One year later, McLaren is once again, without any doubt, the team to beat ahead of the 2025 F1 Dutch GP in Zandvoort. Both drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri concluded all of the practice session so far in the top spots, showcasing a dominant and unforgiving pace.
2024 leader Norris still on top
Norris led the sunny morning FP1 session with a strong 1:10.278s, less than a second off the pole position lap he had signed in 2024. Not even potential rain fazed the British talent, who proceeded to snatch the top spot in the afternoon session as well.
The McLaren driver was definitely pleased with his return on track for the 2025 F1 Dutch GP in Zandvoort, and even more so with his great car feeling, as he commented after the end of the sessions.
“It’s quite a track to come back to. It’s quick, like the lap times we’re doing today were not far off my pole from last year, so a little shock to the body to come back to such a fast track. But you’re right, today was I think a good day.”
However, Norris, second in the Drivers’ Championship and looking forward to the chance of closing the gap to his teammate, was not completely satisfied. In fact, he warned against the speed of Aston Martin, with the Silverstone team placing a driver in the top three spots in both sessions as well.
“You get back into things quite quickly, so it doesn’t take too long. But I think the car was handling well. I felt like we made some good improvements from FP1 to FP2, but at the same time it seemed like the others caught up a bit more than what we would like. Even the Aston and Fernando, they were quick in FP1 and FP2, and have been recently, so a good start, but certainly a bit closer than what we would like for the time being.“
Looking forward to return on track
In spite of all the knowledge gathered today with two smooth sessions, he still feels wary about the varying weather conditions.
“We got a good understanding, maybe not everything we wanted, but I doubt everyone got what they wanted, so you have to make do with what we got. So good information, we’ve got plenty of things to look into and try and improve on for tomorrow, both in low fuel and high fuel.
“But you don’t know what the conditions are going to be tomorrow. It’s still going to rain tomorrow. There’s still a chance of rain on Sunday. Actually, it would have been nice to get some wet laps in today to prepare a little bit for tomorrow. (I) would be more excited for tomorrow.“
Many rivals to fend off
Although Aston Martin has consistently been improving, in Norris’s opinion they won’t be the only drivers to watch tomorrow as pole position contenders.
“You know, I think the Astons, they’re never that far off on FP2. They quite often and quite consistently are actually quite decent on FP2, and they’ve been certainly getting better. Even in Budapest, they were pretty quick as well. So it’s not a big surprise.”
In particular, the experienced driver brought up four times World Champion Max Verstappen’s abilities, highlighting the less favourable conditions he was running on in the afternoon.
“At the minute, they look like the quickest, but Max is certainly not far off. He was on a harder tyre, which is not quite as good. So yeah, I think the Astons, the Red Bulls, Ferrari seem to struggle a little bit today, but they normally always are like that. And then find it all on Saturday .So let’s just focus on ourselves and we’ll see what happens tomorrow.“
Piastri is calm ahead of the Dutch GP
Championship leader Oscar Piastri was satisfied with his day as well, achieving a positive combination of P2 in FP1 and P3 in FP2. The McLaren driver focused on the positive sensations he had with his car ahead of the 2025 F1 Dutch GP in Zandvoort rather than having finished behind Norris in both outings.
“I think a pretty good day overall. Improved some things through the day and found some more confidence and just some more lap time, which is always nice. Still some things to tidy up and improve as there normally is after a Friday, but overall it’s been a positive first day back,” he commented on his return to racing after the summer break.
Piastri sheared his teammate’s feelings on the easiness of returning on track, while admitting that the high-speed Zandvoort is probably more challenging compared to some of the others circuits on the 2025 calendar.
“Yeah, I think it’s been reasonably easy to get back into things. The first couple of laps everything feels a little bit quick, especially around here. It’s a track that bites if you overstep the mark. So yeah, relatively easy to get back into things. A little bit stop-start with some of the red flags and stuff, but overall I felt like I got back into a rhythm pretty quickly and just been chipping away through the day.“
Different reactions to Aston Martin’s pace
The young Australian driver was taken a bit aback from the strong result Alonso achieved in the final practice session of the day, but at the same time reckoned that Aston Martin as a whole had been on a roll ahead of the break as well.
*Honestly, I have no idea at this point. I need to look back and see who actually finished where in FP2. It’s a bit surprising to see the Astons up there today, but they were quick in Budapest. So today’s been a bit strange. I think everyone didn’t really know whether to use the tyres, whether they definitely knew it was going to be dry or did you wait a little bit longer? Did you take some fuel out?”
The McLaren driver concluded that he is still unsure about the real values of the F1 grid ahead of the 2025 F1 Dutch GP in Zandvoort because of the uncertainty of the weather and of the sessions.
“There was a lot of things that I don’t think were quite as you would normally expect today. So, tomorrow will be the only time we’ll see where everyone’s really at.“
