#F1 #AustrianGP #FP2: @LandoNorris pips team-mate @OscarPiastri by 0.157s.

Norris Austrian GP FP2 – Lando Norris lead from team-mate Oscar Piastri in a McLaren one-two in the afternoon Free Practice 2 session at the Austrian GP as Max Verstappen completed the top three at Red Bull’s home Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring.

Norris set the session-topping benchmark of a 1:04.580 on the C5 red side-walled softer compounds to be 0.157 seconds clear of Piastri whilst Verstappen was a further 0.318 seconds off in third.

Alpine’s Franco Colapinto was the first to emerge on-track in the second practice session and on the C4 yellow-marked mediums leading out Haas’s Esteban Ocon, Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and the other VF-25 entry of Oliver Bearman.

Colapinto was the first to register a lap-time of a 1:08.158, but was quickly beaten by Ocon, then Hulkenberg.

Then Albon and Sainz whilst Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll shot to the head of the times with a 1:06.610 and Piastri and Alonso slotted into second and third respectively.

Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli then jumped to P1 posting a 1:06.202 on the softs as Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and McLaren’s Lando Norris moved into fifth and sixth in the order.

The other Mercedes F1 W16 entry of George Russell on his C4’s then took second to be 0.261 seconds off his leading team-mate Antonelli.

Piastri then claimed top spot with a fastest final sector on his C3 white-branded hards with a 1:06.129 flyer to be 0.073 seconds quicker than Antonelli.

Alonso then moved into third then was demoted to fourth as Norris jumped to P1 with a 1:05.905 as the session reached ten minutes.

Piastri then improved with another purple sector three but remained second behind his team-mate with a 1:05.992 to be 0.087 seconds adrift.

Russell then with a purple opening sector and two personal bests moved back into second to go 0.076 seconds off Norris’s benchmark whilst replays showed Piastri suffer a slide and over the sausage kerbs at the turn one exit.

Norris then improved his P1 effort once more with a 1:05.538 to go 0.443 seconds faster than Russell at the top as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc slotted into fifth behind Antonelli’s Silver Arrow.

RB’s Isack Hadjar and Williams’ Albon then moved up into fourth and fifth respectively to shuffle Antonelli and Leclerc down into seventh and eighth.

The other Williams of Sainz on his harder tyres moved into third in the order to be 0.353 seconds off Norris’s benchmark as the opening 15 minutes of proceedings drew to a close.

Verstappen then on his C5 red side-walled softer tyres moved into second place to be 0.116 seconds off demoting Piastri to third.

Replays showed Leclerc suffer a snap of oversteer out of turn three then went for an excursion into the gravel trap at turns seven and eight then showed Hamilton in the way of Antonelli who was on a flyer to which Hamilton responded he could not see Antonelli coming in his mirrors.

Hamilton on his harder rubber then slotted into fourth with his 1:05.859 as his team-mate Leclerc followed in fifth on a 1:05.890.

The majority of drivers then returned to the pits to adjust their setups and put on a set of the softs to begin their qualifying simulation runs.

Russell and Antonelli were the first to come out on the softs as the former with two purples and a personal best moved into second posting a 1:05.471 to go 0.034 seconds off Norris’s benchmark time.

Antonelli with two personal bests in sectors one and three jumped to fifth setting a 1:05.791 to be 0.354 off Norris’s best effort.

Hadjar was on course to put in a solid lap, with a personal best opening sector and purple middle sector and then abandoned his flying tour and said over the radio the washout was crazy.

Russell was next with his soft flyer effort to move to the head of the times posting a 1:05.229 to go 0.208 seconds quicker than Norris.

Antonelli followed with three personal bests to jump into fifth as Piastri with two purple sectors shot into P1 with a 1:04.737, but that was short-lived as team-mate Norris snatched top spot with a 1:04.580 with three purple sectors to go 0.157 seconds faster than his championship-leading team-mate.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll moved into P3 with three personal bests efforts to be 0.442 seconds off Norris’s benchmark whilst Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda slotted into fifth in the classification as the first half of the hour-long session was completed.

Gasly with two personal bests moved up into ninth as Hamilton on his flyer jumped into sixth whilst time-topper Norris with a purple opening sector and two yellows was unable to improve on his next hot-lap.

Leclerc was next setting three personal bests to jump from P17 to P5 in the order with his 1:05.272 as reigning world champion Verstappen also posting three PB’s slotted into seventh place behind team-mate Tsunoda.

Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto followed with three personal bests to go eighth overall, demoting Alonso and Hamilton to ninth and tenth respectively.

Leclerc on another flying tour set two personal best efforts to go into fourth on a 1:05.190 as Verstappen with three personal bests move into third place posting a 1:04.898 and was 0.318 seconds adrift of Norris’s benchmark as Stroll and the former were relegated to fourth and fifth.

The majority of the field had returned to the pits to put on a set of the C3 white-marked hard and C4 yellow-branded medium tyres and put in a heavier load of fuel to prepare for their traditional long race data gathering runs.

The order remained the same as the field completed their race pace data gathering runs as Norris ended the day in P1 ahead of team-mate Piastri in a McLaren one-two as Verstappen rounded out the top three for Red Bull.

Stroll followed in fourth and in-front of Leclerc who took fifth and Russell who placed sixth overall.

Tsunoda was next in seventh in the other Red Bull RB21 entry as Sauber’s Bortoleto ended the session eighth.

Alonso in the second AMR25 and Ferrari’s Hamilton completed the top ten.

You can see the full Formula 1 MSC Cruises Austrian Grand Prix 2025 Free Practice 2 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2025/races/1264/austria/practice/2

#AustrianGP #FP1: @GeorgeRussell63 quickest ahead of @Max33Verstappen, @OscarPiastri. #F1

#F1 MSC Cruises #AustrianGP 2025 Preview. #Formula1 #AustrianGrandPrix