Oscar Piastri wary of sudden 'bite' as Lando Norris title battle resumes

Oscar Piastri is wary of the "bite" Dutch Grand Prix venue Zandvoort can spring on drivers following a hectic day of practice.

On Friday, Kimi Antonelli, Max Verstappen, Alex Albon, and Lance Stroll all had major incidents throughout the two practice sessions, with all but Verstappen triggering a red flag, as Stroll destroyed his Aston Martin following a high-speed Turn 3 crash in FP2.

Lewis Hamilton also had two huge spins on the day F1 returned from the summer break, with Piastri finishing second and third in the two sessions, both topped by Lando Norris in the sister MCL39.

Piastri leads Norris by nine points in the standings, and explained the fine line drivers would have to tread moving forward at the exposed coastal circuit. 

"It was a pretty good day, and I improved some things throughout the day to find more confidence and lap-time," Piastri explained.

"But there are still some things to tidy up and improve, but it was reasonably easy to get back into things.

"The first couple of laps felt a bit quick, and especially around here, it is a track which bites if you overstep the mark. 

"It was a little bit stop-start with the red flags and stuff, but I got into the rhythm pretty quickly.

"I need to look at who actually finished where in FP2, and obviously, it was a bit surprising to see the Astons up there, but they were quick in Budapest.

"It was a strange day, and everyone didn't really know whether to use their tyres when they definitely knew it was going to be dry, or maybe wait a little longer and take some fuel out.

"There were a lot of things going on that I don't think were quite as you would normally expect, so [qualifying] is the only time we'll see where everyone is really at."