Formula 1: Norris Shines In Friday Practice At Zandvoort

Lando Norris led the way with an impressive performance in Friday practice at the Dutch Grand Prix as Formula 1 resumed after its summer break.

The Briton was fastest in both practice sessions, from McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri in the first and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in the second.

Norris was just 0.087 seconds faster than Alonso in the second session and led Piastri by 0.292secs in the first.

Piastri, who leads Norris in the championship by nine points with 10 races to go, was third in the second session, 0.089secs off the Briton’s pace.

Lewis Hamilton had two spins in the Ferrari, one in each session, but ended the day sixth fastest, 0.096secs and two places ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc.

Mercedes’ George Russell was fourth fastest in the second session, with the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda sandwiching Hamilton in fifth and seventh.

Alonso’s team-mate Lance Stroll had a heavy crash early in the second session, locking a brake on the entry to the heavily banked Hugenholtz hairpin and smashing into the barriers, destroying the right-hand side of his car.

Stroll had underlined Aston Martin’s pace with third fastest time in the first session, just ahead of Alonso.

Alex Albon was another to crash in the second session in the Williams, going straight on at the first corner, Tarzan, and breaking his front wing against the barriers.

Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli crashed in the first session, running off track at Turn Nine and ended the second session 12th.

Briatore casts doubt on Colapinto’s future
Behind Leclerc in eighth, Alpine’s Franco Colapinto was ninth fastest, with Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg rounding out the top 10 from British Haas driver Oliver Bearman.

In the official news conference between the sessions, Alpine’s de facto boss Flavio Briatore cast doubt on Colapinto’s future at the team.

The Argentine was signed as reserve driver from Williams over the winter and replaced Australian Jack Doohan in the French team from the sixth race of the season but has failed to impress.

Asked what he needed to see from Colapinto for him to retain his seat, Briatore said: “I see everything already. I don’t need to see anything any more.

“It’s difficult. For this driver, it’s very difficult to cope with this car. These cars are very, very heavy, very quick. And for a young driver to put in Formula 1, maybe it was not the timing to have Franco in Formula 1. Maybe he needs another year or two to be part of Formula 1.

“And I know that, in the end, what is important is the result. He tries very hard. He tries very hard with the engineers to please them in everything, but it’s not what I expect from Colapinto.”

Bbc.com