Kimi Antonelli kicked off the second half of System 1’s 2026 season on high, beating Lando Norris’s McLaren to the highest spot in apply on the Dutch Grand Prix.
Championship chief Antonelli delivered a 1m12.949s lap within the dying moments of the only real apply session at Zandvoort, his second flying lap on these mushy tyres after he was baulked by site visitors on his first.
Antonelli additionally had a innocent spin earlier within the session on the exit of Flip 10 earlier than resuming.
Norris additionally improved on his second flying lap to finish up 0.121s adrift of Antonelli, with George Russell third, 0.125s off his team-mate Antonelli.
The Ferraris of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc had been fourth and fifth quickest however inside three tenths of the tempo.
Oscar Piastri’s McLaren was 0.659s slower than Antonelli’s benchmark in sixth.
Nico Hulkenberg’s Audi led the midfield in seventh on the medium tyres, forward of Pierre Gasly, who has Alpine’s main improve on his automotive (Franco Colapinto will get it at Monza), and Hulkenberg’s Audi team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto.
Arvid Lindblad was tenth for Racing Bulls, forward of Max Verstappen, contemporary from recommitting to Pink Bull.
It was a difficult session for Pink Bull, with Verstappen fighting understeer and Liam Lawson attempting to become familiar with the RB22 that he solely came upon he’d be driving for the primary time earlier this week.
Lawson ended up 14th, round six tenths adrift of Verstappen, having had a second on the Flip 11/12 chicane on his ultimate flying lap.
That part additionally caught out Carlos Sainz’s Williams, which ended up twenty second and final for Williams, having had a few off-track moments.
Elsewhere, the brand new Honda engine improve racked up first rate mileage (49 laps) and powered Alonso to the twelfth quickest time, 1.5s off the tempo.
And Yuki Tsunoda was seventeenth in his first F1 session for Racing Bulls, eight months on from dropping his Pink Bull drive on the finish of final yr.
