Max Verstappen began his home Dutch Grand Prix weekend in familiar fashion, topping the times in Friday’s first practice at Zandvoort.

The Red Bull double world champion and runaway series leader is on a quest to draw level with Sebastian Vettel’s record of nine straight wins and he was fastest by almost three hundredths of a second from Fernando Alonso’s upgraded Aston Martin.

The Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton came next as a trio of champions dominated at the tricky, twisty circuit carved out of coastal dunes near Amsterdam.

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