Charles Leclerc came out on top ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz as Ferrari spoiled the party in second practice for a huge crowd of local fans at the Dutch Grand Prix on Friday.
Hoping to celebrate Max Verstappen’s homecoming for the first time since winning the world championship last year, fans were supposed to have a Ferrari revival ahead of third-placed Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes.
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Red Bull, the runaway leader of this year’s title race, was eighth after a troubled day that saw him being pulled over by two Mercedes with gearbox failures in practice.
In the second Mercedes was Lando Norris fourth for McLaren ahead of George Russell, who was fastest in the first season, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Alpine’s two-time world champion Fernando Alonso.
Esteban Ocon was ninth in the second Alpine and Daniel Ricciardo 10th in the second McLaren.
The session began in almost perfect light conditions under a cloudless sky, with Stroll leading the pack from the pitlane in his Aston Martin.
Verstappen, who had missed much of early practice after a gearbox failure, was soon on pace and topped the time on soft tyres, in 1:13.456.
Sainz trimmed that after 15 minutes to move Leclerc to second behind him, before the Spaniard cut his time to 1:12.349 and moved a full second clear.
Verstappen, Russell and Hamilton all improved, but Leclerc finished second to overtake his teammate with a time of 1:12.345, as Ferrari were a couple of ahead of Hamilton.
It was hardly the sold-out crowd of 105,000 fans that most of the local ‘orange army’ wanted and their dismay remained as Verstappen was again back in the pits.
Much attention was being drawn in the paddock to the FIA Contracts Recognition Board (CRB) hearing decision in McLaren’s favor on Australian driver Oscar Piastri’s future.
McLaren confirmed that he would replace Daniel Ricciardo and run as teammate for Lando Norris for 2023 and 2034.
Alpine announced that they considered “the matter is closed from our side” and the focus was on the Dutch GP, intending to confirm their 2023 line-up in due course.
As these paddock discussions continued, Ricciardo was struck by an oil spill on his McLaren and Yuki Tsunoda and threw his Alfa Tauri into a gravel trap, setting off a red flag that halted the action for nine minutes. .
This late stop spoiled the teams’ high fuel load runs and only four minutes of action were left before the session ended.
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