Championship leader Lewis Hamilton topped the first practice session for the Dutch Grand Prix on Friday which was cut short by nearly 40 minutes because of a problem with Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin.

Hamilton clocked a quickest lap off 1:11.500 in his Mercedes, just 0.097sec ahead of title rival Max Verstappen of Red Bull at his home race.  

They were followed by the Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.

Valtteri Bottas, who is expected to be replaced by George Russell in the second Mercedes next year, was fifth quickest. 

It is the first time since 1985 that Zandvoort has held a GP and the opening minutes of the session offered the drivers their first sight of a challenging track. 

Continue reading this article on SportsDesk, the sports website of the Times of Malta

 

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