#DutchGP FP1: @LewisHamilton quickest ahead of @Max33Verstappen. #F1

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton topped the red-flag affected opening Dutch GP FP1 session ahead of title rival Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.

The hour-long session ran under green conditions just under 25 minutes due to the situation from Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin suffering an engine failure at the pit-lane exit.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc ended up fourth quickest behind his team-mate.

Both Sainz and Leclerc lead the field out at the beginning of the 60 minute session in-front of packed grandstands at the Circuit Zandvoort, with all 20 drivers heading out to familiarise themselves with the historic track.

Leclerc set the early benchmark of a 1:17.919 as he used the C1 white-marked harder compounds, but this was quickly lowered as drivers cycled through to enjoy their time at the top of the order.

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly set a 1:15.501 before McLaren’s Lando Norris trumped that with a 1:13.751 – the Briton running the C3 yellow-branded medium rubber for his initial stint – as the opening five minutes drew to a close.

Verstappen then jumped to the top for the first time setting a 1:13.045 on the harder tyres, which was then beaten by Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas’s 1:13.021 before the Dutchman returned to P1 with a 1:12.850 as the session hit ten minutes.

Verstappen went faster again as his stint continued, before Norris edged the Red Bull driver taking top spot back with a 1:12.679 just before the session was red flagged due to Vettel suffering a suspected “engine failure” and came to a halt at pit-exit.

The four-time world champion already reported the issue to his Aston Martin team and they told Vettel that is was likely to be his engine’s MGU-K unit and he returned to the pits after his sighting laps.

But as Vettel began his flying lap at the 20th minute mark his engine failed as he approached Tarzan corner – the right hand turn one – and the Aston Martin driver pulled off at the pit-exit point.

The German climbed out of his AMR21 racer before returning to his car with a fire extinguisher, but both Vettel and the marshals struggled with the equipment – the extinguisher fluid soon covering most of the Aston Martin’s bodywork.

A crane and several course cars arrived afterwards, but the Aston Martin was still on track for over 20 minutes as it remained in a live electrical state with it’s red light visible before team mechanics were brought to the scene with extra equipment to assess the situation, which a marshal used after covering a section of the AMR21 with a large orange piece of rubber.

It took another ten minutes before the Aston Martin was finally cleared, with the session resuming with six minutes left on the clock.

The drivers lined-up at the end of the pit-lane and slowly emerged one-by-one in an attempt to beat the traffic to complete a late string of laps on the C3 red-marked softer compounds before FP1 ended.

Leclerc set a 1:12.288 to momentarily return to the top of the time-sheets before he was knocked off by team-mate Sainz and Bottas.

But then Hamilton shot to the top with a 1:11.500, which remained as the session’s best effort as a flurry of lap-times came in thick and fast at the end.

Verstappen posted a string of personal bests, but his second on the softs left him 0.238 seconds adrift of his championship rival – the Dutchman had to weave his way through traffic at several points after setting what was the quickest time in sector one.

Sainz then bettered Verstappen’s effort in the opening sector before losing ground compared to Hamilton as his flying lap went on, and the Ferrari driver ended up 0.101 seconds off in third place.

Leclerc finished ahead of Bottas who took fifth and Alpine pairing Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon who were sixth and seventh respectively.

Ocon encountered a close-call with McLaren’s Norris during an intense closing stage of the session when the Frenchman appeared to move towards the MCL35M, seemingly unaware that the Briton was approaching at quick-speed, on the short run to turn 13.

Norris, who had to run into the gravel at the last corner on his previous tour, was forced to jolt onto the left on the grass to avoid the collision.

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi was eighth and in-front of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who ended FP1 in ninth and AlphaTauri’s Gasly who rounded out the top ten.

The aforementioned Norris was 11th and ahead of Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi taking 12th and Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen in 13th.

McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo ended opening practice 14th and in-front of Williams Racing’s George Russel who was 15th and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez a low 16th on the time-sheets.

Haas F1 Team pairing Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher were 17th and 18th respectively with the aforementioned Vettel 19th and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda at the rear.

Tsunoda only completed three laps during the early proceedings and suffered a spin after getting on the power too early at turn ten’s long left-hand corner that leads onto the back straight.

The Japanese driver’s Honda-powered AT-02 was fitted with a large aero-measuring rake when he spun and Tsunoda did not return to the track for the rest of the session.

You can see the full Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2021 Free Practice 1 Results Classification here at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1075/netherlands/practice-1.html

#Formula1 @Heineken #DutchGP 2021 Preview. #F1 #DutchGrandPrix