Tyres and in particular Pirelli need a special mention on this race weekend. Zandvoort circuit for the 2025 Dutch Grand Prix marks the 500th time that Pirelli have provided Formula 1 teams with tyres. Pirelli will deliver 1600 tyres, mounted on rims supplied by the teams and pumped to the correct pressure ready for action. Another 40 soft red marked tyres will be ready for those drivers who get to the third session of qualifying. Each driver will get thirteen sets of slick P-Zero tyres and seven sets of Cinturato wet weather tyres.

The tyres selected for this year at this circuit are softer than the tyres used last year. Pirelli have gone for C2, C3 and C4 for hard, medium and soft respectively whereas last year it was the C1, C2 and C3.

2024-

2025

Wet Weather Tyres

THE CIRCUIT

Zandvoort circuit is the second shortest (4.259km) on the 2025 calendar, only the anomalous Monte Carlo circuit is shorter. It is built over sand dunes and has an undulating layout with banked corners providing a rollercoaster experience. Despite being an “old school” circuit, it allows above average overtaking.

FREE PRACTICE ONE

Rain threatened but did not arrive.

On the sixth lap, Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) did a perfect pirouette-

That brought out yellow flags which soon turned to red as first Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) went through the gravel but recovered to the pits and Kimi Antonelli also went off but became bogged down.

The McLarens dominated with Lando Norris on top with Oscar Piastri about three tenths behind. The Aston Martins were third and fourth half a second off the McLarens’ pace with Lance Stroll ahead of Fernando Alonso by 0.06 seconds. Great to see both Williams cars in the top ten.

FREE PRACTICE TWO

Rain was threatening again and light drizzle did fall at the beginning of the session but not enough to impede the drivers who stayed on slick tyres throughout.

After only 11 minutes into FP2 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) crashed hard into the barriers at the top of the banked turn 3. Recovery of his car took 10 minutes out of FP2.

Twenty-five minutes into the session Isack Hadja’s Racing Bulls car lost power and stopped on the circuit. Fortunately, the marshals managed to push the car to safety and only 4 minutes of track time was lost to a Virtual Safety Car.

Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) again demonstrated his ballet skill with another 360 pirouette after dipping a wheel into the gravel at turn 9. Unfortunately, on a new set of soft tyres.

Alex Albon (Williams) went into the gravel at turn 1 and into the barriers. A full safety car was deployed for the car recovery which required all drivers to return to the pits. This impacts much more that the 4 minutes it took to recover the car.

FP2 is usually devoted to testing race pace with long runs which directly affects the fundamental setup of the cars. Once this base line is established FP3 can be used to fine tune the car for that one lap performance for qualifying which is only an overlay on the base setup. With such a disruptive FP2, a VSC an two red flags, the team’s programs were in disarray.

For fastest laps it was Lando Norris (McLaren) then Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) and then Oscar Piastri (McLaren).

FREE PRACTICE THREE

No Yellow Flags, No red Flags, No Virtual Safety Cars and No Safety Cars what happened?

Besides Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) and George Russell (Mercedes) trying to crash at the pit lane entrance there was just hard work getting the cars ready for qualifying and the race.

In terms of speed, it was McLaren with Lando Norris with a clean sweep through all the practice sessions. The other McLaren of Oscar Piastri had a blip from Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) in FP2. George Russell (Mercedes) consistent with FP1 seventh, FP2 fourth and FP3 third.

All the free practices times in this table-

All the free practices positions in this graph

Norman