A strong start to proceedings at Zandvoort
Lance showed top-six pace on the opening day of running at the Dutch Grand Prix.
Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One™ Team completed plenty of running on Friday at Zandvoort, with both drivers putting in lots of laps around the tight and twisty circuit.
Lance
Lance started his day of running with a stint on the Hard tyre at the start of Free Practice One, putting in an early marker of 1.15.712 before a red flag was called.
When the session resumed, he stuck with the same tyres and extended his stint to 13 laps.
He switched to the Medium tyre after that, and put in a time of 1.14.257, and stuck with the tyres for a long stint totalling 17 laps.
He finished the session in 12th having not done a lap on the Soft tyres with 30 on the board in total.
Dutch GP
Circuit Zandvoort, home of the Dutch Grand Prix, is short and twisty – a blend of sweeping, old-school bends and ultra-modern steep banking – which combine to create a unique drivers' challenge with a festival vibe for the fans.
Lance started FP2 with a nine-lap run on the Medium tyre, with a best time of 1.14.122.
After that, he switched to a new set of Soft tyres and put in his best time of the day – a 1.12.746.
From there, he stuck with those tyres for a long run until a red flag halted the session.
He ended the day with a short stint on the Medium tyres, with 28 laps in total for the session and finishing up sixth-fastest.
"We had a strong day today around a track I really like. This place is quite different to Spa – which is much faster – and we were strong there as well during Friday practice.
"It is a case of having to wait and see whether we can carry this momentum into qualifying tomorrow.
"If we can maintain our strong progress, then we should be in a good position to fight for points in the race."
Sebastian
Sebastian's Friday started on the Hard tyre, and with some aerodynamic work, interrupted slightly by the red flag.
Having put in a best time of 1.15.750 on the board, he switched to the Medium tyre for the rest of the session.
His best time came late on – a 1.14.500 and was 15th overall with 28 laps on the board.
For the second session of the day, Sebastian started on the Medium tyre and put in an early benchmark of 1.15.610 in an eight-lap run.
He then switched to the Soft tyre and his best time of the day came on that set – a 1.13.611, which put him 14th fastest in the session.
He returned to the track on another set of Medium tyres, but this run was interrupted due to a late red flag.
He took to the track when it returned to green flag running with a few minutes to go, to up his lap tally for the session to 27.
"It was a bit of a tricky day for us today. FP1 was pretty busy, and there was plenty of traffic, but I never really felt on top of the car in either session.
"Looking at the times, I think our long-run pace looks pretty good, but we still need to focus on our single-lap pace.
"I am not really happy with today's result – I think there is more pace in the car that we can find – but hopefully we can take a step forward overnight and hit the ground running in FP3."
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