Where Lando Norris holds a critical advantage over Oscar Piastri in tense McLaren fight

The battle between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri was painstakingly close through the second free practice session at the Dutch Grand Prix.

Ignoring the outlier of Fernando Alonso, who split the McLaren team-mate by going marginally quicker than the latter to continue Aston Martin's fine form at Zandvoort, less than a tenth of a second separated the papaya pair.

That was considerably closer than in FP1, when Piastri ended the session three-tenths adrift after losing slightly less than and slightly more than, respectively, in the subsequent two sectors.

In that first hour of running, the Australian was dominant through the Turn 2 to 4 complex, which was enough to offset Norris being quicker through Tarzan (Turn 1), gaining over a tenth of a second on the 25-year-old in Sector 1.

However, across the rest of the lap, Piastri struggled in comparison, with his team-mate enjoying superior pace through the twists and turns of Zandvoort's winding layout.

This is illustrated through the track dominance data from FP1 (below), with a stronger run out of the final true corner (Turn 13) not enough to close the delta significantly.

Advantage diminished but retained

As in FP1, Piastri held the upper hand through the first sector in the second hour of running, but Norris' deficit was substantially reduced, with only 17 milliseconds between them - and both were slower than the upstart Alonso.

That pattern between the McLaren team-mates continued in Sectors 2 and 3, but crucially, the Briton was able to retain half a tenth of a second in each (as shown below).

With FP3 looking increasingly like it will be dry, Piastri will have the opportunity to find that time through the final hour of practice, as he attempts to avoid heading into qualifying on the back foot.

Plus, with any rubber laid down and its subsequent grip lost by the rain overnight at Zandvoort, there will be the chance for the eight-time grand prix winner to take advantage of that, regardless of whether the grid-setting session is dry or not.

Conversely, Norris will be focused on how he can find time through Turn 2 to 4. However, if there is adverse weather through that hour, the great equaliser could throw up some unexpected results and, with it, considerable jeopardy for the Woking squad's drivers.

Since the track returned to the F1 calendar in 2021, only the polesitter has won, underlining the critical importance of qualifying at the Dutch Grand Prix, with only nine points dividing the two McLarens in the hunt for a maiden F1 drivers' title.