Norris Shows His Teeth to Piastri as a Preview of What's to Come

In the picturesque setting of the Red Bull Ring, where the Austrian mountains form a natural barrier for the roars of Formula 1, Lando Norris has made it clear that he is well-prepared to challenge the World Championship leader, his closest rival. The Briton led the second free practice session of the Austrian Grand Prix with a 1:04.580, not only marking his territory, at least initially, but also establishing McLaren as the team in form this Friday, unsurprising yet concerning for the spectacle. Following him was Oscar Piastri, who completed the Woking one-two, ahead of local idol and reigning champion Max Verstappen, who had to settle for third place as a warning that he won't give up easily.

The day began with overcast skies but no threat of rain. After a first practice led by George Russell, teams had an hour to fine-tune setups for qualifying and Sunday's race. On medium tyres, Norris already signalled his intent on his first serious attempt: 1:05.437 and provisional fastest lap. It was a clear message, even when his rivals used softer compounds. Russell, Verstappen, and Piastri couldn't match his pace even with a tyre advantage.

But the true McLaren showcase came when everyone switched to soft tyres. Norris dropped to 1:04.580 on his final attempt, with Piastri just 157 thousandths behind. Verstappen, who had to use two new sets of softs to try and keep up, was over three-tenths behind. An unthinkable gap in recent times.

However, the standout performance that no one expected came from Lance Stroll. The Canadian, perhaps because his wrists are still healing, which has always given him a strange and inexplicable competitiveness, placed the Aston Martin AMR25 in fourth position, less than half a second behind the leader, ahead of Charles Leclerc, who didn't have his day. He caused one of the session's scares by ending up in the gravel at turn 6 on his installation lap. Ferrari, for now, shows no signs of a clear recovery. Stroll's time was surprising, especially since Fernando Alonso's was four-tenths slower, something totally unexpected.

The table remained tight up to the middle of the pack, with George Russell sixth, followed by Yuki Tsunoda, who was the fastest Red Bull after Verstappen. The Japanese driver was less than four-tenths behind his teammate, a difference that is starting to raise some eyebrows in Milton Keynes.

Behind, one of the day's positive surprises was debutant Gabriel Bortoleto. The Brazilian from Sauber, who had already shown interesting details in previous sessions, was eighth, surpassing heavyweights like Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, who still doesn't understand why he's so far behind. Resigned, he lamented over the radio: "I have no pace, I don't know why." The seven-time champion was also in the spotlight because Kimi Antonelli, who almost made the top 10, nearly collided with him when he found the Briton on the racing line at turn 4 while returning to the pits.

Carlos Sainz left little impression of improvement. Williams seems to have taken a step back compared to what was seen in the early Grands Prix, and both Albon's 16th and the Spaniard's 17th leave little doubt: they are not where they wanted to be. Despite this, Sainz sees some reasons to be optimistic. "Our performance has been promising despite what the times reflect after Free Practice 2. It's clear we had some issues putting together a good lap on the soft tyre, but with the mediums and hards, I felt very competitive out there," he stated.

With this overview, teams now lock themselves in the garages of the Red Bull Ring to analyse the data and make decisions for a Saturday that promises intense emotions from the first minute. For now, McLaren leads. And they do so with authority.