Norris leads Piastri in McLaren one-two in first Dutch GP practice

ZANDVOORT, Netherlands :The McLaren pair of Lando Norris and Formula One championship leader Oscar Piastri finished one-two in first practice for the Dutch Grand Prix on Friday while the two Aston Martin cars driven by Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso were close behind.

The two McLaren drivers are separated by just nine points and Norris clocked one minute and 10.278 seconds around the Zandvoort circuit in blustery conditions, with rain expected later on Friday in the second session.

Piastri was 0.292 seconds behind Norris, who has won three of the last four races, while Stroll and Alonso were more than half a second slower.

Williams driver Alexander Albon was fifth-fastest while home favourite Max Verstappen was nearly a second slower.

Mercedes' George Russell, Williams' Carlos Sainz, Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto and Alpine's Pierre Gasly rounded out the top 10.

Verstappen then found himself in the gravel at the end of the session when he botched a practice start by locking up into turn one. His teammate Yuki Tsunoda was 16th fastest.

Earlier, Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton nearly spun out at turn two but managed to regain control to stay on the track while Kimi Antonelli struggled with understeer at turn nine and beached his Mercedes in the gravel, bringing out the red flag.

Once the session restarted and drivers switched to the soft tyres, Norris and Pisatri set the pace with fastest laps as dark clouds loomed near the circuit.

Both Ferraris were clearly struggling as they finished 14th and 15th fastest and a frustrated Charles Leclerc said on the team radio that they were "miles off" the pace.