Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on Sports Extra 3

As a driver, you need that downshift to be consistent. You need to know exactly what is going to happen as you go downshifting through the gears.

"I was nearly in the wall because of that downshift. Ridiculous."

How's Max Verstappen doing at his home session?

Well he's just arrived on the scene with a 1:14.942, putting him fourth in the standings. And on the hard tyre, too.

Ferrari look in decent nick today.

Lewis Hamilton has bettered his previous time with a 1:14.742 while his team-mate Charles Leclerc looks pacey himself with a 1:14.925.

Sandwiched in between the two is George Russell who's 0.166 seconds behind Hamilton and certainly looks on it, too.

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on Sports Extra 3

Carlos Sainz's car just got massively unstable as he went into the entry phase in the corner. But more importantly, he has dragged gravel right across the circuit as he came back on.

There's a brief yellow flag as Carlos Sainz has a wobble going into the penultimate corner as his Williams goes into the gravel before he wrestles it back out to get to the pits.

Not the kinda corner I'd want to be doing that on, let me tell you.

Lewis Hamilton sets the fastest time of the session so far with a 1:15.124.

Two tenths faster than Kimi Antonelli but the times keep coming down as the track continues to dry.

1. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) - 1:15.351

2. George Russell (Mercedes) +0.094

3. Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.188

4. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.267

5. Liam Lawson (Red Bull) +0.280

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on Sports Extra 3

This is a brand new car from the one Yuki Tsunoda last drove, so to come in at a circuit like Zandvoort, which is very busy for a driving point of view: there are a lot of corners that come quickly, thick and fast after each other, and not much in the way way of long straights to relax and take a breath as a driver.

It's also very windy because it's next to the sea, and that blows sand onto the track, which can change grip levels. So there are a lot of challenges from a driving perspective.

Kimi Antonelli has breached the 1:15 barrier now with a 1:15.351 and he looks very comfortable in his Mercedes right now.

With just over 10 minutes of the session gone, Max Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas, Gabriel Bortoleto, Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez are the only drivers yet to set a time.

The times are changing that much it's hard to keep up at the minute.

As I type this, Kimi Antonelli's just set a 1:16.112 on the medium with George Russell half a second behind in P2.

As for the tyre to be on, well it looks like the medium is where it's at, but the two Williams cars have stuck a set of softs on.

Interesting..

The times they are a'tumblin' now.

Championship leader Kimi Antonelli's just motored his Mercedes into P1 with a stellar 1:18.264 on the medium tyre.

His team-mate George Russell is currently third fastest with a time of 1:20.930.

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on Sports Extra 3

We're just looking at Oscar Piastri, who is on the medium tyres and interestingly, it looked like everybody up and down the pit lane was sat on intermediate tyres, thinking that was going to be the tyre, because it was damp. But that little early radio call and exploratory lap from Nico Hulkenberg just confirming it is dry enough for slicks now.

Yuki Tsunoda is out on track for the first time this season.

Racing Bulls have deployed a set of hards to his car with these much-changing conditions.

Speaking of which, Oscar Piastri's gone one better, with a 1:20.480. Over five seconds faster than anyone else in these early stages.

Slick time it is, then.

Oscar Piastri has zoomed into P1 with a 1:23.311 on the medium tyre. That's 2.251 seconds faster than Lewis Hamilton's previous fastest time on the intermediate.

Is it time for slicks? Well McLaren have bucked the trend here and have sent Oscar Piastri out with a set of mediums.

Ooh er.

Nico Hulkenberg's right, it's looking quite dry out on track right now other than the lead in to turn one, really.

Hulkenberg sets the first time of the session with a 1:26.555 but shortly after Lewis Hamilton goes almost a second faster and sets a 1:25.562.

"It's dry already, so maybe slicks."

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on Sports Extra 3

This is a big opportunity for Yuki Tsunoda - he's a big fan favourite - so it's great to see him get another opportunity.

And we know that Racing Bulls can mix it in the midfield, so he's got a chance to put on a show here.

Nico Hulkenberg and Kimi Antonelli are the first cars out on track.

They're shortly joined by the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton and the McLaren of Oscar Piastri.

With a drying track, they're all on the intermediate.