Russell sets the pace in FP2 in Zandvoort, Norris ahead of Verstappen
George Russell set the quickest lap in FP2 of the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix. The Briton's lap time was a 1:10.702. Russell was followed by Oscar Piastri, while Lewis Hamilton rounded off the Top 3 in the session.
The drivers set their fastest lap times during the middle of the session. Lando Norris finished in P4, but close to nothing separated him from Max Verstappen. The Red Bull driver was fifth in the session. Ferrari did not have the easiest of session. Carlos Sainz could not set a competitive lap time because of a car issue, and Charles Leclerc finished in P9.
As it happened
Immediately after the session began, drivers were out on track after a rainy FP1 session. Oscar Piastri started the second session of the day with an uncomfortable issue and had to return to the pit lane to change his helmet. The Australian had a problem with his visor, he reported on the team radio.
The frontrunners opted to start on the mediums tyres. Russell locked up hard in the second sector, and took the first trip to the gravel trap. Minutes later into Turn 1 Perez made the same mistake of locking up. Oversteer also caused some earlier struggle for Verstappen.
18 minutes into the session, Nico Hulkenberg found himself in the wall in Turn 1. The German driver struggled a lot with the brakes already in the first session of the day and found the trap multiple times beforehand. As a result, the red flag was waved. The session was not only over for the Haas driver, but also for Carlos Sainz, who had a gearbox issue. As a result, following the first 20 minutes, Hamilton was the quickest on medium tyres.
Drivers began fitting the softs following the red flag, with Norris just outperforming Verstappen on the pair's first lap. However, as everyone on track switched for the fastest tyre, the two Mercedes and Piastri were all quicker than the aforementioned two rivals. Following these laps, teams focused on longer runs on mediums.
The final standings at the front did not change in the final minutes.
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