His home Grand Prix has not started well for the world championship leader and favorite for the title , Max Verstappen, who was left lying shortly after the start of the session with a gearbox problem . Red Bull had changed a part on his car in the morning, but that didn’t prevent the failure that left the Dutchman in the pits for the rest of FP1.
The conditions of the Zandvoort circuit prevented the car from returning to the garage and the reigning champion from going out again. In his absence, several drivers positioned themselves as candidates to inherit the first position, and after having led much of the morning, Carlos Sainz saw how he was overtaken by the two Mercedes.
In the last quarter of an hour, George Russell set a 1:12.455 that left the Spaniard almost four tenths before Lewis Hamilton, when he finally fitted soft tires, was 0.240s behind Russell and 0.150s ahead of Sainz.
Although it is true that the nature of the track is better suited to the Mercedes W13, it is early to know if they have managed to leave behind the disappointment of the recent Belgian GP 2022. Hamilton, for his part, caused several moments of annoyance to some of his rivals ( especially Magnussen, Leclerc and Sainz ) when they found him on the track lapping slowly.
Between the two Ferraris were the two McLarens, who seem to be the favorite team in the middle zone. Norris (who called Sebastian Vettel a ‘fool’ when the four-time champion interrupted him in the final long run) finished fourth and Ricciardo fifth.
Without ever showing himself among the first places, Checo Pérez was seventh, behind Charles Leclerc. The Alpines finished right behind the Mexican. Fernando Alonso, who by mounting soft tires before the rest had placed first, was eighth, with Esteban Ocon ninth. Alex Albon ‘s Williams closed the top 10.
FP1 Results, Free Practice 1 of the Dutch GP 2022 F1
(Click on ‘see results’ to enjoy the entire table)
| Cla | Pilot | laps | Weather | Difference | Interval | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  George Russell |
 |
29 | 1’12.455 | ||
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton |
 |
28 | 1’12.695 | 0.240 | 0.240 |
| 3 |  Carlos Sainz Jr. |
 |
30 | 1’12,845 | 0.390 | 0.150 |
| 4 | Lando Norris |
 |
32 | 1’12.929 | 0.474 | 0.084 |
| 5 |  Daniel Ricciardo |
 |
31 | 1’13.077 | 0.622 | 0.148 |
| 6 |  Charles Leclerc |
 |
30 | 1’13.127 | 0.672 | 0.050 |
| 7 |  Sergio Perez |
 |
30 | 1’13,416 | 0.961 | 0.289 |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso |
 |
31 | 1’13.633 | 1.178 | 0.217 |
| 9 |  Esteban Ocon |
 |
33 | 1’13.963 | 1.508 | 0.330 |
| 10 |  Alexander Albon |
 |
29 | 1’14.063 | 1.608 | 0.100 |
| see results | ||||||
Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Alastair Staley/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images
Foto de: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images
Photo by: Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images
F1 Dutch GP 2022 FP1 Recap Free Practice 1
There were several drivers who took to the track as soon as the green traffic light came on at the Dutch GP, including Max Verstappen who was congratulated by his boss Christan Horner on the radio for having been appointed an Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau .
After the first attempts, Lando Norris had moved to the front on hard tyres, while Mick Schumacher took the first excursion off the track. However, the biggest problem came soon after for Verstappen, who suffered a gearbox failure and was left stranded at Turn 4, with the Red Bull (and the driver himself) in the middle of the track. A Virtual Safety Car period was instituted before the session was red-flagged.
At that time there were still 48 minutes left and the Dutchman himself was leading after having beaten the time of Norris and Ricciardo. Alonso, the only driver who had set his lap on medium tires instead of hard, was fourth. There, race direction pointed out a possible infraction by Mick Schumacher for allegedly having left the pitlane during a red flag. The replay did not make it clear if the red flag had caught the German or if he had rejoined the track under double yellow flag conditions, just before the change to red.
When they withdrew the Red Bull car, and still with 40 minutes of session on the clock, FP1 resumed again. The Alfa Romeos, Stroll and Hamilton were the only four drivers who did not waste a second in appearing on the asphalt again. Soon almost everyone else began to join in, and Fernando Alonso again made use of faster tires than the rest (specifically the soft ones) to take first place, with a 1:13.635. Also with soft Albon he climbed to second place, although very far, before Lando Norris put seven tenths on the Spanish.
With that same compound, Sainz dropped to 1:12.845, just 84 thousandths ahead of Norris. Daniel Ricciardo, with a competitive McLaren with which he was third, suffered a cumbersome exit from the track passing through the gravel of turn 12.
Careful not to say one word louder than the other following recent events, Magnussen and Leclerc protested when a slow Hamilton hampered them at the first corner. The Monegasque was still unable to do a timed lap with a compound other than the hard one, and was still at the bottom of the table.
Checo Pérez went wide at turn 8 and managed to continue through the grass avoiding, by millimeters, touching the wall on the left. Already on softs, Leclerc moved up to fourth, before dropping to fifth when Russell was able to slip into the top3, 0.190s behind Sainz.
With a record in the first and third sectors, although without improving in the second, the Briton from Mercedes took first place, improving Sainz’s mark by four tenths. With the clock ticking down to 10 minutes, Hamilton finally completed his first lap without hard tyres, but was unable to overtake his team-mate and fell 0.240s behind Russell.
From there, those with the silver arrows began the long runs that their rivals were already doing, and nothing changed on the table. Yes, there was a last moment of ‘chop’ when Lando Norris called a Sebastian Vettel a fool who he found in a corner during his last laps.
And thus concluded an FP1 that still left many doubts.
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