Friday Report - Norris leads McLaren 1-2 in Austria

Lando Norris
© McLaren

Lando Norris led a McLaren one-two in the second free practice session for the 2025 Austrian Grand Prix, clocking the fastest lap at the Red Bull Ring ahead of team-mate Oscar Piastri and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

Returning to action after his controversial crash with Piastri in Canada, Norris bounced back strongly after sitting out FP1—where Alex Dunne had impressed in his car—to post a 1m04.580s on the soft compound tyre. That time was enough to top the session by 0.157s from Piastri, who continues to lead the championship standings.

Verstappen, racing at Red Bull's track, was third quickest but over three tenths down on Norris in a session dominated by McLaren. Despite a switch to long runs on the C5 compound in the final 20 minutes, neither Verstappen nor Piastri could dislodge Norris from the top.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was a surprise fourth, less than half a second off the pace, while Charles Leclerc—who, like Norris, missed FP1—rounded out the top five for Ferrari, despite a trip through the gravel at Turn 6.

George Russell, the winner at the last race in Montreal, topped FP1 in the morning but couldn’t replicate that pace in the afternoon, finishing sixth for Mercedes. Yuki Tsunoda was seventh ahead of rookie Gabriel Bortoleto, with Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton completing the top 10.

Hamilton endured another difficult day. After struggling in FP1 with gearbox problems, the Ferrari driver struggled with balance and ultimately ended up nearly a full second off. He was also summoned to the stewards for blocking Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli early in the session.

Antonelli himself was 11th, just ahead of Liam Lawson, who raised concern over his steering mid-session, reporting, “If I let go of the steering it goes hard-right.”

Behind them, the Racing Bulls duo of Lawson and Hadjar finished 12th and 13th respectively, with Pierre Gasly 14th for Alpine. The bottom six featured both Haas cars, both Williams drivers, and Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and Franco Colapinto—who rounded out the timesheets 1.6s off the pace.

With rain forecast later in the weekend, this could prove the only fully dry representative session before qualifying on Saturday.