Lando Norris has gone two for two in topping practice sessions coming back from the summer break, leading the way in FP2 like he did in FP1 ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix.
Last year’s Zandvoort winner has been in a good groove so far, but repeating his 20-second demolition of the field is going to be a big ask.
Fernando Alonso wasn’t a driver we expected to be discussing in the lead pack, but he popped up in P2 for Aston Martin this afternoon — finishing just 0.087 seconds off Norris’ time.
If he could repeat that later in the weekend it would continue the strange swings in Aston Martin’s season, finding pockets of performance without truly seeming to understand how or why.
Oscar Piastri will surely emerge as Norris’ closest rival for the win this weekend. He was P3, just two-thousandths slower than Alonso. So he is definitely in the picture.
George Russell and Max Verstappen were fourth and fifth, albeit a few tenths back, but the more difficult day was for Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari.
Hamilton was P6, two spots ahead of Charles Leclerc in the sister Ferrari — but they were more than eight-tenths of a second off the pace.
Hamilton also had two spins through today, so will have work to do for some added confidence.
Overall a very messy, truncated session with the red flags and interruptions. But for now it’s advantage Lando Norris at Zandvoort.