30/08/2025 12:33
Lando Norris delivered a stunning performance in final practice for
the Dutch Grand Prix to leave him in spitting distance of beating
the all-time lap record posted by Max Verstappen. With 15 minutes
remaining, the McLaren driver was first out on the Zandvoort
circuit to conduct a qualifying simulation run, and purpled all
three sectors in posting a lap of 1:08.972s, smashing his pole
position time from last year by seven-tenths of a second. The
Pirelli tyre compounds for this year are a step softer compared to
12 months ago, but nevertheless, Norris' time underlined the
growing confidence of a driver who has won three of the last four
grands prix. Norris' time was also just over a tenth slower than
Verstappen's best from qualifying four years ago when he set a
1:08.885s. The Briton, nine points behind team-mate Oscar Piastri
in the drivers' standings going into this weekend's race, finished
0.242s ahead of the Australian, with Mercedes' George Russell best
of the rest, but 0.886s down. Russell is also under investigation
for an incident late on with Fernando Alonso in his Aston Martin.
Can Norris be stopped? Following heavy overnight and early morning
rain, the track was declared wet a minute before the start, even
though it was clearly dry for around 90 per cent of it. There were
a couple of exploratory laps on intermediates, but for the most
part, the drivers bided their time. One driver eager to make up for
lost time was Aston Martin's Lance Stroll in the wake of his heavy
crash 11 minutes into FP2. That resulted in almost a complete
overnight rebuild of the AMR25. Stroll set the first lap of note of
1:11.854s on soft tyres, almost 20 minutes into the session,
although team-mate Alonso soon deposed the Canadian by eight-tenths
of a second. Once Norris was on track, his first lap was a superb
1:10.282s, followed by Piastri, who finished 0.071s adrift, and
that after losing around three-tenths of a second in the middle
sector. Overall, a mix of compounds was deployed across the field
once all were on track. Verstappen, for instance, using the medium
to pop into third on the timesheet, but 0.760s adrift. Isack
Hadjar, with a new power unit in his Racing Bulls following an
overnight change after a difficult Friday in which he stopped on
track at the start of FP2, propelled himself into third, just under
half a second off the pace. As the session ramped up in terms of
track action, on medium tyres, Lewis Hamilton finally showed pace
in a Ferrari that underwent a few bodywork changes as the session
started, slotting himself into third, around a third of a second
back. With track evolution, with rubber being laid down after the
rain, and circuit temperature rising, Haas' Oliver Bearman moved
into fourth on the hard tyres. Piastri then took over from Norris
at the top of the standings with a 1:10.120s, thanks primarily to a
superb first sector as his middle was again slightly slower than
Norris, whilst the final sector was not a personal best. On
mediums, Russell edged out Hamilton for third by 0.096s with 20
minutes remaining. Five minutes later, Norris embarked on the first
of the qualifying simulation runs and blitzed the track with his
staggering lap of 1:08.972s, a time that could not be beaten.
Piastri had to content himself with second best, followed by
Russell, with Williams' Carlos Sainz a strong fourth ahead of
Verstappen, and then Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, with the trio the
only other drivers inside a second of Norris. Russell, though,
faces a trip to the stewards after cutting across Alonso's line in
his attempt to head into the pits. Alonso found himself squeezed
close to the wall before Russell finally caught sight of Alonso in
his right wing mirror, forcing him to abort his pit stop and tour
round on another lap. Alex Albon was seventh fastest in his
Williams, ahead of Stroll, Hadjar and Alonso, the latter 1.260s
down. As for Hamilton, it was ultimately another disappointing
session as he finished 14th, 1.401s down. Alpine's Franco Colapinto
was slowest, two seconds back.
