Lando Norris nudged ahead of home hero Max Verstappen to secure FP2's headline time at the Dutch Grand Prix, in a boisterous first day of Formula 1 action at Zandvoort.
With passionate support for Verstappen emerging as early as Friday's practice sessions as his orange-dressed fandom descended upon the Dutch coast en masse, the current championship leader offered early delight having claimed the fastest time in the opening practice session ahead of Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso.
The soft tyre running in which Norris claimed the fastest FP2 time followed a 12-minute red flag when Australian duo Oscar Piastri and Daniel Ricciardo suffered separate crashes at the heavily cambered Turn 3. Ricciardo required a trip to the hospital in order to perform checks on his left hand and wrist having complained of pain over the radio after the crash. A confirmed broken metacarpal will put Ricciardo out of action for the rest of the weekend, with New Zealander Liam Lawson primed to replace his fellow Antipodean.
There had also been a red flag in the preceding FP1 session, produced by Nico Hulkenberg's trip to the wall at Turn 13 as the Haas driver ended his first session at Zandvoort since his 2008 F3 title-winning season in the gravel.
Here's everything we've learned from the opening day at the Dutch Grand Prix.
Aside from the heroics of Verstappen and Norris, who presumably delighted all denominations of orange sat within the grandstands, the mistakes from F1's Australian contingent in FP2 were the most high-profile event of the day.
Having started a run on hard tyres after the opening 10 minutes of the session, Piastri set himself up for Turn 3 in his efforts to take the high line around the left-hander. But he came in too hot for the corner, lost the rear, and knocked the barrier with the rear of his car, which turned him into the wall face-on.
Source: Autosport