George Russell set the fastest time of the second practice recording 1: 10.702. The second position went to Oscar Piastri , who had a gap of 0.061 seconds. The third position belonged to Lewis Hamilton and a gap of 0.111. Carlos Sainz had to watch the session from the garage because he had a problem with the gearbox.
The second practice session for the Dutch Grand Prix was driven in significantly better conditions than the first session, but a rather strong wind hindered complete concentration on the planned plans, especially from the teams with brought upgrades.
At the opening of the session, all drivers took to the track using medium – most – and hard tires, so there was a big crowd. Sargeant was among the first to set a measured time of 1:14.475. That time soon dropped, so Verstappen came out on top with a time of 1:12.321.
The first sorties soon began. First, Russell spun out in Turn 12, while Perez was off the track at the entrance to Turn 1. Verstappen almost went out on a fast lap where the rear end of his car was outside, so he returned to the pits.
Hamilton recorded a very good time of 1:12.352, while Alonso also had a good lap of 1:12.394 after about 15 minutes. Russell soon moved past both drivers with a time of 1:12.329. However, Hamilton set the fastest time of 1:11.883 in the following lap.
Nico Hulkenberg caused the red flag. The Haas driver lost the back end of the car in the Tarzan corner and ended up in the barrier.
After the first third of practice, Hamilton held the leading position, followed by Verstappen, Russell, Alonso and Norris.
By removing the Haas car from the track, Verstappen was first on soft tires recording a 1:10.986. Norris soon responded and came out on top with a time of 1:10.961. Piastri soon made a new order after 1:10.763 with which he moved Norris from the top.
But that was short-lived as Russell clocked a 1:10.702 to take the lead, while Hamilton clocked a 1:10.813. Carlos Sainz had to retire to the pits due to a problem with the gearbox. Meanwhile, Leclerc recorded the 9th and Alonso the 6th time – which were also the last fast laps.
The order after 25 minutes was: Russell, Piastri, Hamilton, Norris, Verstapppen, Alonso, Tsunoda, Magnussen, Leclerc and Albon.
Max Verstappen was the first to start doing long stints . In this part, the race management put under investigation two unsafe exits : Ricciardo-Zhou and Stroll Albon . During the race simulation, the softest compound available for the Netherlands was mostly used.
