Russell leads the way for Mercedes on Friday as Hulkenberg crashes

George Russell set the pace in a dry second practice session for the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort ahead of Oscar Piastri.

The Mercedes driver ended Friday as the fastest driver of the day with a best time of a 1’10.702, just 0.061s quicker that Piastri’s McLaren. Max Verstappen was fifth-fastest for Red Bull.

After a wet opening practice session, drivers had a dry but windy second hour of running in the afternoon. There was much more early activity for all the drivers, especially, Valtteri Bottas who returned to his seat after giving it up for Robert Shwartzman in the opening session.

Verstappen set the early pace in his Red Bull, but a moment through the quick Scheivlak corner ruined an early lap. After a trip through the gravel in the opening session, Russell had a second early on as he locked up and ran off track into turn eight.

The session was stopped just after 15 minutes after Nico Hulkenberg slid off the circuit at the first corner, Tarzan, and skidded gently into the tyre barriers. His session was over and practice resumed after his car was recovered from the turn one run off.

Teams turned their attentions to the soft tyres, with Lando Norris going fastest of all ahead of Verstappen. That was until Russell set what would be the best time of the day with a 1’10.702, while Piastri moved up into second, just six-hundredths of a second off the Mercedes.

The latter part of the session was dedicated to long runs, with Russell, Lewis Hamilton, Norris and Verstappen focusing on soft tyres while Piastri opted for mediums. At the chequered flag, Russell was quickest, with Piastri second, Hamilton third and Norris fourth ahead of Verstappen.

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Fernando Alonso was fifth ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, Kevin Magnussen, Charles Leclerc and Alexander Albon rounding out the top ten. Sergio Perez was only 12th for Red Bull.

Carlos Sainz Jnr covered just seven laps in total after a gearbox problem forced an early end to his session. He returned to the pits early in the session complaining his Ferrari was stuck in seventh gear.

The stewards will investigate two separate alleged unsafe pit release incidents after the session, the first involving Albon and Lance Stroll, the second between Zhou Guanyu and Daniel Ricciardo.

2024 Dutch Grand Prix second practice result

P.	#	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap
1	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W15	1’10.702
2	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL38	1’10.763	0.061
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W15	1’10.813	0.111
4	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL38	1’10.961	0.259
5	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB20	1’10.986	0.284
6	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR24	1’11.357	0.655
7	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB-Honda RBPT	01	1’11.374	0.672
8	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	VF-24	1’11.430	0.728
9	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	SF-24	1’11.443	0.741
10	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	FW46	1’11.550	0.848
11	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR24	1’11.576	0.874
12	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull-Honda RBPT	RB20	1’11.581	0.879
13	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RB-Honda RBPT	01	1’11.630	0.928
14	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	A524	1’11.644	0.942
15	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	FW46	1’11.818	1.116
16	24	Zhou Guanyu	Sauber-Ferrari	C44	1’11.934	1.232
17	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	A524	1’12.061	1.359
18	77	Valtteri Bottas	Sauber-Ferrari	C44	1’12.206	1.504
19	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	SF-24	1’13.108	2.406
20	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	VF-24	1’13.296	2.594

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2024 Dutch Grand Prix

• Previous technical hires no obstacle to Newey joining Aston Martin – Krack
• Mercedes still unsure whether Spa floor upgrade is working
• McLaren’s Dutch GP upgrade “nowhere near” as significant as Miami package
• “Very hard to pinpoint” why car has become harder to drive – Verstappen
• Only one F1 driver is making worse starts than Norris in 2024

Browse all 2024 Dutch Grand Prix articles