Dutch Grand Prix
Venue: Zandvoort Dates: 29-31 August Race start: 14:00 BST on Sunday
Coverage: Live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra; live text updates on BBC Sport website and app
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso ruled out any prospect of competing with the McLarens for a front-row starting position at the Dutch Grand Prix despite splitting Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in Friday practice.
Alonso was just 0.087 seconds slower than Norris after the Briton topped both sessions at Zandvoort.
But the two-time champion laughed when it was suggested he might fight with the McLarens in qualifying on Saturday.
“I don’t think it’s within our reach to fight with the McLarens,” Alonso said, “but maybe some of the top teams, Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, they seem not too far away. So we will try to be in that mix.”
Norris said it was “not a big surprise” to see Aston Martin quick on Friday, pointing out they had had a strong weekend at the last race before the summer break in Hungary, where Alonso and team-mate Lance Stroll qualified fifth and sixth and the Spaniard finished fifth in the race.
Norris said: “The Astons are never that far off in P2. They quite often and consistently are quite decent in P2. They have been getting better. Even in Budapest they were pretty quick as well. It’s not a big surprise. At the minute they look like the quickest but Max (Verstappen) is not far off.”
Aston Martin were competitive in both sessions, Alonso setting fourth fastest time in the first session with team-mate Lance Stroll one place ahead. Stroll crashed out of the second session early on with a heavy impact at the banked Hugenholtz hairpin, after locking his left front brake on the entry to the corner.
The team had a difficult start to the season but have moved up to sixth place in the constructors’ championship after some upgrades to their car in recent races.
Alonso said: “I do (feel optimistic). For sure a little bit more optimistic than some of the other Fridays we did.
“Hungary was strong for us and now we go into the following race and we are still showing some good pace on free practice. It is only free practice but it is good to see our times up there.”
Norris heads into the weekend nine points behind Piastri, who was just 0.002secs slower than Alonso in the second session after being second to Norris by 0.292secs in the first.
Both McLaren drivers said they had had a “good day” preparing their cars for the rest of the weekend, with the teams expecting rain to affect running on Saturday.
Norris appeared to have the edge on Piastri all day, and was quicker than his team-mate on both one-lap pace and race-simulation runs.
Ferrari’s ‘very, very, very, very difficult Friday’
Mercedes’ George Russell was fourth fastest, ahead of Verstappen’s Red Bull and the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton, who was 0.848secs off the pace.
The seven-time champion had two spins during the day, both times without hitting anything.
The first was in the first session, when he spun entering Hugenholtz, the second when he ran a little wide out of the tricky right-hander at Turn Nine and put his rear wheel on to the grass.
Nevertheless, Hamilton ended the day 0.096secs and two places ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc, an encouraging start to the final part of the season after a difficult end to the first for the Briton.
Hamilton said: “Not been the worst of days. We were making progress. We were quite far off in P1, a lot further than normal. We progressed but still quite a chunk off so we have some work to do overnight.
“Pace-wise we are where we are. I don’t know how we’re going to find 0.8secs but we will try our best.”
He said of his spins: “First one was just pushing too much. Also ride quality is not where we’d want it, so the car is quite unpredictable. The second one I touched the grass and had a snap.”
Leclerc described it as “a very, very, very, very difficult Friday, probably the worst of the season” and said they were losing “90% of the time” in two corners. He did not name them, but it was the tricky two right-handers of Turns Eight and Nine.
Leclerc said it would take a “miracle” to turn the situation around.
Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda was seventh and Alex Albon was another to crash in the second session in the Williams, going straight on at the first corner, Tarzan, and breaking his front wing against the barriers.
Verstappen himself had an off after the end of the first session, misjudging his braking into the Tarzan hairpin that starts the lap after doing a practice start.
Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli crashed in the first session, running off track at Turn Nine and ended the second session 12th.
Briatore queries Colapinto’s future
Behind Leclerc in eighth, Alpine’s Franco Colapinto was ninth fastest, with Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg rounding out the top 10 from British Haas driver Oliver Bearman.
In the official news conference between the sessions, Alpine’s de facto boss Flavio Briatore cast doubt on Colapinto’s future at the team.
The Argentine was signed as reserve driver from Williams over the winter and replaced Australian Jack Doohan in the French team from the sixth race of the season but has failed to impress.
Asked what he needed to see from Colapinto for him to retain his seat, Briatore said: “I see everything already. I don’t need to see anything any more.
“It’s difficult. For this driver, it’s very difficult to cope with this car. These cars are very, very heavy, very quick. And for a young driver to put in Formula 1, maybe it was not the timing to have Franco in Formula 1. Maybe he needs another year or two to be part of Formula 1.
“And I know that, in the end, what is important is the result. He tries very hard. He tries very hard with the engineers to please them in everything, but it’s not what I expect from Colapinto.”
