All very close on the first day

Back on track after the summer break, the performance levels of the top four teams seem to be as close as they were in the first part of the season, or at least from the Miami Grand Prix onwards. At the end of this first day of practice for the Dutch Grand Prix, the 15^th of 24 races on this year’s calendar, the five fastest drivers were covered by less than three tenths of a second, or 284 thousandths to be precise. Quickest was Russell (Mercedes, 1’10”702), followed by Piastri (McLaren, 1’10”763) and their respective team-mates, Hamilton third in 1’10”813 and Norris fourth in 1’10”961. The fifth and last driver to get under the 1’11” barrier was local hero Max Verstappen (1’10”986). Of the leading teams, Ferrari was not amongst the quickest, with Leclerc (1’11”443, ninth) unable to make the most of the Softs in the usual qualifying simulation, while Sainz’s second session ended after just seven laps as he returned to the garage with a technical problem.

THE DAY ON TRACK

Very changeable weather conditions played their part, to the extent that all five types of tyre brought to Zandvoort were called into play. The first session began in the rain with the track battered by very strong winds, with gusts exceeding 85 km/h. 17 of the drivers even tested track conditions with the extreme wets, before joining the only three abstentions – Verstappen, Hamilton and Ocon – on the intermediates. After half an hour, conditions improved enough for a switch to slicks, with nine of the ten teams opting for the Soft, while both Ferrari drivers went for the Medium.

The Dutch summer displayed its better side in the second session with sun putting in an appearance as the wind diminished in strength. The teams were thus able to resume the usual Friday programme, focussed on comparing the three dry tyre compounds. The vast majority worked with the Medium and Soft, while Gasly (Alpine), Albon (Williams), Tsunoda (Racing Bulls) and Magnussen (Haas) used the Soft and Hard.

MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT

“This first day was partially affected by the changing weather conditions, so there was not much useful data to be gathered from the first session, but much more was acquired in the second one. At first glance, we can say that all three dry compounds seem to be viable for use in the race. With the track conditions and temperatures experienced in FP2, the C1 proved to be very competitive and consistent, with the C2 not far off in terms of performance, as predicted in simulations prior to the weekend, with a difference of around eight to nine tenths between the Soft and the Medium and four tenths between the Medium and the Hard. The C3 demonstrated higher degradation, but not to the point of ruling it out as an option for Sunday’s race, also because there was no sign of graining.

“One interesting point will be seeing how the grip from the track surface evolves over the next two days. It is meant to rain tomorrow morning which, combined with the wind, should reset the conditions a bit. But the forecast is better for qualifying and for the race, which should be run in similar conditions to those in FP2, although track temperature could be a few degrees higher.”