Dutch GP: Norris secures practice hat-trick as Alonso and Russell face post-FP3 investigation

Lando Norris secured the practice hat-trick at the Dutch Grand Prix as he beat Oscar Piastri by a quarter of a second with George Russell third fastest.

The Mercedes driver is off to see the stewards after the session after a scary moment with Fernando Alonso that almost saw the Aston Martin driver crash into the pit lane entry wall.

Lando Norris grabs another P1 at the Dutch Grand Prix

Overnight rain meant that while the rain had abated ahead of FP3, it was declared a wet session as there were damp patches around the circuit. As such there were no immediate takers when the light went green, Ferrari still working on the setup of the SF-25s.

Isack Hadjar broke the silence four minutes in, before returning to the Racing Bull garage for a quick check on his car after Friday’s engine issues.

Another driver who was in trouble on Friday was Lance Stroll, who crashed in FP2 with Aston Martin changing his chassis overnight. He too covered an installation lap before returning to the garage.

It was left to Kimi Antonelli to post the opening gambit, a 1:13.7 for the Mercedes rookie. 15 minutes in, the benchmark time belonged to Gabriel Bortoleto with a 1:12.0. However, only five drivers had posted lap times.

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Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, covered a single lap before returning to the Ferrari garage where his mechanics removed his SF-25’s sidepods as they worked on the car.

As more drivers got stuck into their FP3 programmes, Stroll went fastest in his newly-repaired AMR25, Alonso replaced him in P1, and then Lando Norris hit the front on the soft tyres.

A 1:10.2 for the McLaren driver, with Oscar Piastri slotting into second place, 0.07s down on his teammate.

Max Verstappen went third on the mediums, but he was seven-tenths off the pace, before closing the gap on his next flying lap to four-tenths despite traffic getting his way.

Lewis Hamilton replaced the Red Bull driver in third place with Oliver Bearman, running the hard Pirellis, impressively going P4 ahead of Verstappen and Hadjar.

The battle at the front, though, was all about the McLaren team-mates as Piastri nipped ahead of Norris, who was over four-tenths clear of third-placed Hamilton.

Verstappen and Pierre Gasly had a moment down the straight as they played the ‘after you’ game trying to decide who’ll go into the corner first. Verstappen wasn’t happy that Gasly held him up.

Meanwhile, Antonelli was back in the pits with a stuck pedal while his team-mate George Russell improved to third, the nearest challenger to the McLaren team-mates. It was Norris who was again leading that fight with 15 minutes to go, clocking a 1:08.9. Piastri also improved his time but he was two-tenths slower.

There was bit of drama late in the session as Alonso came up on the right side of Russell only for the Mercedes driver to suddenly pull to the right as he wanted to pit. The two narrowly avoided what could’ve been a big crash. Race Control noted the incident, which will be investigated after the session.

The session ended with Norris fastest of all ahead of Piastri, with Russell third.

Dutch GP FP3 times

1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:08.972
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.242
3 George Russell Mercedes +0.886
4 Carlos Sainz Williams +0.941
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +0.953
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.966
7 Alexander Albon Williams +1.127
8 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1.131
9 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +1.194
10 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +1.260
11 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +1.328
12 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull Racing +1.377
13 Gabriel Bortoleto Kick Sauber +1.389
14 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +1.401
15 Oliver Bearman Haas F1 Team +1.623
16 Nico Hulkenberg Kick Sauber +1.627
17 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +1.725
18 Esteban Ocon Haas F1 Team +1.829
19 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1.991
20 Franco Colapinto Alpine +2.082

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