George Russell set the pace as Mercedes and McLaren both headed Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in Friday practice at the Dutch Grand Prix.
The Mercedes driver was 0.061 seconds quicker than McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, with team-mate Lewis Hamilton third, 0.111secs off the pace, and the second McLaren of Lando Norris fourth.
Championship leader Verstappen was only fifth fastest, 0.284secs off the pace, and team-mate Sergio Perez down in 11th.
Fernando Alonso was sixth fastest, ahead of RB’s Yuki Tsunoda, Haas driver Kevin Magnussen, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Williams’ Alex Albon completed the top 10.
After the first session started in wet conditions before drying, the second was held in sunny weather, although the strong, blustery wind continued, leading to a number of drivers to run wide at the first corner, because of a strong tail wind down the pit straight.
But there was only one crash – Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg spinning on entry to Tarzan, skidding across the gravel trap and ending up in the barriers to bring out the red flag for a few minutes.
On race pace, Norris was in impressive form in the McLaren, which has its first performance upgrade since the Miami Grand Prix in May.
Norris led the way on the medium tyres, appearing on first impressions of lap times comfortably quicker than both Verstappen, Hamilton and Leclerc.
On the soft tyre, Russell led the way on race pace, a fair bit quicker than Piastri.
Red Bull also have an upgrade as Verstappen seeks his first win since the Spanish Grand Prix in mid-June, six races ago.
In the first session, Norris was 0.201 seconds faster than Verstappen, with Hamilton third fastest, his fastest lap time affected by traffic.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, on medium-compound tyres rather than the soft used by those ahead of him, was fourth. The Spaniard’s running in the second session was curtailed by a gearbox problem after just seven laps.