Both Ferraris fastest in FP2; Hami brings in Red Flag

Zandvoort (The Netherlands), 3 Sept 2021: Charles Leclerc beat Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz by just over 1500ths of a second to hand Ferrari a 1-2 result in the second practice session for the Dutch Grand Prix. Esteban Ocon finished third, but there was trouble for Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton who stopped on track at Zandvoort with oil pressure problems, bringing out the red flags.

After a short delay to running the session got underway five minutes late with Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas setting the early pace with a lap of 1:11.664. Hamilton’s first run yielded 1m11.911s and he climbed to second, but there his progress stopped, as on his second attempt he reported a sudden loss of power and pulled over at the edge of the track at Turn 8. The red flags were swiftly shown and the session was halted with just six minutes on the clock.

Mercedes later reported the issue to be an oil feed issue and Hamilton was restricted to the garage for the remainder of the session. He would finish in seventh place on the timesheet.

When running resumed, Sebastian Vettel turned his first laps of the session after lengthy repairs to cure an ERS issue that sidelined him for much of the first session. AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda was also back in action after exiting the morning session after just three laps due to a hydraulic leak that also caused a small fire.

With 30 minutes left Ocon bolted on soft tyres and jumped to the top of the order with a lap of 1:11.074.

Haas’ Nikita Mazepin then brought out the red flags for a second time when he lost the rear of his Haas on the entry to Turn 11 and beached the car in the gravel.

After a brief delay while his car was recovered, Ferrari moved to the top of the order and Leclerc’s time of 1:10.902 was good enough to seal P1 ahead of Sainz, with Ocon third ahead of Bottas. The morning’s quickest driver, Max Verstappen, finished fifth with a lap 1:11.264 that left him almost four tenths of a second behind Sainz. The Dutch driver spent most of the session focusing on race runs, however.

Alpine’s Fernando Alonso ended the session in sixth place ahead of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, while McLaren’s Lando Norris finished eighth ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel.

2021 FIA Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:10.902 29 216.247
2 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:11.056 0.154 28 215.779
3 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:11.074 0.172 33 215.724
4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:11.132 0.230 33 215.548
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:11.264 0.362 28 215.149
6 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 1:11.280 0.378 30 215.101
7 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1:11.462 0.560 29 214.553
8 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:11.488 0.586 27 214.475
9 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:11.678 0.776 30 213.906
10 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:11.713 0.811 24 213.802
11 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:11.911 1.009 3 213.213
12 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 1:11.946 1.044 27 213.109
13 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 1:12.096 1.194 31 212.666
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:12.136 1.234 29 212.548
15 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 1:12.157 1.255 25 212.486
16 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:12.206 1.304 31 212.342
17 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 1:12.607 1.705 31 211.169
18 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:12.610 1.708 27 211.160
19 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 1:12.835 1.933 12 210.508
20 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:12.855 1.953 30 210.450