Verstappen fastest in opening Dutch GP session

Max Verstappen topped Friday's first practice at Zandvoort, the Red Bull charger and local hero heading Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso by 0.278s.

Lewis Hamilton's best effort landed the Mercedes driver third in the pecking order, while Sergio Perez and Williams' Alex Albon rounded off the top five.

Save for an off by Haas' Nico Hulkenberg that triggered a red flag, it was a relatively uneventful session but one which Charles Leclerc concluded a lowly P16 for Ferrari.

• Dutch Grand Prix Free Practice 1 - Results

The sun was shining at the outset of practice, and everyone rejoiced as rain and thunderstorms were predicted to roll in to Zandvoort on Saturday.

But F1 teams were especially relieved to enjoy a dry session in order to validate the numerous upgrades introduced this weekend.

And so was Ferrari junior Robert Shwartzman who was slot in to replace Carlos Sainz as part of the Scuderia's mandatory 'young driver' obligations.

Hard and medium tyres were the rubber of choice when the session kicked off as drivers set aside the soft compound for later.

Verstappen lost no time marking his territory, the local hero going 1.5s faster than his nearest rival on his opening effort conducted on the hard tyre.

But as the track rubbered in, Verstappen consistently lowered the benchmark time, keeping Hamilton and Perez over 0.6s adrift.

Meanwhile, McLaren had completed only a handful of laps during the session's first 15 minutes, as had Aston Martin.

Over at Williams, the Grove-based outfit continued its traditional strong Friday form, with Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant – running on the soft tyre – snatching P2 and P3 at the mid-way point of FP1, while Perez picked up the baton from Verstappen as the fastest runner.

Aston's Lance Stroll had only pit a handful of laps under his belt when he was called back to the pits after team and driver identified a strange noise originating from the car's power unit.

With a little over than 15 minutes to go, Hulkenberg celebrated his new contract with Haas by losing the rear and putting his car in the barrier at Turn 13, causing the red flags to fly.

Damage appeared minimal, but a close inspection of the VF-23's floor was in order.

The session resumed with 10 minutes left on the clock and with the bulk of the field opting for the red-walled-soft tyre which forecasted a flurry of fast laps.

Verstappen immediately took the top spot, with Alonso trailing the Red Bull by less than three tenths, with Hamilton just behind in third.

As the checkered flag was brandished signaling the end of the session, Verstappen indulged in a brief off-track excursion, but the Dutchman still enjoyed a strong start to his home race weekend.

Alonso and Hamilton remained second and third while Perez and Albon completed the top five.

Lando Norris eventually hauled his McLaren up t o P6, the Briton just edging Sargeant and Piastri, with Yuki Tsunoda and Alpine's Esteban Ocon rounding off the top-ten.

Russell topped the second half of the field, the second Mercedes followed by Gasly and Ricciardo.

It was a low-key opening session for Ferrari with Charles Leclerc clocking in a lowly P19, while Shwartzman closed out the field in P19 as Stroll failed to complete a lap due to a technical issue.

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter