McLaren duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were left uncertain of which team will be its main competition at this weekend’s Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix.
Norris went fastest in both of Friday’s free practice sessions, with Piastri second and third respectively, three tenths down on his team-mate in the former.
The second session was much closer, with Piastri less than a tenth off Norris, but saw the papaya cars split by the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso.
Aston showed a considerable improvement at the previous round in Hungary, and it appeared that the Silverstone-based squad’s momentum is continuing.
When asked who might provide McLaren’s biggest threat, Norris was unwilling to speculate too heavily.
“I think the Astons are never that far off in FP2, they quite often and quite consistently are actaully quite decent in FP2, and they’ve been certainly getting better,” he told Sky Sports F1.
“Even in Budapest, they were pretty quick as well, so it’s not a big surprise.
“At the minute, they look like the quickest, but Max is certainly not far off, he was on the harder tyre which is not quite as good.
“So yeah, I think the Astons, Red Bulls… Ferrari seem to struggle a little bit today, but they normally always are like that and then fine on Saturday, so let’s just focus on ourselves and we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”
Piastri unsure who could compete with McLaren in Dutch GP
The weather forecast for Zandvoort does not look too promising, with rain falling on Friday, and more expected on Saturday and also on race day.
Inclement weather might see a leveller in terms of which teams, if any, can cause McLaren any problems, and Piastri was likewise unwilling to make too many predictions.
“Honestly, I have no idea at this point,” he concurred. “I need to look back and see who actually finished where in FP2.
“Obviously a bit surprising to see the Astons up there today, but they were quick in Budapest. Today’s been strange.
“I think everyone didn’t really know whether to use the tyres when they definitely knew it was going to be dry, or did you wait a little bit longer, did you take some fuel out?
“There’s a lot of things that I don’t think were quite as you would normally expect today, so I think tomorrow will be the only time we’ll see where everyone’s really at.”
READ MORE – Lando Norris tops disrupted FP2 for F1 Dutch GP
Discussion about this post