Norris tops Russell in second Barcelona GP practice

Lando Norris edged George Russell to the top spot at the end of Friday practice at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix at the head of a three-driver group spread across just 0.057s.

Norris was the last driver among the front-runners to set a fast lap, using the best of the conditions to rocket to top spot with a new benchmark of 1m15.426s. It eclipsed Russell by just 0.009s, the McLaren driver having been quicker in the second and third sectors after shipping time in the first split.

Russell had looked in control of the session up until Norris’s late flyer, but he was closely shadowed by Oscar Piastri throughout, who even on the medium-compound tire was less than 0.3s slower than the Mercedes on softs.

Piastri was the penultimate driver among the front-runners to bolt on softs for a qualifying simulation, but a wide moment at Turn 4 and then a snap out of Turn 12 left him 0.048s short of the Mercedes and ultimately 0.057s off top spot with a purple final sector in a competitive showing for McLaren.

Charles Leclerc was quickest in the middle split but too slow elsewhere around the lap, ending up 0.373s off the pace in fourth.

Title leader Kimi Antonelli – taking the wheel for the first time this weekend after handing his car to junior driver Frederik Vesti in FP1 – was the less impressive of the Mercedes drivers, winding up fifth and 0.589s adrift, albeit with complaints about a long brake pedal.

Max Verstappen was quiet on the way to sixth for Red Bull Racing, but it was a distant result, with the Dutchman 0.895s off the pace.

Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad was seventh ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto, both of whom beat Lewis Hamilton, with the Ferrari driver finishing ninth, having also missed the opening session in favor of a junior driver. Hamilton, who was 1.205s off the pace, complained later in the hour that “something’s wrong with the rear of the car” and that the “car was dragging down the straights.”

Isack Hadjar completed the top 10 for Red Bull Racing. Nico Hulkenberg was 11th ahead of Oliver Bearman, the two Audi and Haas drivers closely matched on pace at 1.5s adrift.

Liam Lawson completed just four laps before his Racing Bulls machine stopped suddenly as he was exiting pit lane with an apparent gearbox-related issue, but one of those laps was fast enough to retain 13th. Pushed back into pit lane, the team was able to repair the car in time for the New Zealander to complete another four laps to end the hour.

Lawson finished ahead of Carlos Sainz and Alpine teammates Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly, with Esteban Ocon following in 17th.

Valtteri Bottas completed only six on his way to 18th after a very late arrival to the session thanks to a problem with the electronics control unit in his power unit.

Alex Albon sounded desperately unhappy with his Williams on the way to 19th, the Thai driver complaining in that he hadn’t “driven a car so disconnected before.”

Sergio Perez followed in 20th ahead of Aston Martin teammates Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.

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