Antonelli remains the driver to beat as F1 returns at the Dutch Grand Prix

ZANDVOORT, Netherlands (AP) — Max Verstappen is staying in Formula 1, the Dutch Grand Prix is leaving and Kimi Antonelli remains the driver to beat.

F1 returned from its mid-season break with an intriguing challenge for the drivers Friday, but Antonelli still led the way.

The single practice session for the Dutch Grand Prix was held on a drying, constantly-changing track after rain.

McLaren and Ferrari drivers traded quickest laps before Mercedes’ Antonelli beat both rival teams late in the session, going fastest by 0.121 of a second from McLaren’s Lando Norris, who won the last race in Hungary on July 26 on a similarly tight and twisty track.

Antonelli’s Mercedes teammate George Russell was third and the Ferraris of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc fourth and fifth. A day after his new contract at Red Bull through 2030 was confirmed, Verstappen was frustrated in 11th, taking a trip through the gravel as he struggled with the handling.

The 2026 cars and their formidable electrical power have yet to be tried in serious rain as part of a race weekend. That briefly seemed like it would happen in practice as teams started on intermediate tires, but the track soon dried out.

The weather could yet affect qualifying later Friday for Saturday’s sprint race.

The Dutch Grand Prix is a unique race. Here’s why it’s leaving

Verstappen may have committed to Red Bull on a new contract through 2030, but there’s no sign of the Dutch race staying beyond this year.

The 80s rock anthem “The Final Countdown” rang around the venue Thursday as organizers gear up for the sixth and final race since returning to the F1 calendar in 2021.

The race is a privately run operation in a calendar packed with races that boast government backing. Citing “risks and responsibilities,” organizers said in 2024 they’d rather “go out on a high” with two more races and no more.

Something else makes the Dutch Grand Prix stand out, too. Almost all fans attending are barred from driving to the track because the seaside resort town puts strict rules on traffic. Instead, they must take the train from Amsterdam or — in a uniquely Dutch take on F1 — join the tens of thousands riding bikes to Zandvoort.

Lawson and Tsunoda need to learn fast

Liam Lawson only learned on Monday he was being promoted to the main Red Bull team after Isack Hadjar injured his wrist. Lawson has only tried the unfamiliar car on the simulator so far, in a hastily arranged session Wednesday.

Lawson’s promotion means Yuki Tsunoda is back on the grid with Racing Bulls. He hasn’t raced under the new-for-2026 regulations at all. Given those challenges, Lawson’s 14th place in practice — three behind Verstappen — was solid, as was Tsunoda’s 17th.

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