Lewis Hamilton’s mission to inject some fun into his Ferrari career was put to an early test as he finished a shaky first practice at the Dutch Grand Prix over a second-and-a-half adrift of pace-setter Lando Norris.
The seven-time world champion said on Thursday that he was determined to enjoy his driving again, after describing himself as “absolutely useless” and suggesting Ferrari should replace him after he started and finished 12th in Hungary before the sport’s summer break.
But the 40-year-old’s bid to bring back the fun-factor did not start well as he spun just over 10 minutes into the weekend’s opening running before managing to keep the car out of the gravel.
He was not the only one struggling for grip as Yuki Tsunoda spun off track before the session was red-flagged as Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli locked up and was unable to get himself out of the gravel.
⏪ Rewinding to a few moments before Antonelli went off…
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 29, 2025
Here’s Lewis Hamilton having a 360° moment on the approach to Turn 3 😮#F1 #DutchGP pic.twitter.com/oCGOSHyidj
Neither Hamilton nor his team-mate Charles Leclerc could extract any pace out of the struggling Ferrari as they ended the session 14th and 15th – with the British driver a staggering 1.682sec adrift of Norris.
“We should focus about what we are doing now, we are miles off, like miles off,” said a despondent Leclerc on the team radio.
McLaren’s title protagonists Norris and Oscar Piastri blew away with the field with a dominant pace around the banked Zandvoort circuit.
Norris finished 0.292 seconds clear of the Australian and over half a second ahead of the impressive Aston Martin pair of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso in third and fourth.
Norris has won three of the last four races – including his victory in Hungary last time out – to close the championship gap to nine points with 10 races remaining.
Alex Albon was fifth for Williams but almost nine tenths off the pace, with George Russell over a second adrift in seventh.
Home favourite Max Verstappen could offer little to excite the fervent Dutch fans, finishing sixth and 0.940sec adrift of Norris’ time.
The four-time world champion ended the session in bizarre fashion, becoming beached in the gravel at turn one following a practice start after the chequered flag.
Second practice gets under way at 1600 local time (1500BST).
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