Marco Rossi · F1 Correspondent
With just one session to fine-tune on sprint weekend at Zandvoort, the championship leader makes the most of it.
Kimi Antonelli topped the sole free practice session ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix on Friday with a lap time of 1:12.949 minutes, edging out Lando Norris (+0.121s) and Mercedes teammate George Russell (+0.125s). Since the weekend runs in sprint format, teams in Zandvoort had only this single hour to dial in their cars and tire behavior on a track transitioning from wet to dry conditions before Saturday's sprint qualifying.
Antonelli Delivers Under Pressure
That Antonelli set the fastest time in a session allowing no second attempt on Saturday morning should have been a reassuring signal for his team. The Mercedes driver did spin once during the session without making contact with the barriers, then promptly posted the fastest lap. It's a performance that speaks volumes about his setup work and racecraft under the constraints of a sprint weekend.
For the championship, this is far more than a footnote. Antonelli arrives at Zandvoort with a 50-point lead over Lewis Hamilton and 59 over teammate Russell, and a strong practice showing on a track with little margin for error confirms the momentum Mercedes has built in recent weeks.
McLaren and Ferrari Within Striking Distance
Norris and Russell separated by just four thousandths at the end, a gap that on the narrow North Sea circuit will likely be common. Ferrari looked competitive too: Hamilton came within 0.190 seconds of the top, Leclerc within 0.289. All five fastest drivers sat within three tenths, a picture suggesting a tight qualifying on Saturday.
Oscar Piastri in the McLaren slotted in sixth, 0.659 seconds back, noticeably further adrift than his teammate. Whether that reflected a more conservative tire approach or setup issues remained unclear from a single practice hour, but the gap suggests Piastri needs a strong showing in sprint qualifying to avoid falling behind before the main race weekend even begins.
Verstappen Wrestling with Understeer, Lawson Finding His Way
The biggest miss came from Max Verstappen. The Red Bull driver, contesting his home race with a freshly extended contract, could manage no better than eleventh, 1.376 seconds down on Antonelli. After the session, Verstappen reported understeer and downshift difficulties, problems that a single practice hour can barely address before Saturday's qualifying counts toward the sprint grid.
An even steeper learning curve faced Liam Lawson, stepping in as a late replacement for the injured Isack Hadjar and sitting in the RB22 for the first time. For the New Zealander, forced to adapt to unfamiliar machinery under time pressure, the session was primarily one thing: a stocktake of what remains to be done in the hours ahead.
With just one practice session before sprint qualifying, teams have little room for corrections, and Red Bull in particular faces a night of data analysis trying to find answers to the understeer problem. For Zandvoort, appearing in this format for the final time on the calendar, the stage is set for a weekend where Saturday morning could already decide who scores next in the title fight and constructor standings, and who falls early behind.
