ASTON MARTIN’S Lance Stroll walked away from a high-speed crash as Lando Norris delivered a commanding performance during practice for the Dutch Grand Prix today.

Canadian Stroll, who was forced to miss the Spanish Grand Prix after wrist surgery in June, carried huge speed into the banked turn three in the early stages of second practice but locked up and careered into the barriers.

There was extensive damage to his car but the 26-year-old was able to climb out and Aston Martin confirmed he was OK on his return to the garage.

Max Verstappen, who was behind Stroll on the track, expressed immediate concern on the radio, saying: “Is he OK with his hands? I saw how he hit the wall.”

It was a disappointing moment for Stroll after a positive first running today, where he finished third fastest ahead of team-mate Fernando Alonso in fourth.

Aston Martin proved to the be the nearest challengers to McLaren, for whom title hopeful Norris set an impressive pace.

Carlos Sainz praised Norris today for blocking out the “noise” during his title challenge and believes his former team-mate receives unfair criticism.

Norris has publicly questioned himself at various stages of the season, bemoaning poor qualifying performances and mistakes in races that allowed Piastri to take an early title lead.

Sainz, who was team-mates with Norris at McLaren when the British driver made his Formula One debut in 2019, has been impressed with the way the 25-year-old has handled the scrutiny that has come his way.

“In a championship fight there’s always going to be ups and downs,” Sainz told the PA news agency in Zandvoort.

“He’s had his downs and he’s recovered well from them. He gets a lot of criticism for them also.

“The British media are tough on him with how he handles himself mentally and all this and he’s managed to block all the noise and put himself back in the championship fight now, so let’s see where it goes.”

Norris has won three of the last four races — including his victory in Hungary last time out — to close the championship gap to team-mate Oscar Piastri to nine points with 10 races remaining.

He topped both sessions today, finishing the day 0.089 seconds ahead of third-placed Piastri with Alonso separating the pair.

George Russell was fourth fastest for Mercedes but he was almost four tenths off the pace.

It was another difficult day for Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari.

The seven-time world champion said on Thursday that he was determined to enjoy his driving again, after describing himself as “absolutely useless” and suggesting Ferrari should replace him after he started and finished 12th in Hungary before Formula One’s summer break.

But the 40-year-old’s bid to bring back the fun-factor did not start well as he spun just over 10 minutes into the weekend’s opening running before managing to keep the car out of the gravel.

He finished FP1 a lowly 15th, over a second-and-a-half off Norris’s pace, and he suffered another 360 degree spin during the afternoon session.

Leclerc had said during FP1 that Ferrari were “miles off.”

The pair improved during the second running, with Hamilton sixth and Leclerc eighth, but the British driver was over eight tenths adrift of Norris’ pace.

Home favourite Max Verstappen was unable to offer the fervent Dutch support much encouragement. The four-time world champion finished the opening session in the gravel and ended the day almost six-tenths behind Norris.