Austrian GP: Lando Norris leads Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen in FP2

McLaren secured a strong one-two finish in the second free practice session for the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix on Friday, with Lando Norris setting the fastest lap ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri. This result followed George Russell of Mercedes topping the timesheets in the initial practice session earlier in the day.

Norris, who had handed his car over to Irish rookie Alex Dunne for an impressive debut in FP1, quickly got back up to speed. After Russell`s best time of 1:05.542 in the first session, Norris recorded a 1:04.580 in FP2, placing him 0.157 seconds ahead of Piastri. Norris is currently 22 points behind championship leader Piastri after 10 of 24 races.

Red Bull`s reigning world champion, Max Verstappen, a five-time winner at his team`s home track, was the only other driver to break the 1:05 barrier in FP2, finishing third with a time of 1:04.898. Notably, Verstappen was working with Simon Rennie as his race engineer for the weekend, as regular engineer Gianpiero Lambiase was absent due to personal reasons.

George Russell, who won from pole position in Canada just two weeks prior after the two McLarens collided, finished sixth in the second practice session. Lance Stroll put in a surprisingly strong performance for Aston Martin, taking fourth place, just ahead of Ferrari`s Charles Leclerc in fifth.

Alex Dunne, the 19-year-old Irish driver, was a major talking point of the first session. Given track time as part of rookie driver obligations, he impressed by finishing fourth fastest, just 0.069 seconds shy of Piastri`s time in that session. Taking part in his first Grand Prix weekend, and the first Irish driver in 22 years, a delighted Dunne thanked the team afterwards, calling it “a little boy`s dream come true” and “definitely the best day of my life.”

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella praised Dunne`s diligence and impressive pace but cautioned against reading too much into his exact lap time, noting it was set later in his run with potentially less fuel. Nevertheless, Stella found Dunne`s performance and the overall session encouraging for the team.

The Red Bull Ring has the shortest lap time on the Formula 1 calendar. In the opening practice, all drivers except 20th-placed Oliver Bearman of Haas were within a second of Russell`s quickest time.

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton finished ninth in FP1 and tenth in FP2. Ferrari experienced a challenging start to their preparations, with mechanics working on both cars during the first session. Hamilton also received a warning for impeding Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli, stating over the radio, “I didn`t see Antonelli.” Charles Leclerc sat out the first session, with reserve driver Dino Beganovic taking part and finishing 18th.

Fernando Alonso had a significant spin in his Aston Martin during practice but managed to keep the car out of the barriers.FP2 Top 10 Results