Lewis Hamilton finished on top of the time charts of the 2021 Dutch Grand Prix at the Zandvoort circuit in the Netherlands in the first free practice session (FP1).

Max Verstappen was in second position, just 0.097 seconds behind the Briton. Carlos Sainz was 0.101 seconds behind in third position.

The thirteenth race of the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship saw the Formula 1 teams return to this venue for the first time since 1985. The scheduled return of the Formula 1 race in 2020 was stymied by the Covid19 pandemic.

The sixty-minute long free practice session started under clear skies with the air temperature at 18 degrees C and the track temperature at 25 degrees C.

The Pirelli tyre choice at this race is the white-striped hard compound tyres (C1), yellow-striped medium compound tyres (C2), and red-striped soft compound tyres (C3).

After the incessant downpour at the previous race im Spa that saw a severely curtailed race, it was a relief for the drivers to get some laps in.

The drivers were on a mixture of hard and medium compound tyres. The Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team and Red Bull Racing drivers were on the hard compound tyres.

The track is close to the seaside and the wind was blowing a lot of sand and dust onto the track.

Verstappen sent the crowd into raptures as he went to the top of the time charts with a lap time of 1m13.045s. Bottas briefly held the top spot before being displaced by Vertsappen again.

As the drivers were learning the new circuit, a few drivers like Yuki Tsunoda and Esteban Ocon had spins. Sebastian Vettel suffered a power unit failure and brought out the red flags.

Lando Norris went to the top of the time charts with a lap time of 1m12.679s just before the session was suspended.

The session was resumed with just six minutes of the session remaining. The drivers were all on the soft compound tyres and were led by Kimi Räikkönen onto the circuit.

Sainz set the fastest lap when the session resumed before the two Mercedes drivers went to the top of the time charts. Hamilton with a lap time of 1m11.500s set the fastest lap of the session.

Verstappen ended the session just 0.097 seconds behind Hamilton. The two Ferrari drivers, Sainz and Charles Leclerc, took third and fourth position on the second flying lap.

Bottas finished in fifth position. The two Alpine F1 drivers, Fernando Alonso and Ocon, were in sixth and seventh position.

Antonio Giovinazzi, Lance Stroll and Pierre Gasly rounded off the top ten positions. Tsunoda did not set a timed lap after an issue with his car.

A significant amount of the time was lost under the red flag. On a new track, the lost time can have a significant impact on the preparation for the drivers.

2021 Dutch GP Free Practice 1 Results:

Pos	No	Driver	Nat.	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team	01:11.500		17
2	33	Max Verstappen	NED	Red Bull Racing	01:11.597	+0.097s	17
3	55	Carlos Sainz	ESP	Scuderia Ferrari	01:11.601	+0.101s	19
4	16	Charles Leclerc	MON	Scuderia Ferrari	01:11.623	+0.123s	18
5	77	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team	01:11.738	+0.238s	17
6	14	Fernando Alonso	ESP	Alpine F1 Team	01:12.158	+0.658s	18
7	31	Esteban Ocon	FRA	Alpine F1 Team	01:12.231	+0.731s	17
8	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ITA	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN	01:12.359	+0.859s	18
9	18	Lance Stroll	CAN	Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team	01:12.431	+0.931s	17
10	10	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda	01:12.515	+1.015s	18
11	4	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren F1 Team	01:12.679	+1.179s	17
12	6	Nicholas Latifi	CAN	Williams Racing	01:12.907	+1.407s	16
13	7	Kimi Räikkönen	FIN	Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN	01:13.053	+1.553s	19
14	3	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	McLaren F1 Team	01:13.081	+1.581s	17
15	63	George Russell	GBR	Williams Racing	01:13.181	+1.681s	15
16	11	Sergio Perez	MEX	Red Bull Racing	01:13.328	+1.828s	17
17	9	Nikita Mazepin	RAF	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	01:13.516	+2.016s	14
18	47	Mick Schumacher	GER	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	01:13.847	+2.347s	16
19	5	Sebastian Vettel	GER	Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team	01:15.984	+4.484s	6
20	22	Yuki Tsunoda	JAP	Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda			3