Norris heads 'wild' Dutch first practice at Zandvoort

Lando Norris topped FP1 for the Dutch Grand Prix at a wet and windy Zandvoort, finishing ahead of Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.

The session began with treacherous conditions which slowly improved over the hour, which allowed for a thrilling few minutes as the leading drivers continually lowered the best lap time.

A number of drivers had scary moments with the extreme wind conditions coming in and across the coastal circuit from the North Sea.

Opening salvo

As the session got underway, a few cars tentatively emerged from the pitsn on wet tyres, with Pierre Gasly leading the way.

He was quickly on the radio to tell Alpine that it was "pretty wild with the wind" on circuit. Meanwhile, the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg had an off-track excursion at Turn 10 before rejoining, seemingly without damage.

FP1 rookie runner Robert Schwartzman brought Valtteri Bottas' Stake out to test the conditions as Carlos Sainz found a considerable puddle, displacing a significant amount of rain water.

After the flurry of exploratory installation laps, the circuit feel quiet again.

As the clock ticked towards the quarter of an hour mark, just Logan Sargeant and Charles Leclerc were on track, with only Gasly having completed a lap.

The Ferrari driver would be the one to cut the representative timing beam, going top with a 1:26.530.

Hulkenberg would again find the grass and gravel. But, as before, managed to escape without major consequences.

He would shortly go off for a third time, taking to the escape road at the exit of Turn 1 after setting a lap time over 1.5 seconds off Leclerc's current best time of 1:26.111.

Towards the mid-point

George Russell was the third driver to set a representative lap time, filing in behind the Haas driver's time.

The McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri would join him on circuit, but there remained little running despite the rain subsiding with around 25 minutes gone.

Inside the final half an hour, Max Verstappen, who had recently come on track, spun his Red Bull at Turn 11, performing a well-executed pirouette to get back going as the Dutch fans cheered him on.

As the sun started to shine and the track started to dry, intermediate Pirellis were on hand as the usual suspects began to bring the quickest lap time down.

Norris and Russell would lead the way with Verstappen just behind. The nervous moments continued, however, with Gasly and Perez running wide at Turn 1.

Meanwhile, Sargeant and Williams would be the first victims of the reduced pit lane speed limit, which is 60km/h down from 80km/h due to the tightness of the Zandvoort pits.

The American driver exceeded the limit by half a kilometre per hour, earning his team a €100 fine.

Final stages

With a dry line starting to come through, and around 12 minutes still to run, the McLarens would try their hand on red-walled soft Pirellis.

Already quickest, with a 1:20.392, Norris would significantly lower the best time of the session, to 1:17.367 - almost three seconds faster.

Piastri would file in just behind, but almost a second off his team-mate, before Russell split the pair, half a second down on Norris.

The shootout for fastest time was well underway inside the final 10 minutes, with Russell getting inside the 1:15s just before the McLaren of Norris dropped the timing beam inside the 1:14s.

The Mercedes would bring that down further still as the times tumbled. With four minutes to go, he was inside the 1:13s.

However, it would again be Norris to bring the field into the 1:12s, almost a second clear of his countryman - who was soon displaced by his own team-mate in second place.

The McLaren man would end up on top, getting as low as a 1:12:322. It would be home hero Verstappen in second, with Hamilton rounding out the top three.