Round 13 of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship 2021 began with training on Friday at Circuit Zandvoort as the teams were preparing for the Dutch Grand Prix on Sunday.
The track action on Friday consisted of two 60 minute sessions – FP1 and FP2 – on the 4.259 kilometer track with 14 corners – the Dutch sun greeted everyone after the rain that followed the Belgian excursion last weekend.
Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin were quickly ready to go in FP1. Formula 1 cars made their return to the coastal circuit for the first time since 1985. The Haas couple opened their accounts with a handful of scouts on the mid-size Pirelli P Zero Yellow tires. Progress was short-lived, however, after a long red flag stop due to recovery from Sebastian Vettel’s failed Aston Martin. With just six minutes to go, Schumacher and Mazepin were finally released back onto the track – this time on the soft red mixture. Mazepin then put a 1: 13.516 in 17th place, Schumacher directly behind in 18th place with 1: 13.847.
In FP2, both VF-21s left the garage on the middle surface before switching to softs for their qualifying simulations. Mazepin duly put in a 1: 12.835 before an off at turn 11 landed the Russians in the gravel – his session ended abruptly and led to a brief interruption of the red flag. Schumacher set a best time of 1: 12.607 on the softs. The German ended his Friday with a fuel-rich long run that tested both the medium and soft mixes. In the checkered flag, Schumacher took 17th place, Mazepin 19th place in the time table.
The Uralkali Haas F1 Team ran a total of 74 laps on Friday in FP1 and FP2 – 48 from Schumacher and 26 from Mazepin.
Nikita Mazepin: “It was a lot more fun than I expected. The first time I crossed the bench in the last corner, I experienced something completely different with my body – it felt pretty cool! A new feeling for me, for sure, in Formula 1. Overall, it was a pretty challenging day. I was very happy with the car in FP1 and then we made some changes that weren’t quite what we expected as the track improved. Learned a lot and I’m looking forward to getting out of there in FP3. “
Mick Schumacher: “I think the word roller coaster fits really well here! It’s been a decent day, there’s still a lot to learn about this new track, but I’m sure it’s the same for everyone. I still think we still have to optimize a bit to get everything out of it, but I think we are on the right track. We still have some head start, but I’m sure we’ll find it. Tomorrow it might look different, but we can be very happy for today. “
Günther Steiner: “A very good track – I find it very interesting and everyone is very excited because it’s all new and different from the other tracks. I drive too many laps, but the laps we drove all went well. FP2 started well. Except for the spin and the end in the gravel for Nikita, we had a good session. We get a lot of data and the drivers get used to it on the racetrack. We just try to learn as much as possible. “
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