McLaren brought the evolution of the MCL38 into the first free practice session of the Dutch GP and Lando Norris immediately demonstrated the value of the papaya single-seater by being the fastest with a time of 1’12″322 set with soft slick tyres at the end of the hour.
The session was held regularly, even if the start of the work took place in a gale of wind and heavy rain. Pierre Gasly was the first to close a time with the full wet tyres, but then gradually the conditions improved until we saw a ray of sunshine appear that quickly dried a strip of asphalt in Zandvoort.
This session did not allow to collect important data: Ferrari had mounted the rakes on the SF-24 (without modifications) of Charles Leclerc, which were removed before the start of the lap. Nico Hulkenberg with the Haas tried out three different escape routes with the track still flooded and with the violent gusts of very strong and particularly inconsistent wind.
Then the conditions improved significantly, allowing the drivers to get used to the banked corners. McLaren is a candidate for the role of big favorite at the restart of the season after the summer break: Norris preceded Max Verstappen by 201 thousandths. The three-time world champion (who also spun on the first flying lap with the soft tyres) reached 1’12″523 with an RB20 that returned to the engine cover configuration without the bazooka.
Further back, Lewis Hamilton climbed to third place right at the end with the Mercedes: the Englishman first worked on two different front wing solutions and then fired off a 1’13″006 with a rather nervous W15. The gap of six tenths from Norris speaks for itself, while the 752 thousandths gained by Carlos Sainz should not be surprising.
The Spaniard, in fact, achieved his performance with a set of medium tyres: Ferrari was the only team to save a set of red tyres (Leclerc, without taking risks, finished only 13th, almost two seconds behind Lando), giving the impression of having a good pace. The Spaniard, in fact, managed to slip between the two Mercedes, ahead of George Russell.
The disqualified winner at Spa had achieved his performance earlier, so the track then rapidly improved, which is why it is not possible to make an objective assessment with conditions that were continually changing.
Alexander Albon’s performance with the Williams equipped with a substantial package of new features was certainly positive: the Anglo-Thai driver is clinging to Russel’s W15 by just 15 thousandths. Judging from the first outing, it seems that the FW46 can aspire to a leap in quality. Logan Sargeant with the other Grove car is only 17th, but the American wanted to avoid trouble on the water.
Oscar Piastri is seventh with the second McLaren ahead of the two Haas of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen positively in the top 10. Also positive was the performance of Guanyu Zhou tenth with the Sauber. On the other C44 Robert Shwartzman made his debut on loan from the FDA Ferrari. The Russian with Israeli passport finished 16th at the checkered flag, but the Circus specialists had not missed the fourth time obtained when the tyre used was the Intermediate.
Lance Stroll is 11th with Aston Martin, while Fernando Alonso did not go beyond 15th place. Bad Sergio Perez only 12th with Red Bull: the confirmation at the wheel of the RB20 did not give him the motivation needed to drive a top car.
Yuki Tsunoda is 14th with Racing Bulls, while Dabiel Ricciardo is in penultimate position ahead of Pierre Gasly in last place with Alpine. Daniel is caught between the two A524s as Esteban Ocon is 18th: the Enstone team has made some changes, but the effect has not been seen so far…
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