Dutch GP FP2: Norris completes Friday sweep as Alonso splits the orange, Stroll walks away from Turn 3 hit
McLaren kept the hammer down at Zandvoort, Lando Norris topping FP2 to complete a Friday clean sweep at the Dutch Grand Prix. The gap shrank, though: Fernando Alonso muscled his Aston Martin between the papaya pair, just 0.087s shy of Norris, with Oscar Piastri third as 0.089s covered the top three.
The session had a little of everything Zandvoort likes to throw at you—brooding clouds, a packed pit exit, and a couple of hard reminders that the banking bites. With rain threatening, the queue at the end of the pit lane looked like rush hour. Norris laid an early 1:12.615 on mediums before Carlos Sainz (hards) and then Alonso (mediums) had a go at the top.
Tensions surfaced early too. Alonso was left fuming after feeling impeded by Kimi Antonelli through Turn 7, while Yuki Tsunoda earned a radio rebuke from Charles Leclerc coming off the final corner. It was that kind of scrappy, elbows-out practice hour.
The first big jolt came at Turn 3, where Lance Stroll smacked the wall on the banking and brought out the red flags. “I’m fine,” came the immediate radio call, which will have soothed Aston Martin as much as the green cars’ pace. When the session resumed with just under 40 minutes to go, radar updates suggested the heavier rain would skim by rather than drench the place.
A brief Virtual Safety Car followed after Isack Hadjar rolled to a halt at Turn 8 with his Racing Bulls losing power, but with an escape road handy it was a short interruption. Then the soft tyres appeared and the timesheet started to shuffle.
For a moment, Oliver Bearman enjoyed life at the top after bolting on reds and punching in a lap to P1—a tidy marker from the youngster before the heavy hitters joined. Lewis Hamilton, in the Ferrari, had a livelier time. He looped the SF-25 at Turn 9—his second spin of the day after a 360 in FP1 at Turn 3—but kept it out of the barriers and later edged Leclerc by a tenth once his own soft-tyre effort landed. The Ferrari looked quick in bursts, twitchy in others.
As the headline laps unfolded, Aston Martin’s speed carried through from the medium runs. Alonso delivered a clean, sharp soft-tyre push to wedge himself between Norris and Piastri, a handy confirmation that the AMR is a happier car on this high-grip ribbon than it’s been at some recent venues.
Williams had a rougher time. Alex Albon clipped the grass on the way into Turn 1, locked up and slid into the gravel, nudging the barriers with the front wing and triggering another red flag. When things went green again, qualifying sims resumed—but the order at the front refused to budge.
There was also a near miss in the pit lane that will interest the stewards: Piastri turned left towards his box with George Russell’s Mercedes arriving alongside, the two coming close enough to spark a summons.
So, headlines? Norris looks assured and the MCL39 is plainly in its window. McLaren’s single-lap authority wasn’t quite as emphatic as in FP1, but the package still feels nailed to the Zandvoort asphalt. Alonso’s Thursday optimism is already gaining traction, and even with Stroll’s early shunt, the green cars leave Friday with something tangible. Ferrari showed speed and stress in equal measure—Hamilton’s ultimate pace respectable, the rear end still argumentative. Mercedes had rhythm without fireworks, while the Bulls of the Faenza variety continue to yo-yo as the wind and grip swing.
The forecasted downpour never properly arrived in FP2, but the threat was enough to keep the pace frantic. If the weather toys with qualifying on Saturday, we may get the kind of Zandvoort lottery that flatters commitment and punishes hesitation. On today’s evidence, Norris is ready to keep rolling the dice—and Alonso’s not backing off.
