George Russell set the pace in Friday’s second free practice session at the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix, leading the field ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and his Mercedes teammate, Lewis Hamilton, at Zandvoort.
After a mixed-weather FP1, the drivers were met with brighter, drier conditions for FP2, starting at 4:00 pm local time, though gusty winds over the sand dunes added to the challenge of navigating the tight, twisty circuit.
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The shifting winds contributed to a series of early incidents, including Russell’s unexpected lock-up and gravel excursion at Turn 8, Sergio Perez’s struggles at Turn 1, and Max Verstappen’s momentary loss of control through the high-speed Turn 7.
The drama continued when outgoing Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg lost the rear of his upgraded car under braking at Turn 1, sliding into the gravel and hitting the wall, which damaged the right side of his car and brought out the red flags.
Once the session resumed with about 40 minutes remaining, several drivers switched to Pirelli’s soft tyres for qualifying-style laps. Verstappen initially set a 1m 10.986s, followed by Lando Norris with a 1m 10.961s.
Piastri then lowered the benchmark to 1m 10.763s, before Mercedes took over with Russell posting a 1m 10.702s to go P1 and Hamilton slotting into P3. The top five drivers were separated by just over two and a half tenths of a second.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso finished sixth, 0.371s behind Verstappen, followed by Yuki Tsunoda in the RB and Kevin Magnussen, who had a more successful session than his sidelined Haas teammate Hulkenberg.
Charles Leclerc ended up ninth, the sole Ferrari driver on track for most of the session due to Carlos Sainz’s gearbox issues, while Alex Albon in the Williams completed the top ten, ahead of Lance Stroll in the other Aston Martin.
Sergio Perez, looking to regain form after a difficult stretch, was six-tenths behind his teammate Verstappen in 12th, followed by Daniel Ricciardo in the other RB and Pierre Gasly in the lead Alpine. Gasly’s 2025 teammate has now been confirmed as Jack Doohan.
Logan Sargeant placed his Williams in 15th, while the Sauber’s of Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas—who returned to the cockpit after Ferrari reserve driver Robert Shwartzman took over in FP1—sandwiched Esteban Ocon in the second Alpine.
With only seven and ten laps completed, respectively, and unable to set times on the soft tyres, Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg ended the session at the bottom of the timesheets in P19 and P20. Their teams were now focused on getting the cars ready for FP3.
After the session, the stewards would review two possible unsafe releases in the pit lane, with replays showing Zhou being sent out into Ricciardo’s path, and a close call between Albon and Stroll, who nearly made contact.
Dutch GP FP2 Results
2024 Dutch Grand Prix FP2, 23 August 2024
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