FP2: Antonelli sets the pace from Piastri and Norris during second practice in Austria

Kimi Antonelli finished fastest during Friday afternoon’s second practice session for the Austrian Grand Prix, finding an advantage over the McLaren duo of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

After the championship leader led the field during the first practice session, the drivers returned to the track for Free Practice 2 at 1700 local time, anticipating marginally cooler temperatures at the Spielberg circuit.

Among those heading out were the six who vacated their seats in FP1 for rookies, including Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who made way for academy driver Dino Beganovic as the team sought to optimise their latest power unit upgrade.

The Audi pair of Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto were among the first on track, but the German was forced to abandon his flying lap almost immediately as he drove wide, suggesting that the braking issues many experienced earlier in the day were still prevalent.

Those who kept it within track limits wasted no time in getting laps on the board, and it was McLaren’s Norris who initially set the pace on the medium compound tyres, posting a neat 1m 08.000s to edge out his team mate by two-tenths.

Further down the order, there was hope that Sergio Perez had recovered from the problem that ended his FP1 abruptly, especially with the team changing the ECU (Engine Control Unit) during the gap. However, he ground to a halt after pulling to the side of the circuit at Turn 6, prompting a Virtual Safety Car.

It was bad news for Cadillac’s plan to test their major upgrade package, but it was good timing for Max Verstappen, who had complained about the comfort of his seat and took the short break to climb out of the car and have it readjusted.

When the action got back underway, George Russell’s first effort was only good enough for fourth place as the Silver Arrows struggled to beat Norris’ benchmark time. The McLaren man wasn’t having the easiest time either, spinning and bouncing onto a run-off area as he pushed to find a better lap.

It didn’t take long for Antonelli to reclaim the top spot as he became the first driver to break into the 1m 07s bracket, cutting down his fastest time from FP1 in the process. There was also an improvement for Leclerc, who jumped up to P5 ahead of Verstappen, the second Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton and Isack Hadjar.

Approaching the halfway point, it was clear that Cadillac’s woes weren’t over yet, with Valtteri Bottas reporting smoke in the cockpit before limping back to the pits. The team quickly put out a fire on the floor of his car, rounding out a remarkably frustrating day for the American outfit.

Next up for the remaining drivers were the crucial soft tyre runs, with McLaren continuing to impress as Oscar Piastri momentarily posted the fastest lap before Antonelli once again charged back to head the timesheets by a few hundreths of a second.

The Italian ultimately prevailed as he cut his time down even more to end Friday’s running on top, with no one able to match his best effort of 1m 07.014s. Piastri came the closest, finishing around two-tenths adrift while Norris took P3, marking a strong FP2 for McLaren at the Red Bull Ring.

Verstappen didn’t enjoy a straightforward session but wound up fourth ahead of Hamilton, Russell and Hadjar. The top 10 was completed by Leclerc, who was 0.841s off the pace, Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson and Audi’s Bortoleto.

Pierre Gasly narrowly missed out in P11 from Arvid Lindblad, Ollie Bearman, Hulkenberg and the second Haas of Esteban Ocon. Franco Colapinto was half a second adrift of his Alpine team mate’s time in P16, leading the Williams pair of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.

Cadillac ended up at the bottom of the leaderboard as neither Bottas nor Perez were able to head back out after their respective car troubles, leaving them with lots of work to do before the final practice session.

With plenty of learnings to take away from the first day of track action, the teams and drivers will review their data before Free Practice 3 gets underway on Saturday at 1230 local time, ahead of Qualifying later in the day at 1500.