763s, before Mercedes made their move to go P1 with Russell (1m 10.702s) and P3 with Hamilton – the top-five drivers covered by just over two-and-a-half tenths of a second.

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Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was ‘best of the rest’ in sixth, 0.371s away from Verstappen, followed by the RB of Yuki Tsunoda and the Haas of Kevin Magnussen, who enjoyed a much more productive session than sidelined team mate Hulkenberg.

Charles Leclerc wound up ninth, as the sole Ferrari driver for most of the session due to Carlos Sainz hitting gearbox trouble, while the latter’s future team mate at Williams, Alex Albon, completed the top-10 positions over the other Aston of Lance Stroll.

Aiming to get his season back on track after a challenging run, Perez trailed team mate Verstappen by six-tenths in 12th, followed by the other RB of Daniel Ricciardo and the lead Alpine of Pierre Gasly, whose team mate for 2025 has now been confirmed as Jack Doohan.

Logan Sargeant put his Williams 15th, while the Kick Saubers of Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas – the latter back in the cockpit after Ferrari reserve driver Robert Shwartzman appeared in FP1 – sandwiched Esteban Ocon in the second of the Alpine machines.

Limited to just seven and 10 laps respectively, and having been unable to post any times on the soft rubber, Sainz and Hulkenberg ended the afternoon at the foot of the order in P19 and P20, with mechanics now focused on getting their cars ready for FP3.

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Post-session, the stewards will be looking into two potential unsafe releases in the pit lane, with replays showing Zhou being sent out into Ricciardo’s path, as well as Albon and Stroll almost banging wheels.

Drivers and teams will have a chance to go through the data and make any adjustments ahead of Saturday morning’s third and final practice session, which is set to get under way at 1130 local time – followed by the all-important qualifying hour at 1500.