ZANDVOORT, Netherlands (AP) — The Formula 1 title race is back and the tension is building.
Ahead of this weekend's Dutch Grand Prix, the first race in four weeks, Oscar Piastri is just nine points ahead of his McLaren teammate and title rival Lando Norris, who won three of the last four races before the mid-season break.
Norris had the edge over Piastri in Friday's first practice session, while Max Verstappen ended up in a gravel trap.
“The intensity will naturally increase as we get closer to the end of the year, and I’m ready for that,” Piastri said Thursday.
The Australian has won praise for his ability to stay cool in his first season as a true title contender, but he acknowledged that the nerves are there, even if they're not always obvious.
“I don’t believe anyone that says they don’t get nervous because I don’t think that’s possible, and I think it would be a bit weird if you weren’t nervous,” he said. “Ultimately the nerves can be good or bad and it’s how you manage it that decides that. I think for me, being calm is part of who I am, but definitely I’ve learned through the years that is how I get the most out of myself as well.”
Norris fastest in practice
Despite the break, Norris remained F1's in-form driver as he went fastest in the first practice session by the surprisingly large margin of 0.292 seconds from Piastri. Lance Stroll was an unexpected third for Aston Martin, half a second off the pace.
Verstappen's home race got off to a bad start as the four-time champion ended the first practice stuck in the gravel in bizarre circumstances, sliding off the track at the first corner after attempting a practice start. He was sixth fastest in the session but almost a second off the pace.
Ferrari struggled, with Charles Leclerc 14th and Lewis Hamilton 15th, while Kimi Antonelli caused a red flag when he was beached in the gravel after skidding off in his Mercedes.
Keeping the ‘papaya rules’ simple
A slow start actually ended up helping Norris win the last race in Hungary. He had to take a gamble on his strategy and hit the jackpot by stopping once, instead of twice, to get ahead on track and then hold off his teammate on old tires.
That prompted questions of how the situation fit McLaren's stated aim of letting its drivers race each other for the title. Typically, the driver in the lead would get the preference on strategy.
"Maybe it wasn’t a perfect harmonic race between us as a team because it didn’t fall exactly into the place with what we normally go by," Norris said. “It’s an example of what can happen in racing sometimes. I think we both want, as drivers, things not to be overly strict. We don’t want to be told not to race.”
Piastri also favored keeping things simple and not letting McLaren's “papaya rules” get too complicated.
“Ultimately there are race situations where being the second car from the team on track ... you’ve got a lot less to lose,” Piastri said. “I think it would be unfair to neutralize that just because of wanting to be on the same strategy.”
Verstappen looks for rain ‘chaos’
Verstappen says the Dutch crowd “definitely brings a smile on my face when I’m driving,” but his title defense hasn't given him much else to smile about.
Verstappen is the best of the non-McLaren drivers but there's still a gulf of 97 points separating him from Piastri. The Dutch driver said Thursday his aim is “just to try to make the best of it” for the rest of 2025 and that he doesn't have any real target in the standings.
Verstappen won the last wet race at Zandvoort in 2023 and his best hope of a fourth career win at his home GP might be the chance of rain affecting Saturday's qualifying and Sunday's race.
“That always creates a bit of chaos, so we just need to see what happens,” he said.
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