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

Verstappen Dutch GP FP1 – Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was quickest in the opening FP1 session at the Dutch GP and ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso who was second and Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton who completed the top three whilst there was a late disruption from a late crash by Nico Hulkenberg.

Verstappen posted the benchmark of a 1:11.852 on the C3 red-marked softer compounds and was 0.278 seconds faster than Alonso with Hamilton a further 0.373 seconds adrift in third.

The other Red Bull RB19 entry of Sergio Perez was fourth, nearly half-a-second slower than his session-topping team-mate, with the Ferrari duo well down the order after not running the softer tyres throughout Free Practice One.

Verstappen topped the early proceedings on the C1 white-marked harder compounds, which made up the opening 15 minutes of the hour-long session – the home favourite jumping to the top of the time-sheets on his initial flyer and then reclaiming the top spot after Mercedes pairing George Russell and Hamilton had brief moments in P1.

Running the hards throughout that phase, Verstappen, with the upper aerodynamic surfaces on his RB19 racer covered in yellow flow-viz paint, gained over two seconds during his first nine-tour stint and ended it with a best effort of a 1:13.191.

After a brief lull in the pits, where he was joined by most of the field, Verstappen returned to complete another run again on the hards, but this time with a heavier fuel load as he lapped slower and the Mercedes duo closed in with a touch of a string of then personal bests.

Williams Racing’s Logan Sargeant switched to the C3 red-branded softs just before the mid-way point, which sent the American to the top of the classification on a 1:12.814.

Perez then jumped in-front with a 1:12.439 with his opening soft tour, which he improved on his second on the red side-walled rubber, a short while later to lead on a 1:12.323, as team-mate Verstappen continued his high-fuel running – interrupted at one stage by the Alpine duo travelling slowly through the undulating sector one.

Entering the session’s final third, Hamilton was on course to topping Perez’s effort with his initial flying lap on the softs after a setting first purple sector when the session was disrupted from Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg who suffered a spin backwards at high-speed going through the penultimate corner.

After an eight-minute delay as Hulkenberg’s VF-23 racer was craned away over the circuit to the inside of turn 13 and its huge, steeply banked gravel trap, FP1 resumed with a ten-minute run to the end.

Verstappen emerged on the softs for the initial time and flew to the top of the time-sheets posting a 1:11.852, with Alonso and then Hamilton moving ahead of Perez

After completing several laps to cool down their soft tyres, the leaders appeared to be preparing for a string of final hot laps, but these did not happen bar Hamilton attempting a late hot-lap, which began with another purple sector one before the Briton backed-off late on.

Verstappen’s smooth session ended with an excursion across the turn 11/12 gravel trap as he completed his final tour before the post-FP1 practice start sequence on the pit-straight.

Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon and Sargeant were fifth and seventh respectively as McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri took sixth and eighth.

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon rounded out the top ten.

Mercedes’ Russell ended Free Practice 1 outside the top ten in 11th place and in-front of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly who took 12th, AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo who came 13th in the classification whilst Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen was 14th in the order.

Alfa Romeo pairing Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu placed in 15th and 17th respectively as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc split the duo in a low-16th.

The aforementioned Hulkenberg finished FP1 in 18th and ahead of Ferrari reserve Robert Shwartzman (running the session in place of regular Carlos Sainz) was 19th and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who brought up the rear due to a power-unit issue.

You can see the full Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2023 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1217/netherlands/practice-1.html

#F1 @Heineken #DutchGP 2023 Preview. #Formula1 #DutchGrandPrix