Verstappen had a difficult but not critical dayMcLaren advances in the midfieldOpen strategy for the race The test day of the Dutch GP has left us with many doubts about what we can expect for the rest of the weekend. Red Bull did not show up in Free Practice 2 and suffered a gearbox problem with Verstappen, while Ferrari made a clean statement and led. Much to see in the following hours and many unknowns that must be resolved. FREE 1 Mercedes has given the surprise in Free Practice 1 of the Dutch Grand Prix and has led the session with a double. George Russell was the fastest driver, closely followed by his teammate Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz. For his part, Max Verstappen had a problem with his gearbox in the first minutes of the session and was only able to do six laps. You can read the full report of the session here. This was the work that the teams completed. FREE 2 Charles Leclerc has led a Ferrari double in the second free practice session of the 2022 F1 Netherlands GP. A very tight session, with Carlos Sainz at four thousandths and Lewis Hamilton at 72 thousandths, in which Fernando Alonso has been seventh. You can read the chronicle of the session here. The classification simulation has reflected the following results: And combined by teams, these were the results. The results in the short run part left some things that cast doubt on its credibility and validity, such as the position of Red Bull or Aston Martin. Ferrari was quickest, just a tenth ahead of McLaren and Mercedes, who were on pace. The Italians had the time in the middle of the lap over Mercedes, who were on pace in the other two sectors of the lap. McLaren did very well in the first part of the lap, passing through T1 and T3, but dropped a tenth in the other two parts of the lap. In any case, in a high-load circuit they were once again in a great position and lead the middle zone. What was different and strange was the position of Red Bull, which finished eight tenths behind Ferrari, a time that was in the first and third sections of the lap, with a car that lacked some support in the slow corner, but that There is still a long way to go and a margin to take into the weekend, which means that his position at this stage of the session is not real. With McLaren leading the middle zone, Aston Martin was four tenths behind, which were placed in the first and especially the second part of the lap, the most important zone of this charismatic circuit. Alpine was very much on the pace of Aston Martin, but dropped two tenths in the first part of the lap, with a car that had very good speed but lacked a bit of support in the slow corner. In any case, the difference between the teams became clear again, at least in the short run, and the separation of the midfield. This is due to the four tenths difference with the second group, made up of Alpha Tauri, Alfa Romeo, Haas and Williams, all of them in the 1:13. Alpha Tauri lost two tenths to Alpine between the first and third stage, and almost a second to McLaren, especially at the beginning of the lap. Alfa Romeo gave up three tenths more in the central part, which gave him a lot of distance and he was already in the rhythm of Haas. Williams completed the middle zone, on the pace of these three teams and only a small tenth in the middle of the lap. More established and hierarchical positions for the remainder of the weekend. When it comes to long runs, these were the results. The information problems that FOM has had meant that there was no data on the tires that the teams were using, so we have grouped all the laps in the race phase. This has meant that almost all the teams exceeded the five laps required to validate the session and that the data could be reliable, within the limits of FP2. In them it has been seen that Ferrari has placed the two cars in front, separated by just seven hundredths, placed in the first part of the lap for Leclerc. Verstappen was two tenths away, one placed at the start and another at the end of the lap, one tenth ahead of the Mercedes, who were on pace, although with differences in the second and third part. Hamilton left the time at the end of the lap and Russell between the central and final part. Pérez finished somewhat lower, three tenths from Verstappen, between the first and second stages of the lap. The middle zone appeared to be led by Stroll, who was able to take a tenth over Alonso in S1 and S2, although he gave it up at the end of the lap. Norris lost more pace, starting at T6, holding only at the start of the lap, causing him to drop in his race pace. From there there was a somewhat more visible gap, in which Vettel remained, slower than Stroll in the three sections, almost seven tenths, and also Ocon, who had a second with Alonso, at a rate of three tenths per zone. With them were also the pilots of the second part of the middle zone, with Alfa Romeo, Alpha Tauri, Haas and Williams, as seen in the short run. Bottas was on the pace of Alpha Tauri and three tenths ahead of Haas and Williams, who were on pace, but much more off the hook. TIRES For this race Pirelli has brought the hardest tires in its range, C3, C2 and C1, in a clear response to the high lateral demand that the circuit presents and the continuous stress exerted on them, both longitudinally and laterally and even vertical with the cants. A very complicated job that they must complete in the next few hours, and that began by showing this pace in one lap. With hardly any data on the hard tire, only used by Alonso and with a fast lap, the most representative data was with the medium and the soft. The soft was faster than the medium, around 1.3sec, at a rate of 0.5sec in S1, 0.4sec in S2 and 0.4sec in S3, although it lost performance after each lap, at a rate of half a second in each turn . The medium was much more consistent and was always in similar times, but far from the soft. This will make the soft the only option for qualifying, with a fastest lap at each attempt. In the race phase there is not enough data, so no conclusions can be drawn. This has been the use that the teams have given to the tires. And these are the tires available for the qualifying day. The teams have had an almost identical approach to tire management, using one set of hard, one medium and two soft. Only Aston Martin moved away from this program by already delivering two sets of medium and one only of soft, so they will do all day on Saturday in the soft, and will only have one set of hard and medium for the race. In the rest they will have a set of mediums, whose use at the beginning of FP3 would give many indications about the strategic path of the race and five sets of softs, plus Pirelli’s reserved for Q3. Simone Berra pointed out at the end of the day: “The performance of the three tires was in line with our expectations, with the gap between medium and hard a little smaller than expected, which is one of the reasons why we believe that the hard can be a valid option for the race, with several possible strategies. The degradation seems manageable, even on the soft, and we have not seen graining. The evolution of the track was great, at the beginning it was a bit sandy and there was some wind which affected the balance of the car. The gravel at the start of T11 didn’t affect the tyres, so it shouldn’t be a problem on the weekend.” This was what the free test day of the Dutch GP left us. Few conclusions, many doubts and everything to come in the following hours. The race will start on the first qualifying lap, position is critical so it will be key to see where everyone is at the start of the long and tricky race on the beach at Zandvoort. If you want to read more news like this visit our Flipboard