Formula 1 is back this weekend from its summer holidays this weekend for the Dutch Grand Prix.
The Circuit Zandvoort plays host to Round 14 of the calendar.
Home favourite, Max Verstappen, will aim to match Sebastian Vettel’s record of consecutive victories.
Nothing would make the Orange Army happier I’m sure.
Practice 1
The two-time champion set the pace in P1 finishing ahead of Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.
There is no sign of Red Bull slowing down in the development race as of yet, and they’ll be the favourites on Sunday.
He did go off into the gravel at Turn 11 right at the end though showing he is human.
His teammate, Sergio Perez finished in 4th way behind his teammate. Checo will need to be in top form to upstage his teammate at his home event.
Both Williams and McLaren’s were in the top 10 signalling a good start to the weekend for the British teams.
McLaren will have their tails up after the last few races, but new Williams team boss, James Vowles has yet to lift Williams off the bottom of the grid.
With Alex Albon continuing to impress though points may be up for grabs on race day.
Logan Sargeant and Oscar Piastri were seventh and eighth, with the Alpha Tauri of Yuki Tsunoda and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon completing the top 10.
Ferrari were way off the pace and, while its too early to tell, it could be another tough race for the boys in red.
The session was relatively clean although there is always one who gets it wrong.
This time it was Nico Hulkenburg who lost control of his Haas through the penultimate corner and spun into the barriers, damaging the car’s front wing.
Practice 2
The big story of P2 was the unfortunate accident involving the two Australian drivers.
Ricciardo lost control at the banked Hugenholz corner trying to avoid the crashed McLaren of Oscar Piastri.
He won’t be able to compete in this weekends GP with Red Bull reserve Liam Lawson stepping in.
His injury means Lawson, who made two practice appearances last season, will make his F1 debut in trying circumstances.
Alpha Tauri said Ricciardo had broken a metacarpal bone in his left hand. No information was given on the likely length of his absence from the car.
Piastri’s team-mate Lando Norris headed Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in Friday practice.
The Briton lapped 0.023 seconds faster than the championship leader, who was unable to get a clean lap in.
Alex Albon impressed in third while Hamilton capped a decent day for Mercedes in their newly upgraded car.
Norris’s pace in the McLaren underlined the progress the team have made with an upgrade in Austria at the start of last month.
After a poor start to the season McLaren are now looking like Aston Martins likeliest challengers for third.
Alonso was only 10th fastest in the afternoon as the team continue to struggle to replicate their early season podiums.
However, even if McLaren can challenge Verstappen in qualifying, it would be unwise to expect a threat to the local hero in the race. Verstappen was comfortably faster on the long runs – by 0.2secs over Norris and by 0.5secs over Leclerc comparing their runs on the soft tyre.
Speaking to BBC Sport Verstappen said:
“We have a few things we want to improve but even on the long run the car was handling quite well. So overall I think it was quite a good day.”
“I still feel good. The car has a lot of potential to have a good day tomorrow but we just have to fine tune a few things and then I am pretty confident we can be ahead.”