Practice report

F1 Barcelona GP: Lando Norris edges 0.009s clear of George Russell

It was tight at the top in FP2 ahead of the Barcelona GP, with Norris finishing Friday’s running ahead of Russell

Lando Norris snatched the fastest time of the Formula 1 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix's second practice session from George Russell by just 0.009s, as Oscar Piastri also got within 0.06s of his McLaren team-mate's benchmark.

Norris, who missed FP1 as McLaren reserve Leonardo Fornaroli drove in an F1 session for the first time, concluded the customary FP2 soft-tyre running with a 1m15.426s, a lap that was defined by a handful of slides and corrections as the Briton attempted to coax his car through the Barcelona circuit.

Before Norris' lap, Russell (who had headlined FP1) managed to overturn the pace set by Piastri at the start of the session on mediums. The Australian had put together a 1m15.724s to sit at the top of the order - where he remained by the end of the opening 30 minutes before Russell eclipsed the McLaren driver with a switch to softs.

Yet, Russell's effort was beaten by less than one hundredth of a second when Norris put his soft-tyre effort together, which preceded the longer runs as the teams gravitated towards exploring their potential race pace.

Piastri's own effort on softs brought him into the same postcode as Norris and Russell, demonstrating that McLaren appears to have made a significant step forward at a more conventional circuit after a tough weekend in Monaco.

Charles Leclerc was fourth on the timesheets, albeit 0.373s off as Ferrari continued to explore its raft of updates introduced for the Barcelona weekend. The team took a new front wing to Spain, but this has been subject to several adjustments; Lewis Hamilton reported "dragging" on the straights, prompting a flurry of action as Ferrari's mechanics made some quick tweaks.

Kimi Antonelli was more than half a second off Norris' best time

Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images

Championship leader Kimi Antonelli was 0.589s off Norris' pace, albeit was one of the earlier drivers to gravitate towards the soft-tyre runs. The Italian teen reported that he was struggling with a long brake pedal, demonstrating his discomfort into the corners; Antonelli was another of seven drivers to give up his seat for FP1 as Frederik Vesti drove for Mercedes in the early session.

Max Verstappen and Arvid Lindblad were the only remaining drivers within a second of Norris' soft-tyre effort, with Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto another two tenths behind the Briton. Hamilton, who reported heavy tyre degradation late on in the session, was ninth fastest. Many of the drivers experienced tyre wear during their longer runs, suggesting that the race might not necessarily produce a customary one-stop scenario.

Isack Hadjar was 10th fastest, narrowly avoiding contact with Sergio Perez during the session as the Cadillac driver turned in on him, with Nico Hulkenberg and Oliver Bearman just outside of the top 10.

Liam Lawson was 13th despite his engine having "died" after the first 15 minutes, resulting in his stoppage on the exit of the pit lane. There was no red flag to recover the car, however, as a virtual safety car covered off the removal of his stranded Racing Bulls chassis. His time from the early stages of the session was enough to sit clear of the Williams and Alpine drivers, plus Esteban Ocon.

F1 Barcelona GP: FP2 Results

All Stats

Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	L. Norris McLaren	1	McLaren	Mercedes	30	1'15.426		S	222.273
2	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	28	+0.009 1'15.435	0.009	S	222.246
3	O. Piastri McLaren	81	McLaren	Mercedes	24	+0.057 1'15.483	0.048	S	222.105
4	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	29	+0.373 1'15.799	0.316	S	221.179
5	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12	Mercedes	Mercedes	31	+0.589 1'16.015	0.216	S	220.551
6	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	3	Red Bull	Red Bull	33	+0.895 1'16.321	0.306	S	219.666
7	A. Lindblad Racing Bulls	41	RB	Red Bull	29	+0.985 1'16.411	0.090	S	219.408
8	G. Bortoleto Audi	5	Audi	Audi	27	+1.185 1'16.611	0.200	S	218.835
9	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44	Ferrari	Ferrari	28	+1.205 1'16.631	0.020	S	218.778
10	I. Hadjar Red Bull Racing	6	Red Bull	Red Bull	30	+1.248 1'16.674	0.043	S	218.655
11	N. Hulkenberg Audi	27	Audi	Audi	31	+1.508 1'16.934	0.260	S	217.916
12	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87	Haas	Ferrari	31	+1.519 1'16.945	0.011	S	217.885
13	L. Lawson Racing Bulls	30	RB	Red Bull	8	+1.541 1'16.967	0.022	M	217.823
14	C. Sainz Williams	55	Williams	Mercedes	29	+1.594 1'17.020	0.053	S	217.673
15	F. Colapinto Alpine	43	Alpine	Mercedes	30	+1.625 1'17.051	0.031	S	217.585
16	P. Gasly Alpine	10	Alpine	Mercedes	29	+1.834 1'17.260	0.209	S	216.997
17	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31	Haas	Ferrari	29	+2.112 1'17.538	0.278	S	216.219
18	V. Bottas Cadillac F1 Team	77	Cadillac	Ferrari	6	+2.799 1'18.225	0.687	S	214.320
19	A. Albon Williams	23	Williams	Mercedes	29	+3.364 1'18.790	0.565	S	212.783
20	S. Perez Cadillac F1 Team	11	Cadillac	Ferrari	34	+3.835 1'19.261	0.471	S	211.518
21	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	Aston Martin	Honda	21	+3.860 1'19.286	0.025	S	211.452
22	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	Aston Martin	Honda	20	+4.033 1'19.459	0.173	S	210.991
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