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End of work
That brings us to the end of our live ticker today. The sprint is scheduled for tomorrow at 12:00, and of course we will be back in time with a new edition for you. In addition, the qualifying for the Grand Prix awaits us at 16:00.
Have a nice evening and see you then!
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Photos: F1: Dutch Grand Prix (Zandvoort) 2026
Warning for Sainz
One small note: Carlos Sainz received a warning for driving too slowly in the sprint qualifying. Here is the race stewards’ verdict in full:
“Car 55 had to let car 16 pass before turn 13, which affected his lap time delta. Afterwards, the driver accelerated to make up time before entering the pit lane, but still reached the safety car line 1 with a time about five seconds above the prescribed maximum time.”
“The driver explained that he could not accelerate the car as desired because the vehicle’s battery was empty, but also admitted that he could have done more to make up time before entering the pit lane.”
“The race stewards acknowledge the difficulties related to energy management but also agree with the driver that he could have done more to control his time difference, and therefore decide that a warning for the driver is appropriate.”
Honda: New engine an “improvement”
Although both Aston Martin drivers were eliminated in SQ1, Shintaro Orihara from Honda says: “We were able to see an improvement between the old version [of the power unit] and the update.”
“In both sessions, we were able to complete the entire distance without reliability issues and confirmed how the power unit integrates into the Aston Martin chassis.”
“In the sprint qualifying, we identified some areas where improvement is needed, especially in the data settings for driving behavior,” Orihara admits.
The two drivers had already complained about this. “HRC Sakura will analyze the data overnight and conduct bench tests to optimize these parameters for the rest of the weekend,” Orihara announces.
Tsunoda “happy” with P12
The Japanese driver is satisfied with his comeback. He reports: “The car is significantly different from previous years, especially in the high-speed sections. Therefore, it was sometimes difficult.”
“But I am happy with my result in the sprint qualifying. There are still a few areas where I can improve and learn more, but I enjoy the format.”
“The main goal now is tomorrow’s qualifying, so I will continue to improve in every session and hope that tomorrow, when it counts, we can bring everything together,” says Tsunoda.
Teammate Arvid Lindblad is also satisfied with P10. “It was a positive Friday. I am driving in Zandvoort for the first time, so it was not easy, especially on a sprint weekend,” says the rookie.
“I am really happy with my lap in SQ2, but not so happy with SQ3,” he says, adding: “There are a few things we will discuss with the team tonight, and hopefully we can make another step forward for tomorrow.”
Hülkenberg: Good feeling was gone
The German was seventh in practice but only finished P14 in the sprint qualifying. He reports: “It was a day with two very different sessions. FP1 went positively. I had a good feeling for the car and we seemed well set up.”
“In the sprint qualifying, however, the feeling was different, and I did not have the same grip, which made it harder to find the same ‘sweet spot’ as in the morning. We will look at what changed between the two sessions.”
Teammate Gabriel Bortoleto made it into SQ3 and finished ninth. “FP1 was already promising, and after some fine-tuning, we were able to make another step forward in the sprint qualifying,” he says satisfied.
“Since we start the sprint from P9 tomorrow, our goal is to fight into the points. It will be a tough battle, but I am confident about what we can achieve from there,” says Bortoleto.
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Russell: Won’t be a walkover
The pole sitter explains meanwhile: “The summer break came at the right time. It gave me the chance to switch off and start this weekend with new momentum. I came here with an open mindset.”
“Since my confidence was not necessarily at its highest, I tried to approach this weekend like the first race of the season: not to think too much about it and focus on the essentials.”
“So far, that seems to be working well,” says Russell, who knows: “The really decisive moment is the Grand Prix qualifying tomorrow. McLaren looks very fast, and Ferrari also seems strong based on what we saw in the first practice.”
Andrew Shovlin also warns: “Regarding performance, we still have some things to analyze. We don’t look particularly strong in the faster corners. So we need to find out why before qualifying.”
“Also, in our long run in the first practice, we were a bit behind Ferrari’s pace. Tomorrow morning we will see if that is really the case. It will definitely be very close, and we have to get the maximum out of the W17 if we want to win on Sunday.”
Antonelli: Confidence shaken
The championship leader reports after P5 today: “On my first lap in SQ1, I went into the last corner with a bit too much speed and caused damage to the car. That cost us some performance.”
Andrew Shovlin from Mercedes says about his rescue: “Kimi went off track in SQ1 at turn 13 due to a tailwind gust.” The Italian himself emphasizes: “Although the team did their best with the repair, I had great difficulties in the slow corners.
“Once you have experienced such a scare, it can be difficult to rebuild confidence and bring everything together,” he explains.
“Nevertheless, the gaps were very small, so we can take positives from the sprint qualifying. We will now focus on running the best possible sprint race,” says Antonelli.
However, he knows: “That will be difficult because the field at the front is very close together and overtaking will not be easy.”
His crash is shown again here in the video:
Haas: No more was possible
The conclusion for the US team is similar to Williams. “I think we couldn’t have done more today,” says Esteban Ocon, who at least made it into SQ2 and finished 15th there.
“The car felt good, and there were no particular problems,” he reports. It looked very different for teammate Oliver Bearman. The Brit was already eliminated in SQ1 as 17th.
“FP1 was not productive for us at all, and we had lots of problems with the front wing, so we were a bit in the dark before the sprint qualifying,” he reports.
“I was actually quite happy with the lap but left a bit of time on the track, especially in turn 11,” says Bearman, who already writes off the sprint.
“The goal is still the race on Sunday, as this is our biggest chance to score points. Therefore, the sprint does not play such a big role in terms of position, but it does in terms of insights for the main race,” he emphasizes.
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