While waiting for qualifying and the race, at his home in the Netherlands, Max Verstappen is forced to give up the throne. The second best time of the day was in fact taken away by Lando Norris by just 23 thousandths. Third time for Alexander Albon. Even the FP2s like the FP1 they took place on dry asphalt but let's see what the teams' work focused on.
A busy and crashed start
As often happens when returning from summer holidays, one of the biggest problems is traffic. Could it not have been the same at the weekend in Holland? The first flying laps of FP2 are a continuous impediment. Verstappen complains a lot after an episode with Hulkenberg which will be investigated at the end of the session. The Dutchman leads the group with a time of 1:12.449.
The session opens immediately with i first accidents, in addition to the traffic problem. Both Oscar Piastri and Daniel Ricciardo paid off on the flyover. Both end up on the wall after losing control of the car. The first to impact in turn 3 is Oscar Piastri. Shortly afterwards he is joined by the other Australian in the group who holds his left wrist and hand as he exits the car. Daniel was transferred to hospital for thorough checks. In the meantime, the session was interrupted with a red flag to allow the removal of the two cars and the repair of the barriers.
What happened to Ferrari?
With 35 minutes to go we're back on track. Everyone uses reds except Ferrari, which prefers to dedicate itself to work on the mediums, to collect other aerodynamic data. At the restart the two Red riders were last and second to last. Especially in FP1 Leclerc and Schwartzman they had complained about a rather unstable rear. In FP2 the situation does not seem to have improved, especially in terms of performance in the most driven section, i.e. the first and second sectors. The rear wing was not changed between sessions but the ideal compromise is still missing. The SF-23 looks unrecognizable, and the set-up doesn't do it justice. The riders struggle, Sainz leaves the track with 24 minutes to go. There will be a lot of work to do for the Maranello team.
The only positive note of the day for Ferrari perhaps lies in the words of Henry Cardile, who confirmed that in 2024 we will not see an evolution of the SF-23 but a real change of direction, with a new chassis and gearbox.
Norris vs Verstappen
The second session was revived by the battle between two old young friends, Lando Norris and Max Verstappen. The Englishman gave the home team a hard time who was forced to give up the position to Norris by just 23 thousandths. McLaren presents itself in a competitive guise at Zandvoort, as in the last few races. The degradation of the McLaren driver with the C3 was also good.
Work continues for Aston Martin
A lot of work also for Alonso and Stroll. At Aston Martin, the updates brought to the Netherlands are being evaluated. The improvements seem to have been concentrated on regaining control of the rear axle, which after Canada was nervous and had caused them to lose the advantage they had in low speed corners. The two drivers finished the session in P10 and P8 respectively. We remind you that Stroll was unable to lap in FP1 due to a problem with the power unit.
In terms of race pace, Williams surprises
The only one who managed to get below the threshold of one minute and 16 minutes beyond Max Verstappen is Lewis Hamilton. It could therefore be a surprise in the race. Sergio Perez also proved to be constant in his race pace while surprising Williams. Albon closes the session in P3 but the good race pace of the English team is also surprising. Ferrari is up and down, totally to be reviewed. The signals coming from Aston Martin and McLaren are also good. Tough day also for the Haas duo.
We are still in free practice, which was created with the aim of testing so we shouldn't immediately draw conclusions. The most important data will certainly arrive tomorrow in FP3. But let's look at the times second session
