Norris returns to top FP2 in McLaren 1-2

Lando Norris was fastest in second practice for the Austrian Grand Prix as he returned to the cockpit for the first time since crashing into his McLaren Formula 1 team-mate Oscar Piastri in Canada.

Having accepted blame for the clash in Montreal, Norris then sat out FP1 at the Red Bull Ring as F2 championship leader Alex Dunne took over and impressed with fourth.

Norris made up for lost time and set the pace with a 1m04.580s, which was enough to put him 0.157s ahead of championship leader Piastri, with Max Verstappen best of the rest in third for Red Bull.

Lance Stroll was the only other driver to get within half a second of the McLaren pacesetters, while Charles Leclerc was fifth for Ferrari having also sat out FP1 and taken a trip over the gravel at Turn 6.

George Russell won in Canada and went fastest in the morning running in Spielberg but could only put his Mercedes sixth in FP2, with Yuki Tsunoda seventh, ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto, Fernando Alonso and a struggling Lewis Hamilton.

With Hamilton almost a second behind the pace of Norris and having had gearbox issues in FP1, his poor day was summed up when he was summoned to the stewards for blocking Andrea Kimi Antonelli early on in FP2.

There was concern at the start of the session for Liam Lawson, who was reporting “if I let go of the steering it goes hard-right”, which was less than ideal for the Racing Bulls rookie.

The latter stages of the session were given over to long runs, with Verstappen and Piastri opting for stints on the C5 compound.

F1 Austrian GP FP2 results