Charles Leclerc Tops Friday Practice For 2022 Dutch GP

(Image credit: @ScuderiaFerrari)

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped Friday Practice for 2022 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.

Mercedes’ George Russell emerged fastest in FP1 with a late flier as home favourite – Max Verstappen suffered a transmission failure, which curtailed his opening session early.

FP2 however saw Ferrari set the pace as Leclerc headed Sainz in a one-two finish ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, as Red Bull again struggled with both Verstappen and Sergio Perez off the pace.

Now, here is a full roundup of FP1 and FP2 for 2022 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, Netherlands.

 

FP1

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Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel were first out on track as everyone except for Fernando Alonso opted for the hard tyre in their opening stints.

Alonso consequentially briefly led as he first posted 1m 17.360 but found 1.698 seconds on his next lap, only to be displaced by McLaren’s Lando Norris who went 0.016s quicker.

Verstappen however went quickest with 1m 15.266 but briefly was displaced by Daniel Ricciardo but improved on his next lap, only for his session to then end prematurely with a transmission issue, which eventually caused a brief red flag.

Once the session resumed in the 21st minute, several drivers opted for an early Qualifying simulation on soft tyres, which was led by Norris with 1m 12.929 in the 25th minute.

Sainz two minutes later posted 1m 12.845 to head Norris and Ricciardo at the half-way mark of the session.

Mercedes meanwhile focused primarily on hard tyre data gathering and left their soft tyre running late, as Russell ultimately topped the session with 1m 12.455 set in the 47th minute ahead of teammate – Hamilton by 0.240s as Sainz rounded out the top three.

Outside of the top-ten, Stroll and Vettel set their fastest times on medium tyres, whilst Verstappen’s fastest lap on hard tyre prior to his stoppage was good enough for 19th, ahead of Williams’ Nicholas Latifi on the soft tyre

Position Driver Team Time 
1 George Russell Mercedes 1m 12.455
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes + 0.240
3 Carlos Sainz Ferrari + 0.390
4 Lando Norris McLaren + 0.474
5 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren + 0.622
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari + 0.672
7 Sergio Perez Red Bull + 0.961
8 Fernando Alonso Alpine + 1.178
9 Esteban Ocon Alpine + 1.508
10 Alex Albon Williams + 1.608
11 Mick Schumacher Haas + 1.708
12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin + 1.802
13 Kevin Magnussen Haas + 1.950
14 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri + 2.019
15 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin + 2.045
16 Guanyu Zhou Alfa Romeo + 2.079
17 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri + 2.175
18 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo + 2.240
19 Max Verstappen Red Bull + 2.259
20 Nicholas Latifi Williams + 2.667

 

FP2

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FP2 was delayed 15 minutes due to two red flags during F2 Qualifying session but Stroll and Vettel were again first out on track like in FP1, of which both like many drivers were on medium tyres except for Verstappen and Albon who ran the soft tyres in the opening stints.

Verstappen initially set the pace of 1m 13.465 but Sainz in the 12th minute went fastest by 0.053s and headed Leclerc who went second two minutes later, albeit 0.025s off the pace.

Attention soon switched to the soft tyre Qualifying simulations and upon completion, the top four of Leclerc, Sainz, Hamilton and Norris were split by only 0.103s, whilst Russell rounded out the top five ahead of Stroll, Alonso, Verstappen, Esteban Ocon and Ricciardo who completed the top ten.

Ricciardo’s session however ended early due to an oil leak whilst Yuki Tsunoda spun off and beached his AlphaTauri in the gravel trap at Turn 9 in the 48th minute, during race simulations which caused a nine-minute red flag.

Position Driver Team Time 
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1m 12.345
2 Carlos Sainz Ferrari + 0.004
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes + 0.072
4 Lando Norris McLaren + 0.103
5 George Russell Mercedes + 0.310
6 Lance Stroll Aston Martin + 0.401
7 Fernando Alonso Alpine + 0.503
8 Max Verstappen Red Bull + 0.697
9 Esteban Ocon Alpine + 0.960
10 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren + 1.017
11 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri + 1.074
12 Sergio Perez Red Bull + 1.148
13 Mick Schumacher Haas + 1.259
14 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin + 1.266
15 Guanyu Zhou Alfa Romeo + 1.279
16 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri + 1.321
17 Alex Albon Williams + 1.492
18 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo + 1.822
19 Kevin Magnussen Haas + 1.937
20 Nicholas Latifi Williams + 2.452

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