27/06/2025 18:02
Lando Norris shrugged off missing first practice for the Austrian
Grand Prix by comfortably topping the second session in his bid to
put behind him his moment of madness in Canada. Norris handed over
his McLaren at the Red Bull Ring to allow development driver Alex
Dunne a runout, and the 19-year-old Irishman did not disappoint by
setting the fourth fastest time in the opening hour. After looking
on, Norris returned to the cockpit of his MCL39 to post a leading
lap of 1:04.580s, finishing 0.157s quicker than team-mate Oscar
Piastri, with Red Bull's Max Verstappen three-tenths of a second
off the pace in third. It is a circuit at which Verstappen has
excelled in the past, scoring five poles and five wins, although
from pole last year, he had to settle for fifth following a
late-race collision with Norris. The Briton is also looking to
atone for what unfolded in Montreal 12 days ago when he ran into
the back of Piastri in the closing laps, forcing him into
retirement, and leaving him 22 points adrift of the Australian in
the drivers' standings. Norris assumes control A mix of hard and
medium tyres were used by the drivers in the opening 25 minutes,
with the exception of Verstappen, who was the last on track after
waiting 14 minutes and emerging on the softs. By that stage, Norris
had wasted no time in making up for missing FP1 in favour of Dunne,
who had stunned on his F1 debut by finishing 0.224s behind
pacesetter George Russell in his Mercedes, and 0.069s behind
Piastri. On mediums, and around a circuit where Norris had remarked
on media Thursday he found to be his most comfortable to drive, it
showed as he relentlessly improved lap by lap, ultimately posting a
leading time on the mediums of 1:05.437s. On softs, Verstappen
immediately slotted in behind Norris by 0.116s, following which
there were a few skirmishes. Initially, Charles Leclerc, who had
also sat out FP1, with Ferrari Academy driver Dino Beganovic
enjoying a runout, hurtled off track on the approach to Turn 5,
trekking across the gravel and grass before returning to the track
and onto the garage. Soon after, Kimi Antonelli was forced to go
off track to avoid running into the back of Hamilton on the
approach to Turn 4. The seven-time F1 champion faces an
investigation by the race stewards for impeding. Moments later,
Verstappen was caught by surprise when Norris flew by at speed to
his left-hand side up the hill on the approach to the Turn 2 kink,
when the obvious line, and where there was considerably more space,
was to the Dutchman's right. Considering Norris wrecked his
Canadian GP hopes 12 days previously by going to the left of
Piastri when there was no room, it was an unusual move for the
Briton to make, but he got away with it on this occasion. Norris
soon followed up by posting what proved to be the best lap of the
session with his 1:04.580s, just a quarter of a second shy of last
year's pole position from Verstappen, who set strong long-run pace
over the closing 20 minutes to suggest the four-time F1 champion
will be in contention on Sunday. Behind the leading trio, there was
the surprising figure of Aston Martin's Lance Stroll, followed by
Leclerc, Russel, and Yuki Tsunoda in his Red Bull. Stake's Gabriel
Bortoleto was eighth quickest, 0,831s behind Norris, followed by
Fernando Alonso in his Aston Martin, and Hamilton 10th. Antonelli
was marginally behind Hamilton, with Liam Lawson 12th for Racing
Bulls. On his opening outlap, the New Zealander complained of the
car severely pulling to his right, which team boss Laurent Mekies
said was a result of set-up changes not taking effect. Alpine's
Franco Colapinto was slowest, finishing 1.596s off the pace.
