Carlos Sainz Williams
Carlos Sainz Williams
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F1 Zandvoort LIVE: Reaction after Russell takes Dutch GP sprint pole

Live coverage of Friday at the F1 Dutch Grand Prix

KEY MOMENTS

  • Hadjar out injured; Lawson in at Red Bull, Tsunoda at Racing Bulls
  • Antonelli tops close-fought FP1
  • Threat of rain for sprint qualifying

Zandvoort makes its final F1 bow this weekend after hosting the sixth race of its comeback stint on the calendar. Max Verstappen has previously taken two wins on home soil, while Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have shared the other two victories to date.

As F1 returns from its summer break, there are limited upgrades on display, with Aston Martin and Alpine attracting the most attention. The former is due to the power unit upgrade being brought by Honda. Although early indications suggested a power boost of between 30-50bhp, expectations have been cooled ahead of the weekend, suggesting the benefit may not be as impactful as had been hoped.

Alpine, however, has brought an eight-part aerodynamic upgrade. Given how powerful this type of upgrade has proven to be across the season, Alpine will hope that this could push the team back ahead of Racing Bulls and into firm points contention. 

A wrist injury to Red Bull driver Isack Hadjar has seen a switch of drivers at both the front-running team and Racing Bulls, with Liam Lawson moving up to replace the Frenchman, whilst veteran Yuki Tsunoda has been drafted in to partner Arvid Lindblad.

The weekend is the fifth Sprint event of the season, meaning that Friday will see a single practice session before sprint qualifying in the afternoon. The sprint race will begin the action on Saturday, before normal service resumes with regular qualifying, and then the grand prix on Sunday.  

Rain is expected to play a part this weekend, with a chance of wet running on both Friday and Saturday.

2026 Dutch Grand Prix Friday schedule

FP1 11:30am BST - 12:30pm BST

Sprint Qualifying: 3:30pm BST - 4:14pm BST

21 Aug 2026
12:17

Just 12 minutes remain, and we can't overstate the importance of this time. 

12:17

Into the gravel goes Verstappen at Turn 13. No damage done, it seems, and we continue on. 

12:14

In the top 10 and about half a second behind Verstappen. Lawson has slotted in nicely and is matching the job Red Bull would have expected Hadjar to be doing. 

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12:11

Running with the Honda PU upgrade, Alonso is in 12th for Aston Martin, while Stroll is 15th. Haas, Williams and Cadillac are all slower, while Colapinto is yet to get fully up to speed for Alpine. 

As we type this, Hamilton is the latest driver to take a trip through the gravel at Turn 13. 

12:09

Another moment for Sainz as he gets far closer to the barrier this time. He won't want to push his luck a third time. 

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12:04

The times are far slower now, as teams appear to be focusing on longer runs for a period. Three sessions of work into a single hour, this is always a strange one! 

12:00
Top 10 halfway through FP1

The top 10 at the halfway point of the session is: 

  1. Leclerc
  2. Hamilton
  3. Antonelli
  4. Russell
  5. Verstappen
  6. Norris
  7. Bortoleto
  8. Piastri
  9. Lawson
  10. Gasly
11:59

That explains it - a 360 for Antonelli at Turn 10 as he appeared to be trying to get out of the way of a faster car. 

Looking at the sky, it seems there could be some wet stuff on the way. 

11:58

A brief yellow flag in micro-sector 12. No real indication of the cause of that just yet, but we'll keep you updated. 

11:55

Verstappen goes fifth fastest, but almost puts it in the wall at Turn 13 as a harsh downshift locked his rear tyres, and created a severe moment of oversteer. In the second Red Bull, Lawson is eighth. The pair are split by the McLaren drivers. 

11:54

10 laps into his soft tyre run, Sainz takes a trip through the gravel at Turn 13. A lock-up on entry is a very common error, and is one that every person to have played an F1 game has made. 

11:51

We're beginning to see some drivers push the track limits, specifically at Turn 13, with Bearman and Antonelli among those to see times deleted. 

Ferrari has begun to show pace, with Hamilton and Leclerc now leading the way with a 1,14.742s. 

11:46

Just what everyone - other than Hadjar - wanted to see as Lawson appears to be instantly on the pace with Red Bull. Antonelli leads with a 1m15.351s, with Russell in second, Norris third, then Lawson in fourth. 

11:45

Verstappen is finally out on the track, but this won't be a rapid effort, as his car is covered in flo-vis paint. Some aerodynamic testing is taking place during the early stages at Red Bull. 

11:42

The tyre graphics have finally updated on the timing screen, after it hadn't wanted to show what slick compounds drivers were using. Interestingly, Sainz and Albon have fitted soft tyres with Williams. 

11:40

Antonelli goes 2.2s quicker than Piastri with a 1m18.264s, then lowers that marker to a 1m16.112s on the following lap. The times are falling rapidly. 

11:38

Out comes Tsumoda on hard tyres. It's been a tough year on the sidelines, but he's back in action with Racing Bulls this weekend. 

At the same time, Piastri goes significantly faster with a 1m20.480s. 

11:36

A 1m23.311s moves Piastri to the top. Neither Red Bull driver has taken to the track yet, as they allow the remaining 20 drivers to create a dry line. 

11:35

Hamilton sets a 1m25.562s to set the early pace, but Piastri is going fastest on slicks, as the rest of the pack return to the pits to make the change to dry tyres. 

11:33

And there is the first slick runner. Piastri is on the medium rubber! 

11:32

"I think it's ready for slicks," reports Hulkenberg. You wouldn't want to be the first to take that decision. 

11:31

There is minimal spray, but this track isn't one that you can take any risks with. Intermediate tyres all around and we wait with fingers crossed to see whether everyone will keep it between the lines. 

11:30

And Hulkenberg goes out on intermediate tyres. Finally, we have some wet running this year! 

11:30
Green flag

Green light! We are go for practice at Zandvoort. 

11:28

Here we go. The track has been declared 'wet', and there is a 60% chance of further rain across the hour. 

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