30/08/2025 06:30
Oscar Piastri is wary of the "bite" Dutch Grand Prix venue
Zandvoort can spring on drivers following a hectic day of practice.
On Friday, Kimi Antonelli, Max Verstappen, Alex Albon, and Lance
Stroll all had major incidents throughout the two practice
sessions, with all but Verstappen triggering a red flag, as Stroll
destroyed his Aston Martin following a high-speed Turn 3 crash in
FP2. Lewis Hamilton also had two huge spins on the day F1 returned
from the summer break, with Piastri finishing second and third in
the two sessions, both topped by Lando Norris in the sister MCL39.
Piastri leads Norris by nine points in the standings, and explained
the fine line drivers would have to tread moving forward at the
exposed coastal circuit. "It was a pretty good day, and I improved
some things throughout the day to find more confidence and
lap-time," Piastri explained. "But there are still some things to
tidy up and improve, but it was reasonably easy to get back into
things. "The first couple of laps felt a bit quick, and especially
around here, it is a track which bites if you overstep the mark.
"It was a little bit stop-start with the red flags and stuff, but I
got into the rhythm pretty quickly. "I need to look at who actually
finished where in FP2, and obviously, it was a bit surprising to
see the Astons up there, but they were quick in Budapest. "It was a
strange day, and everyone didn't really know whether to use their
tyres when they definitely knew it was going to be dry, or maybe
wait a little longer and take some fuel out. "There were a lot of
things going on that I don't think were quite as you would normally
expect, so [qualifying] is the only time we'll see where everyone
is really at."
