Mercedes’ George Russell went quickest in the second practice for this weekend’s 2024 FIA Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix, beating McLaren driver Oscar Piastri by six hundredths of a second in a session that saw Haas’ Nico Hülkenberg crash.
Unlike the first session, which began in wet and wild conditions, the second hour of practice was run in bright sunshine and it was home hero Max Verstappen who set the early pace. The Dutchman’s time of 1:12.131, set on Medium tyres, kept the Red Bull drive at the top of the timesheet for the first quarter of the session. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton then edged ahead of the championship leader, posting a lap of 1:11.833 to steal top spot.
The session was then suspended when Nico Hulkenberg crashed at Tarzan. The German driver alarmingly locked the rear wheels of his Haas under braking for the first corner and he spun backwards of track before colliding with the barriers. The red flags were displayed and there was a six-minute stoppage while his damaged car was recovered.
When running resumed, Verstappen emerged on Soft tyres and his lap of 1:10.986 jumped him back up to P1. FP1’s quickest man Lando Norris had also bolted on the red-walled tyres and he quickly demoted Verstappen with a lap of 1:10.961.
Piastri then appeared on Softs and he bumped his team-mate down to second with a lap of 1:10.763, before Russell jumped to top spot with a Soft-tyre effort of 1:10.702.
Behind him, Hamilton claimed third place behind Piastri, just 0.111s off his team-mate, and Norris was again bumped back, to fourth. It meant that Verstappen’s Soft run was only good enough for P5 at the end of the session, with the Dutch driver finishing a little under four tenths of a second clear of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.
Yuki Tsunoda took seventh for RB ahead of the sole remaining Haas of Kevin Magnussen while Charles Leclerc’s single Soft-tyre run of 1:11.443 left him in ninth place, 0.741 off Rusell. The top 10 was rounded out by Williams’ Alexander Albon who finished a tenth off Leclerc.
Elsewhere, Carlos Sainz completed just seven laps before he was forced back to the Ferrari garage with a suspected gearbox issue. He finished in P19 just ahead of Hülkenberg.
2024 FIA Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 George Russell Mercedes 1:10.702 30 216.859
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:10.763 0.061 33 216.672
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:10.813 0.111 30 216.519
4 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:10.961 0.259 34 216.067
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:10.986 0.284 33 215.991
6 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:11.357 0.655 30 214.868
7 Yuki Tsunoda RB/Honda RBPT 1:11.374 0.672 31 214.817
8 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1:11.430 0.728 33 214.649
9 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:11.443 0.741 31 214.610
10 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:11.550 0.848 33 214.289
11 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:11.576 0.874 31 214.211
12 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:11.581 0.879 29 214.196
13 Daniel Ricciardo RB/Honda RBPT 1:11.630 0.928 31 214.049
14 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:11.644 0.942 33 214.008
15 Logan Sargeant Williams/Mercedes 1:11.818 1.116 32 213.489
16 Zhou Guanyu Sauber/Ferrari 1:11.934 1.232 33 213.145
17 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:12.061 1.359 33 212.769
18 Valtteri Bottas Sauber/Ferrari 1:12.206 1.504 32 212.342
19 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:13.108 2.406 7 209.722
20 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 1:13.296 2.594 10 209.184
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