George Russell led a Mercedes one-two after Max Verstappen suffered mechanical trouble in Practice 1 at the Dutch Grand Prix.
The home hero set the early pace before stopping with a gearbox problem in the Red Bull, costing him most of the session and causing a red flag.
Nightmare start for Max ?
The home hero’s first practice comes to a swift end after he reported a gearbox issue ?️#DutchGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/WmB91Y87KL
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 2, 2022
After a terrible weekend at Spa, Mercedes appear more at home on the twists and turns of Zandvoort.
Their pace was slightly helped by improving track conditions late on as Russell’s table-topping time of 1m12.455s came with six minutes to go.
He was joined at the top moments later by teammate Lewis Hamilton, albeit a quarter of a second slower.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was third, ahead of the two McLarens of Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo, who also look much happier around Zandvoort.
The #MCL36 on track in Zandvoort. ?#DutchGP ?? pic.twitter.com/4eede4pMfn
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) September 2, 2022
Charles Leclerc was sixth, as Sergio Perez finished almost a second off the pace in the second Red Bull in P7 and lucky to avoid the barriers after running wide at Turn 9.
The two Alpines sat eighth and ninth with Alex Albon rounding out the top 10 in the Williams.
Full results from Practice 1 can be seen below:
? FP1 CLASSIFICATION ?
It’s a one-two for @MercedesAMGF1 ?@OconEsteban and @NicholasLatifi record the most laps ?#DutchGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/SGzba7foaG
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 2, 2022