McLaren had a strong start to their F1 Spanish GP weekend as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, respectively, led FP1 and FP2 Friday. Norris’ 1:13.718 was .367 seconds up on Max Verstappen in 2nd and over a half-second quicker than Piastri’s best time (1:14.294, P5) in the first session.
Piastri goes fastest, ready for a tough qualifying fight at F1 Spanish GP
As both drivers continued to find pace in second practice, Piastri who would have the upper hand. The championship leader was the only driver to break into the 1:12s so far this weekend (1:12.760). Piastri finished .286 clear of George Russell and .310 up on Norris in 4th.
Piastri characterized his runs as “a bit of an up and down day, obviously ending on an up, which is good. But our competitors look quick.[…] Verstappen has been quick all day, Ferrari have been there, Mercedes popped up at the end, so it’s going to be a tight battle tomorrow.”
Norris pleased with the outlook for McLaren after F1 Spanish GP FP2
Norris, just three points behind Piastri in the standings, chalked up his relative slide from first to fourth between practices to “trying things”. He had a positive outlook on their pace and progress after a “decent” day at the track.
“I think something we do always very well is just turn up with a good baseline and find it hard to improve from that point onwards, which is a good thing, not a bad thing. It just allows us to try different directions, different things and just try to get a bit of a feel.”
“It’s been a good day”
To that end, Piastri said of the various tweaks that in “just trying to make the car a bit faster[… w]e tried a few things today. Some have been good, some have not been so good. We’re learning, so I think it’s been a good day.”
