Photo: McLaren F1 Team
Norris topped second Free Practice in Barcelona with Russell and Piastri behind
Formula 1 Lando Norris McLaren Reports Barcelona F1 2026 F1 season
The track temperature was hovering around 50 degrees Celsius as the weather was sunny and warm. The session was calm, the only interruption was a VSC as Lawson’s car had a gearbox failure near the Pit Lane exit.
The majority of the drivers came out on medium tires except for Max Verstappen who was on the hard tires. Despite that he set the fastest time of 1:16:452 seconds even though seven drivers haven’t come out of the boxes yet.
With eight minutes into the session Oscar Piastri topped the standings with time 1:15:724 seconds on medium tires. By this time all drivers except for Valtteri Bottas were on the track. When George Russell was trying his first fast lap of the session he had to abort it as he went off the track.
After five minutes the Mercedes’ driver lined up second behind Piastri.
15 minutes into the session there was a Yellow Flag followed by Virtual Safety Car as Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson stopped near the Pit Lane exit due to a gearbox failure. After three minutes the track was clear again and the VSC ended.
By this time many cars except for the McLarens, Verstappen, Antonelli, Lindblad, Hamilton, and Bearman went into the boxes.
In the middle of the session the teams slowly started to pit for the softs. Piastri led the standings with time 1:15:724 seconds with Russell, Verstappen, Norris and Leclerc behind. Bottas still didn’t come out of the garage and Cadillac reported that they were dealing with ECU issue on his car.
After three minutes Russell set new fastest time of 1:15:435 seconds on the soft tires. By this time all cars were on the softs except for Lando Norris in McLaren. With 21 minutes remaining Lewis Hamilton reported on the radio that something is wrong with the rear of his Ferrari. “The car was dragging down the straight,” he added.
By that time Bottas got on the track after Cadillac solved problems on his car. He lined up 18th on the softs.
With ten minutes remaining Norris was on top with time 1:15:426 seconds. Russell, Piastri and Leclerc lined up behind. Isack Hadjar and Sergio Perez had a contact on the track as Perez possibly didn’t see Hadjar’s Red Bull.
As the session came to an end Norris maintained his first position with Russell, Piastri and Leclerc behind. The drivers also lined up on the grid to practice their starts.
FP2 results:
1st – Lando Norris (McLaren)
2nd – George Russell (Mercedes) – +0.009
3rd – Oscar Piastri (McLaren) – +0.057
4th – Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – +0.373
5th – Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) – +0.589
6th – Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) – +0.895
7th – Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) – +0.985
8th – Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) – +1.185
9th – Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) – +1.205
10th – Isack Hadjar (Red Bull Racing) – +1.248
11th – Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) – +1.508
12th – Oliver Bearman (Haas F1 Team) – +1.519
13th – Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) – +1.541
14th – Carlos Sainz (Williams) – +1.594
15th – Franco Colapinto (Alpine) – +1.625
16th – Pierre Gasly (Alpine) – +1.834
17th – Esteban Ocon (Haas F1 Team) – +2.112
18th – Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) – +2.799
19th – Alexander Albon (Williams) – +3.364
20th – Sergio Perez (Cadillac) – +3.835
21st – Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) – +3.860
22nd – Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) – +4.033
