Leclerc leads Ferrari 1-2 in Zandvoort FP2, trouble for Hamilton

Ferrari came to the fore in FP2 at Zandvoort, with its Formula 1 duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr heading a 1-2, while Lewis Hamilton hit engine trouble early in the session.

Key moments:

> Hamilton misses out on qualy sim and long runs

> Spin for Mazepin brings out red flag

> Alpine and Ferrari impress with soft-tyre runs

> Vettel gets back out quickly after FP1 stoppage

On the medium tyre, Valtteri Bottas topped the session early on ahead of Mercedes team-mate Hamilton, before Hamilton pulled to a stop at Turn 8 reporting a lack of power from his engine.

☹️ pic.twitter.com/n5OiaIFkeT

— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) September 3, 2021

It was the second Mercedes-related engine issue of the day following Sebastian Vettel’s lengthy stoppage in FP1.

Hamilton stopping at the side of the road brought about something rare in F1 practice sessions these days – massive cheers – as the Dutch fans enjoyed watching Max Verstappen’s title rival hit trouble.

With Hamilton in the garage, Mercedes’ emphasis switched to running on the soft tyre with Bottas perhaps earlier than it would have liked, and he delivered a lap three tenths better than this best medium shod-lap to top the session.

However, Esteban Ocon (Alpine) soon came to the fore, exciting with his high oval-style line through Turn 3 at the top of the banking.

He went blow by blow and beat Bottas on two consecutive efforts to top the session, before a Nikita Mazepin spin with 30 minutes to go brought out a red flag halting Verstappen’s attempt to join the mix at the top of the order.

Mazepin is out of the car and has hitched a ride back to the pits with the Medical Car 👍#DutchGP 🇳🇱 #F1 pic.twitter.com/z7NGuH15s8

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 3, 2021

When the red flag was over Verstappen’s struggle to string together a fast lap continued – although his longer runs on the soft tyre looked impressive later on – as the Ferraris came to the fore.

Leclerc became the first driver into the 1m10s with a 10.902s with 20 minutes left in the session, while Carlos Sainz Jr soon popped in just behind, 0.154s adrift.

Ocon and Bottas didn’t improve further and followed Leclerc and Sainz in the order, with Verstappen rounding out the top five as he racked up more longer running on the softs.

With all the late improvements, Fernando Alonso fell to sixth with Alpine, ahead of the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly and McLaren’s Lando Norris.

Antonio Giovinazzi was perhaps a surprise in the top 10, going ninth-quickest for Alfa Romeo ahead of Aston Martin’s Vettel, who suffered no trouble after his morning woe.

Hamilton fell to 11th with his early lap, but it will be the lack of high-fuel running that will likely upset his weekend the most.

Sergio Perez was just under seven tenths slower than Verstappen and 12th-fastest.

Practice 2 Results