Norris pleased with McLaren’s pace but wary of Aston Martin threat

Lando Norris left Friday practice at the Dutch Grand Prix satisfied with McLaren’s performance but admitted Aston Martin and others are uncomfortably close after a competitive opening day at the Dutch GP.

The Briton topped both practice sessions as Formula 1 returned from its summer break, with McLaren continuing to show strong form on Zandvoort’s 4.2 km layout.

But Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin emerged as a surprise major challenger, finishing just under a tenth shy of Norris in FP2 and splitting the two McLarens on the timesheets. Mercedes’ George Russell was also close behind, only 0.384s adrift in fourth position.

“Today was a good day,” Norris said. “You get back into things quite quickly, so it doesn't take too long, but I think that the car was handling well.

“I felt like we made some good improvements from FP1 to FP2, but at the same time, it seemed like the others caught up a bit more than what we would like.

“Aston and Fernando, they were quick in FP1 and FP2 – and have been [quick] recently. A good start, but certainly a bit closer than what we would like for the time being.”

Aston Martin’s Surprising Pace

Aston Martin’s standout performance on Friday follows Team Silverstone’s impressive outing at the Hungarian Grand Prix, where Alonso finished fifth and teammate Lance Stroll took seventh, marking the team’s best result of the 2025 season.

The appears to have made genuine strides, posing a legitimate threat to McLaren’s hopes of dominating at Zandvoort.

Asked who he expects to be McLaren’s closest competition this weekend, Norris replied: “The Astons, they're never that far off in FP2. They quite often and quite consistently are actually quite decent in FP2, and they've certainly been getting better.

“Even in Budapest, they were pretty, they're pretty quick as well. So it's not a big surprise. At the minute, they look like the quickest, but Max [Verstappen] is certainly not far off. He was on a harder tyre, which is not quite as good.

“I think the Astons, the Red Bulls [are our main rivals]. Ferraris seem to struggle a little bit today, but they are normally always like that and then fine on Saturday.”

Piastri cautious about pecking order

Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri finished third, just 0.002s behind Alonso, but the Australian cautioned against reading too much into Friday’s results.

“Honestly, I have no idea [who is our main competition] at this point,” he said. “I need to look back and see who actually finished where in FP2.

“Obviously, a bit surprising to see the Astons up there today, but they were quick in Budapest.

“Today's been a bit strange. I think everyone didn't really know whether to use the tyres when they definitely knew it was going to be dry. Or did you wait a little bit longer, did you take some fuel out.

“There are a lot of things that were not quite as you would normally expect today, so tomorrow will be the only time we'll see where everyone's really at.”

With Aston Martin and Mercedes looming as potential disruptors and Red Bull yet to show its full hand, qualifying on Saturday promises to provide the clearest picture yet of McLaren’s true advantage at Zandvoort.

Read also: McLaren drivers back split strategies despite Hungary debate

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