Max Verstappen might have fallen short by just 0.023s from topping second practice for this weekend's Dutch Grand Prix, but the local hero is still full of confidence about his prospects for Sunday's race.
Verstappen has won eight races in a row so far in 2023, and has racked up two consecutive victories at his home race in Zandvoort, making him very much the favourite to win again.
But he won't take a 'clean sweep' of sessions. Having been almost three tenths ahead of the rest of the field in the first practice session, he narrowly failed to overhail McLaren's Lando Norris in FP2.
Afterwards he blamed traffic on the circuit, aborting his first high speed runs on soft tyres when he came out of the chicane to hit a logjam of traffic going into turn 13.
Haas' Nico Hulkenberg summoned by race stewards afterward to explain the incident. "The drivers agreed that Hulkenberg was affected by the cars in front of him and slowed, thereby impeding Verstappen," the official decision concluded.
"As this was FP2 the drivers agreed that it did not rise to the standard of 'Unnecessarily Impeding'," the statement continued. "As the closing speeds at this location are significant, the incident looked more dramatic than what it was but the drivers agreed that it was not particularly dangerous."
Verstappen had certainly brushed off the incident by the time he spoke to the media in the paddock after the end of the session. "I think overall FP2 was really difficult to get a clean lap, there were a lot of cars always around," he concluded.
Overall, Verstappen was pretty happy with the way the day had gone. “Pretty good. Tried some things on the car," he said. “It was fine, but we have a few things that we want to improve.
"It’s just particular corners I was not really happy with the balance, so it’s all about trying to sort that out a little bit more.”
"Even on the long runs the car was handling quite well, so overall I think it was quite a good day," he insisted. “Still feel good.
"I think the car has a lot of potential to again have a good day tomorrow [for qualifying]. Just need to fine tune a few things and I’m pretty confident that we can be ahead.”
Although he felt that FP2 had been "a little bit more difficult" today, Verstappen's biggest scare actually came toward the end of the first session when he went on a trip through the gravel at turn 12.
Afterward he said that loose sand and dirt on the track had not been to blame: “There is always a bit of sand around," he pointed out.
"I was, I think, too close to the car ahead. But I still wanted to see if I could brake later,” he explained.
"As soon as you have the oversteer you don’t want to spin or whatever, so you just go across the gravel trap. But it was all under control.”
Although Verstappen still looks very much the man to beat this weekend, 16 drivers were within eighth tenths of Norris' top time and there were eight different constructors in the top ten.
That shows how close the field is as Formula 1 returns from its summer break and the first Grand Prix since the Hungarian race at he end of July.
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