George Russell Tops Practice At Dutch Grand Prix

British driver George Russell set the fastest time in practice at the Dutch Grand Prix on Friday, with local hero Max Verstappen complaining of a lack of pace as he trailled in fifth. Mercedes star Russell set a lap time of 1:10.702 early in the second hour-long practice session and it was never beaten, Oscar Piastri from Australia coming in 0.061 seconds behind in a McLaren. World champion Verstappen of Red Bull came in fifth, 0.284 seconds behind Russell, having been pipped into second by Lando Norris from McLaren in the day's first practice session.

"We didn't quite have the pace on the long and the short runs and at the moment, there isn't a clear answer on how to improve this, but we will look into things," said Verstappen.

The second session was paused for six minutes while officials cleared debris off the track after Nico Hulkenberg crashed his Haas as his rear tyres locked up.

In the first practice session earlier Friday, the drivers had to deal with typical Dutch weather that swung from torrential rain to bright sunshine and back within minutes.

Even Verstappen spun his Red Bull on the wet track but as the clouds parted and the sun emerged, so did quicker lap times, with the lead changing hands several times.

In a thrilling last lap, Verstappen took the lead only to be pipped by Norris, who turned in a lap of 1:12.322, just 0.201 seconds ahead of his Dutch rival.

"A pleasing first day back on track," said Norris after the second practice session.

"We made some good progress and the car is in a strong position ahead of qualification tomorrow."

Russell said he struggled with "perhaps the windiest conditions I can remember" but added that the car was performing well after an upgrade to the floor.

"We expect to be