F1: Verstappen tops Alonso in Dutch GP opening practice

Dutch favorite Max Verstappen turned a lap of 1m11.852s to lead opening practice for the 2023 Dutch GP at Zandvoort.

Verstappen’s lap was 0.278s faster than the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso and 0.373s in front of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes.

Sergio Perez was 4th in the #11 Red Bull Honda, 0.471s behind his teammate Verstappen.

Alex Albon rounded out the top-5 for Williams.

Ferrari and Alfa Romeo have yet to run the soft tires, having opted for longer run programs in FP1.

Should F1 try to slow Verstappen?

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz has said it would be unfair for Formula 1 to rein in the dominant Max Verstappen and his Red Bull team as they “deserve” to be on top.

“I always try to put myself in the position of others when I’m analyzing these questions,” Sainz said, ahead of Verstappen’s home race in Zandvoort.

“And if my team had done what Red Bull has done, and I am doing the job that Max is doing, I wouldn’t like Formula 1 to change anything because I think they deserve to be in the position they’re in.

“They’ve simply done an incredible job with this year’s car. Max is just driving at a very high level.

“Unless the opposite is proven, they deserve to have the success they’re having because there’s equal opportunity for everyone, and they were beating us, and they are dominating F1 fair and square.”

Practice 2 is up in 2 hours.  Will it stay dry? There’s still a small chance of some showers bubbling up today, which could put a bit of a dampener on the team’s best laid plans.

Will Verstappen keep his nose in front, or will the chasing pack start to close the gap?

2023 Dutch GP Practice 1 Results