REPORT: Back to work in Zandvoort

The first track sessions after Formula 1’s summer break have been completed, with any cobwebs quickly blown away by the strong winds that battered the seaside resort of Zandvoort.

Practice 1 started in wet conditions and saw Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant cycle through the wet, intermediate and soft tyres across the opening hour.

With a fresh upgrade package on the FW46, it was our first chance to gather real-world data on the changes.

Alex would record 14 laps, with his best time being a 1:13.159 to place him P6, whilst Logan totalled 12 laps and was P17 with a 1:15.605.

Thankfully the rain would not return in FP2 and we were treated to what proved to be a crucial hour of fully dry running, but the winds remained.

There was a short red flag stoppage when Nico Hulkenberg found the wall at T1 shortly before we began our quali simulations.

Alex’s 1:11.550 placed him in P10, with Logan in P15 following a 1:11.818.

Our pair closed out the day with a race simulation to gather information ahead of Sunday’s 72 laps - Alex would total 32 laps across FP2, with Logan adding another 31 as we head into the weekend.

"Both sessions were okay today, however FP1 felt a little stronger while we’ve been learning about our new aero package and update," Alex shared after Friday.

"Everything seems to be pretty in line with where we expected it to be, and the car doesn’t feel drastically different but that’s also what we expected.

"We’re chipping away at it, but I think we need a bit more pace and there are definitely some areas we know need fixing.

"Coming back from summer break, the bigger issue is feeling a bit rusty and compiled with the wind, rain and a tight and sandy track, it’s just about trying to get back into the groove."

Logan continued our reaction by sharing "It’s hard to tell how the upgrades are performing with the wind being so strong making it feel unpredictable and tricky to drive.

"Today’s really a day to get the rust off and feel comfortable in the car again after the summer break and we did that.

"There are definitely some points to improve on tomorrow, but we ticked off most of what we needed to do.

"There’s always opportunity, so we’ll focus on ourselves and aim to put the best car together come Qualifying."

Sven Smeets, Sporting Director, concluded by commenting "The weather in FP1 didn’t really help us to get a first understanding of our upgrade package.

"A wet, sandy track and wind gusts up to 90km/h made it a difficult session. Nevertheless, we made the most of it and we had a good session in FP2.

"There are definitely some points that we can improve overnight for tomorrow, but we can already see that it is going to be very tight in the midfield.

"It looks at the moment that we’ll start with a dry Qualifying, but rain is expected from around 16:00hrs onwards so it could very quickly become a tricky afternoon."