What we learned in Friday practice for the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix

It's like we've never been away. After four weeks of sand, sea, and relaxation, Formula 1's travelling circus weaned itself off the more sibilant elements of the summer with a trip to Zandvoort. And the clues in the name, if you translate it from Dutch: there's sand...and there's sea.

And as FP1 ticked into its final moments, the drivers’ post-holiday blues might have been exacerbated by the ominous time gap between themselves and the McLaren duo at the top of the timesheets. Just four non-McLaren drivers found themselves in the same second as Norris’ first-practice headliner: Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso (as Aston Martin looked once again handy in a high-downforce environment), Alex Albon, and Max Verstappen.  

The picture was marginally less bleak in FP2: this time, there were six other cars within a second of Norris’s time at the top of the order. Alonso and Verstappen stayed within the same postcode (the former splitting the McLarens, thanks to a handy first sector and a tow across the line) as George Russell, Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton, and Yuki Tsunoda found their way into the top eight.  

For Stroll and Albon, FP1 giveth and FP2 taketh away. The Canadian’s shunt at Turn 3 was worrying from the perspective that Stroll, who had been through a couple of rounds of hand surgery, tried to hold the wheel in the hope that he could keep his AMR25 out of the wall before the glancing blow. The car was in tatters as it was smeared across the banked corner’s high line, but thankfully he showed no apparent pain in the aftermath. 

Albon also fell from grace as he locked up at Turn 1 to bestow a second red flag on the second session, beaching his car. Verstappen had done exactly the same thing after FP1 had closed for business, taking a practice start and then practicing his gravel rallying skills to fewer accolades.  

Either way, McLaren looked lightning fast in the soft tyre qualifying simulations, much to the chagrin of anyone hoping that four weeks away would suddenly spark a few tenths’ worth of inspiration. Oddly enough, Aston Martin seems like the closest thing to a competitor given Alonso’s turn of pace in FP2, but out of the usual suspects Mercedes is probably leading the way behind the orange cars. 

Mixed tyre plans serve up long-run intrigue

Pirelli reckons strategies for Sunday are wide open

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Heading into the weekend, Pirelli believed that a one-stopper is on the cards for Sunday’s race, despite the use of softer tyres versus last year’s Zandvoort affair and the quicker pitstop times produced by the 20kph boost to the fast-lane speeds. Thus, there was experimentation across all three compounds in the longer runs to see which tyres would get the drivers to the end as quickly as possible.  

The tyre company, per chief engineer Simone Berra, has challenged its earlier belief – and now says that “in terms of strategy, possibly even more so than previously thought, the choice between one and two stops is wide open, especially now that the soft is a viable option.” 

This year, the medium is the C3, and there’s a bit of a spread in times across the board. Unsurprisingly, McLaren led the way with Norris’ 1m14.971s average over a nine-lap stint, while Alonso’s average of a 1m15.364s put Aston Martin second among the medium runners

In any case, let’s start with the tyre that will likely be the most oversubscribed for the grand prix: the medium.

FP2 medium tyre averages

This year, the medium is the C3, and there’s a bit of a spread in times across the board. Unsurprisingly, McLaren led the way with Norris’ 1m14.971s average over a nine-lap stint, while Alonso’s average of a 1m15.364s put Aston Martin second among the medium runners. The heavy caveat is that this was only done over a five-lap stint, and thus one would assume a higher average over a stint comparable to the other cars on mediums.

Alonso’s laps were overall on a par with Oliver Bearman’s stint on the mediums, before the Haas driver began to feel the effect of slower laps and a dip into the 1m16s towards the end of his long run. Furthermore, Bearman’s average was only a touch quicker than Hulkenberg’s run; extrapolating from this, one can surmise that Aston Martin would be a little bit closer to the company it usually tends to keep on a Sunday. 

Tsunoda’s stint on mediums was not particularly special; although the Japanese driver was about 0.3s shy of his team-mate on a single lap in FP2, his long-run performance has been much more pallid throughout the season compared to Verstappen. This was part of the rationale for including the soft-tyre times a bit later, just to bring Red Bull’s key data point into the mix. 

