Lewis Hamilton breaks down in Dutch Grand Prix practice as Charles Leclerc fastest

3 years ago 39

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Charles Leclerc led a Ferrari one-two in Dutch Grand Prix second practice while Lewis Hamilton missed most of the session with an engine problem.

Hamilton's Mercedes stopped on track after he had done just one flying lap. He was classified 11th.

Leclerc headed team-mate Carlos Sainz by 0.154 seconds.

Alpine's Esteban Ocon was third, ahead of Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas, Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Alpine's Fernando Alonso.

Seven-time champion Hamilton's problem was the second engine issue for a Mercedes-engined car of the day, after Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel caused a 40-minute stoppage in the first session when he came to a halt at the exit of the pit lane.

The car remained by the side of the track where Hamilton had stopped, so he was unable to resume the session.

Verstappen's true competitiveness over one lap was hidden because there were two red flags during the session, one for Hamilton and another when Haas driver Nikita Mazepin spun off at the chicane, and both happened when the Dutchman was on a flying lap.

"It's insane," Verstappen said over the radio after the Mazepin incident. "I just can't get a lap in, man."

In total, about 15 minutes' worth of running were lost from the session to the two incidents.

It meant Verstappen's fastest time - just over 0.3secs off the pace - was set on tyres that were already past their best.

But the Red Bull driver looked blisteringly fast on the race-simulation runs later in the session when drivers use full fuel loads.

He was comfortably quicker than Bottas with both drivers on the soft tyre, but direct comparisons are not available because it is not known what engine modes the two cars were in.

Ocon and Alpine looked impressive all day, with the Frenchman quick on both short runs and long. Team-mate Alonso was just over 0.2secs behind.

Alpha Tauri's Pierre Gasly, McLaren's Lando Norris, Alfa Romeo's Antonio Giovinazzi and Vettel rounded out the top 10.

Alfa's Kimi Raikkonen, who announced on Wednesday that he would retire from F1 at the end of the season, was 16th fastest and Williams driver George Russell 20th and last.