Practice report

F1 Austrian GP: Lando Norris heads McLaren 1-2 from Max Verstappen in FP2

Norris on top from McLaren team-mate Piastri and Red Bull’s Verstappen in second practice at F1 Austrian GP

Lando Norris was fastest in the second free practice session for the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix as he returned to the cockpit for the first time since crashing into his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri in Canada.

Having accepted blame for running to Piastri in Montreal, Norris then sat out FP1 at the Red Bull Ring as Alex Dunne took over and impressed with the fourth-fastest time.

Norris made up for lost time and set the pace with a 1m04.580s enough to put him 0.157s ahead of championship leader Piastri, with Max Verstappen best of the rest in third for Red Bull.

Lance Stroll was the only other driver to get within half a second of the McLaren pacesetters, while Charles Leclerc was fifth for Ferrari having also sat out FP1, who took a trip over the gravel at Turn 6 midway through the session.

George Russell won in Canada and went fastest in the morning running in Spielberg but could only put his Mercedes sixth in FP2, with Yuki Tsunoda seventh, ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto, Fernando Alonso and a struggling Lewis Hamilton.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images

With Hamilton almost a second behind the pace of Norris and having had gearbox issues in FP1, his poor day was summed up when he was summoned to the stewards for blocking Andrea Kimi Antonelli early on in FP2.

There was concern at the start of the session for Liam Lawson, who was reporting that: “If I let go of the steering it goes hard-right.”.

The latter stages of the session were given over to long runs, with Verstappen and Piastri opting for stints on the C5 compound.

F1 Austrian GP - FP2 results

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	L. Norris McLaren	4	McLaren	Mercedes	35	1'04.580		S	240.706
2	O. Piastri McLaren	81	McLaren	Mercedes	35	+0.157 1'04.737	0.157	S	240.122
3	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	Red Bull	Red Bull	24	+0.318 1'04.898	0.161	S	239.526
4	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	Aston Martin	Mercedes	32	+0.442 1'05.022	0.124	S	239.069
5	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	32	+0.610 1'05.190	0.168	S	238.453
6	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	34	+0.649 1'05.229	0.039	S	238.311
7	Y. Tsunoda Red Bull Racing	22	Red Bull	Red Bull	31	+0.712 1'05.292	0.063	S	238.081
8	G. Bortoleto Sauber	5	Sauber	Ferrari	31	+0.831 1'05.411	0.119	S	237.648
9	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	Aston Martin	Mercedes	31	+0.877 1'05.457	0.046	S	237.481
10	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44	Ferrari	Ferrari	34	+0.931 1'05.511	0.054	S	237.285
11	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12	Mercedes	Mercedes	35	+0.957 1'05.537	0.026	S	237.191
12	L. Lawson Racing Bulls	30	RB	Honda	31	+0.963 1'05.543	0.006	S	237.169
13	I. Hadjar Racing Bulls	6	RB	Honda	34	+0.967 1'05.547	0.004	S	237.155
14	P. Gasly Alpine	10	Alpine	Renault	36	+1.033 1'05.613	0.066	S	236.916
15	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31	Haas	Ferrari	31	+1.118 1'05.698	0.085	S	236.609
16	A. Albon Williams	23	Williams	Mercedes	37	+1.185 1'05.765	0.067	S	236.368
17	C. Sainz Williams	55	Williams	Mercedes	37	+1.234 1'05.814	0.049	S	236.192
18	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87	Haas	Ferrari	35	+1.255 1'05.835	0.021	S	236.117
19	N. Hulkenberg Sauber	27	Sauber	Ferrari	35	+1.338 1'05.918	0.083	S	235.820
20	F. Colapinto Alpine	43	Alpine	Renault	34	+1.596 1'06.176	0.258	S	234.900
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