Hamilton heads F1 rival Verstappen in curtailed first practice

Hamilton, who goes into the first grand prix held in the Netherlands since 1985 holding a three-point championship advantage over Verstappen, ended a heavily-disrupted FP1 session 0.097s faster than the Red Bull driver.

Carlos Sainz was a tenth off Hamilton’s benchmark as he headed Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc in third, while Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas was 0.238s off the pace.

Opening practice was suspended for 37 minutes following a stoppage for Sebastian Vettel, who reported an “engine failure” as he headed down the main straight.

Having pulled to the side of the track at pit exit, Vettel grabbed a fire extinguisher to use during an animated discussion with marshals.

The session was red-flagged for more than half an hour with Vettel’s Aston Martin not being electrically safe to be recovered, indicated by the flashing green ERS light.

Vettel had earlier pitted after a single lap with an apparent MGU-K problem.

The delay caused significant track running to be lost, causing a headache for the drivers as they look to get up to speed around an unfamiliar circuit.

The session resumed with just six minutes left on the clock and led to some frantic action as the drivers returned to the circuit on soft tyres for a busy end to FP1.

Alpine pair Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon finished sixth and seventh, ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi, with Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin and AlphaTauri racer Pierre Gasly completing the top-10.

Vettel was left 19th in the FP1 timesheets, ahead of only Yuki Tsunoda, who spun his AlphaTauri during his first outlap of the session.

Full opening practice results for the 2021 F1 Dutch Grand Prix.