Max Verstappen Tops Opening Practice At Home Dutch Grand Prix

Max Verstappen began his home Dutch Grand Prix weekend in familiar fashion, topping the times in Friday's first practice at Zandvoort. The Red Bull double world champion and runaway series leader is on a quest to draw level with Sebastian Vettel's record of nine straight wins and he was fastest by almost three hundredths of a second from Fernando Alonso's upgraded Aston Martin. The Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton came next as a trio of champions dominated at the tricky, twisty circuit carved out of coastal dunes near Amsterdam. The old-school track punishes the slightest error and caught out Nico Hulkenberg, 24 hours after the German had signed a new deal to keep him at Haas in 2024.

His accident triggered the first red flag of the weekend as Formula One returned after its summer break for this 13th round of a championship utterly dominated by Red Bull and Verstappen.

Kevin Magnussen, also celebrating a contract extension with Haas for next season, was first to set a time.

But the Dane was soon bettered by Verstappen, the home hero reeling off a series of quickest laps.

The last one to venture out on the track was Lance Stroll, who missed Thursday's media day with an infection.

But his spin didn't last long with his Aston Martin engineer telling him to "abort, box" on the team radio - his session over before it had even begun.

"I heard a funny noise," came back the down-to-earth reply from the Canadian in the cockpit.

Stroll's teammate and elder, Spanish veteran Alonso, found himself in the gravel after a minor lock up.

At the midway stage of the hour-long session American rookie Logan Sargeant lifted his Williams to the top of the timesheets briefly.

His more-experienced teammate, Alex Albon, then put in a smart lap to go