Rosell leads Mercedes 1-2 as Verstappen has trouble practicing first Dutch Grand Prix | Formula 1®

George Russell drove Lewis Hamilton in a Mercedes 1-2 in the opening practice of the Dutch Grand Prix, as home champion Max Verstappen was held up by a suspected transmission problem.

Mercedes’ speed was a declaration of intent, with Russell clocking 1min 12.455secs to finish 0.240secs ahead of Hamilton around the 4km Zandvoort track, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz back in third.

Once this happens: follow all the action from the first practice of the Dutch Grand Prix

Championship leader Verstappen, who won at home last year, had the fastest lap on hard tyres, but then slowed dramatically before finally stopping the car.

The session was red flagged 45 minutes earlier, with his wrecked car removed from the track, with Verstappen, who waved to the crowd on his way back to the pits, taking no further part.

His Red Bull teammate, Sergio Perez, had a tough session, including running too far in Turn 9 and narrowly avoiding a wall before joining. It was seventh faster overall.

McLaren put in a solid performance, with Lando Norris the fourth-fastest, within half a second of the fastest, while teammate Daniel Ricciardo was 0.1sec behind him in fifth.

Charles Leclerc was sixth behind Ferrari teammate Sainz in sixth, while alpine duo Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon finished eighth and ninth respectively, albeit more than a second off the lead.

WATCH: Verstappen off track in FP1 due to suspected gearbox issues

Alex Albon completed the top ten for Williams, and teammate Nicholas Latifi a full second quarterback as the Canadian backed the schedules.

Mick Schumacher was 11th for Haas, ahead of Lance Stroll’s flagship Aston Martin and second by Kevin Magnussen’s Haas with Alpha Toure’s Pierre Gasly 14th.

Sebastian Vettel did some big aerodynamic maneuvers for most of the first part of the session and eventually ended up in 15th, with Zhou Guanyu in 16th and Yuki Tsunoda in 17th.

Valtteri Bottas was 18th, with Verstappen – who only ran the hard tires due to his stop – 19th.

The second practice begins in 1600 local time.

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