Zandvoort, FP2: Ferrari score one-two as Hamilton brings out red flags

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.