Kimi Antonelli produced a 1:12.949 in the closing minutes of the only practice session at Zandvoort to head Lando Norris by 0.121 seconds, the Mercedes driver returning from Formula 1’s summer break by becoming the sole man to break the 1:13 barrier on a track that had been declared wet an hour earlier.
The 19-year-old Italian, who leads the drivers’ championship by 50 points, had been baulked by traffic on his first flying lap on soft tyres and needed a second attempt to displace Norris, whose 1:13.070 had briefly put McLaren on top. George Russell was third in the second Mercedes, a further four thousandths adrift, with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton fourth at 0.190s and Charles Leclerc fifth at 0.289s. The top five were covered by less than three tenths.
Mercedes pick up where they left off
Friday’s hour was awkward from the start. Damp patches were scattered around the seaside circuit and the early runners went out on intermediates, meaning meaningful representative running was compressed into the second half of the session as the track dried and the field switched to slicks. Rain was threatening again by the chequered flag, which put a premium on getting the timing of a soft-tyre run right.
Antonelli did not have a clean session. He spun at the exit of Turn 10 in the middle of the hour, a harmless 360 that left him bemused on the radio — “I don’t know what the heck happened there” — before he rejoined and continued. That he still ended the session fastest, on a circuit where a single lap can be undone by the banking at Turn 3 or Turn 14, underlined how comfortable the Mercedes has looked since it emerged as the class of the 2026 field.
The order behind the front five was more revealing than the gaps at the top. Oscar Piastri was 0.659s off in sixth, well adrift of his team-mate and continuing a run of form that has dropped him to seventh in the standings. Nico Hulkenberg led the midfield in seventh for Audi, with Pierre Gasly eighth for Alpine and Gabriel Bortoleto ninth in the second Audi. Arvid Lindblad completed the top 10 for Racing Bulls.
Verstappen’s home weekend starts badly
Max Verstappen, who signed a contract extension keeping him at Red Bull until 2030 earlier this month, was only 11th and more than 1.3s off the pace in front of the grandstands that have followed him since 2021. He complained of oversteer and problems with downshifts across the session, and ran wide at Turn 13 on one attempt.
Red Bull’s difficulties were compounded on the other side of the garage. Liam Lawson, deputising for Isack Hadjar and told only earlier in the week that he would be racing, was 14th, six tenths behind Verstappen and with a moment at the Turn 11/12 chicane on his final flying lap. Yuki Tsunoda made his first F1 appearance in eight months for Racing Bulls in 17th, while Carlos Sainz endured a scruffy hour of off-track excursions to finish 22nd and last for Williams.
The stakes are raised by the format. This is a sprint weekend, so Friday’s hour was the only practice running available before parc fermé closed in for sprint qualifying that same afternoon. Any team that misread the drying track has limited scope to recover.
What it means for the title fight
Antonelli arrived at Zandvoort with 219 points to Hamilton’s 169 and Russell’s 160, with Leclerc on 138, Norris on 128 and Verstappen on 109. Mercedes lead the constructors’ championship with 379 points to Ferrari’s 307 and McLaren’s 220. Both Ferrari and McLaren brought significant upgrades to Zandvoort specifically to close that deficit, and on Friday’s evidence they have narrowed the gap without closing it.
The arithmetic matters because a sprint weekend puts eight extra points on the table for the winner. With ten rounds remaining, a strong Saturday and Sunday from Antonelli would take his advantage over Hamilton beyond the two-race mark and make the second half of the season a question of damage limitation for Ferrari.
- Antonelli’s 1:12.949 was the only sub-1:13 lap of the session
- Verstappen was 11th, 1.376s off the ultimate pace at his home race
- Mercedes lead Ferrari by 72 points in the constructors’ standings
There is an additional layer to the weekend: this is Zandvoort’s last appearance on the Formula 1 calendar, the Dutch circuit stepping away after a five-year run that began when Verstappen was at the peak of his powers. The likeliest outcome is that the venue signs off with a Mercedes driver 15 years his junior on his way to a first world title.
Sources: [Formula1.com](https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/fp1-antonelli-leads-norris-and-russell-in-sole-practice-session-ahead-of-dutch-gp.6UhqlSxsUab9wkQWyJbuPo), [Motorsport.com](https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-dutch-gp-fp1-report/10847855/), [The Race](https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/what-happened-in-only-dutch-gp-f1-2026-practice-session/), [ESPN](https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/49610205/dutch-grand-prix-kimi-antonelli-fastest-sole-practice-session-lando-norris-second-formula-1-zandvoort), [Crash.net](https://www.crash.net/f1/results/1102636/1/2026-f1-zandvoort-full-dutch-gp-sprint-qualifying-and-friday-practice-results), [RacingNews365](https://racingnews365.com/2026-f1-championship-standings-after-hungarian-grand-prix)
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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