Aston Martin surprised many teams with its strong pace

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Formula 1 via Getty Images

Pierre Gasly’s medium stint was a bit off the pace; Alpine team-mate Franco Colapinto’s short run on softs (more below) looked quite swift by comparison, but this was just a handful of laps run at low fuel. 

FP2 hard tyre averages

Russell’s stint on hards, considering an assumed delta of around 0.3-0.4s between C2 and C3, looks competitive when stacked against the McLarens. Temperatures across the Dutch coast should be moderately tepid and thus one doesn’t expect – especially with a mid-range set of compounds – the W16’s allergy to heat to come into effect here.

And, with the main prize available being a third-place trophy, Russell should be in a good position to make a play for the barely coveted best-of-the-rest honours. But Ferrari looks a darn slight less at sea compared to its performance in FP1; in Friday’s opening session, the red cars were alarmingly far down the timing order and Hamilton’s spin on the exit of Turn 2 demonstrated a wayward rear end. The SF-25 looked more competitive in the second act of Friday practice, albeit with another Hamilton spin as he understeered on the exit of Turn 9 and watched his rear-left tyre lick the grass. Still, even on tyres that were distinctly hexagonal at this point, he found a tenth on team-mate Leclerc... 

Sainz wasn’t too far off the Mercedes and Ferrari pace, suggesting that Williams might be able to uncover its inexplicably decent Zandvoort form if – if – it can nail qualifying. Thing is, Williams and Saturdays have rarely been the greatest of friends this year. 

FP2 soft tyre averages

Colapinto is either the second coming of Jesus, or he was running very light in his soft-tyre run in FP2 – a nearly 0.6s average over Verstappen (albeit both on very short stints) rather suggests this is the case. 

Verstappen and Liam Lawson fit about where you’d expect on their runs versus the hard and medium times; perhaps Red Bull might find itself in the Mercedes/Ferrari mix, but it’s hard to tell – Verstappen’s hard-tyre pace was ‘there or thereabouts’ with Hamilton and Russell, but did fewer laps on the C2s. 

It was more of the same for Red Bull at Zandvoort

Photo by: Mark Thompson - Getty Images

“I’m still struggling with the same things,” Verstappen said. “And again, we tried a lot of things with the car, but it just doesn't really seem to change anything in terms of my underlying problems.  

“We'll look overnight if we can find a bit more. But I'm not going to expect a massive turnaround. I think it's just tricky. Plus, the layout of the track also probably doesn't suit our problems that we have with the car.”

Norris has upper hand over Piastri...for now 

At the top end, Norris had the faster soft-tyre times, and the better FP2 long run (his 1m14.971s average having the margin over Piastri’s 1m15.488s). But there’s no way that Piastri is going to run to a half-second deficit over Sunday’s race, and one must expect the two to remain close. The Australian tends to build up over the weekend anyway, so there’s no immediate cause for concern. 

McLaren will comb through that data tonight to ensure Piastri has a shot at topping his team mate on Saturday. But wouldn’t it be wonderful if Alonso could loom large and pose a front-row threat should either McLaren driver falter?  

“There was a lot of things that I don't think were quite as you would normally expect today,” Piastri said of the sessions, owing to the threat of rain that never truly emerged through FP2. “I think tomorrow will be the only time we'll see where everyone's really at.” 

“I think it was a pretty good day overall. Improved some things through the day and found some more confidence and just some more lap time, which is always nice. Still some things to tidy up and improve as there normally is after a Friday, but overall it's been a positive first day back.” 

As per usual, Norris wanted to lean on feedback from Will Joseph, being told about Piastri’s wider line through Turn 2 as he hoped to leave no stone unturned to gather an advantage.  

But when you compare their two best laps, Piastri’s middle sector was the stronger of the two until the exit of Turn 10 – Norris bolted on the throttle sooner and this helped the Briton sit 0.037s up at the second split. This grew in the final sector, as Piastri seemed to be a little less decisive on the throttle. 

McLaren will comb through that data tonight to ensure Piastri has a shot at topping his team mate on Saturday. But wouldn’t it be wonderful if Alonso could loom large and pose a front-row threat should either McLaren driver falter?  

Will Norris strike another blow on the championship leader this weekend?

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