McLaren dominate final practice at Dutch GP

McLaren drivers dominated the final practice session at the Dutch Grand Prix on Saturday, with Britain’s Lando Norris outpacing teammate Oscar Piastri to set the fastest time.

Norris, who trails his Australian teammate by nine points in the championship title race, clocked the quickest time of one minute 8.972 seconds, 0.242 seconds ahead of Piastri.

Unlike Friday’s sessions, which were marked by multiple interruptions and crashes, the drivers managed to stay on the track in dry conditions.

The result means Norris has outpaced Piastri in all three practice sessions and seems to be carrying the momentum ahead of the battle for pole position later Saturday.

The chasing pack were again left trailing in McLaren’s wake, with the third-placed driver — George Russell from Mercedes — nearly a second behind.

Home favourite Max Verstappen was fifth and faces an uphill battle to make the podium in front of his “orange army” of fans at Zandvoort.

McLaren have picked up after the three-week summer break where they left off, also out performing the rest of the grid in two chaotic practice sessions on Friday. 

Norris was fastest in both sessions, with Piastri second in the first session and narrowly pipped into third by a surprisingly quick Fernando Alonso in his Aston Martin. 

The constructors’ championship is all but sewn up for the papaya outfit, with McLaren 299 points clear of their nearest rivals. 

Verstappen is in the unfamiliar position of third, far adrift of title contention. He will be hoping for rain on Sunday, as he excels in wet weather conditions.

The qualifying session takes place at 3pm (1300 GMT). Grid position is seen as even more important at Zandvoort than elsewhere as it is a challenging circuit to overtake.