McLaren return to the top with dominant Austria FP2

The pair looked fast from the outset, trading fastest laps throughout the session to finish ahead of third-placed Max Verstappen by more than three tenths.

It was Norris who ultimately ended the session fastest, showing no signs that missing FP1 had any effect. His time of 1:04.580 was good enough to top the timesheets.

Teammate Piastri finished 0.157s behind Norris, with little to separate the two so far this weekend as they look to reignite their championship battle following their Montreal collision two weeks ago.

Verstappen sat out the opening 15 minutes while his Red Bull team worked on the car but was immediately on the pace, keeping close to the McLarens throughout the 60-minute session.

He finished 0.318s behind Piastri, but based on the pace shown so far, he will be confident of challenging McLaren come Sunday.

Lance Stroll was impressive for Aston Martin, finishing fourth, with his teammate Fernando Alonso also inside the top ten in ninth.

Stroll edged out Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who—like Norris—returned to action after sitting out FP1.

Leclerc had a couple of hairy moments in the session, losing the rear of his car at Turn 3 and again at Turn 6 on the same lap early on, running into the gravel on the latter occasion.

He recovered well to log solid laps after Ferrari endured a tough FP1 with technical issues on both cars.

His teammate Lewis Hamilton finished the session tenth but complained of a lack of pace throughout.

Hamilton was also involved in a blocking incident with his Mercedes replacement, Kimi Antonelli.

As Antonelli approached Turn 4, Hamilton drifted toward the outside line, forcing the Mercedes rookie to veer slightly onto the grass to avoid contact. After the incident Hamilton raised his hand to apologise, while Antonelli voiced his frustration over the radio.

Antonelli’s teammate and FP1 pacesetter George Russell ended the session in sixth, ahead of the second Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda and the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto, who will be buoyed by his Friday form after a second top-10 finish of the day.

Earlier in the session, Liam Lawson reported steering issues as the Kiwi struggled to complete his out lap in the Racing Bull.

A rear suspension failure was identified as the cause, with Lawson returning to the track after repairs and finishing 12th — one place behind Antonelli and one ahead of teammate Isack Hadjar.

Final practice at the Red Bull Ring takes place at 12:30pm local time on Saturday (8:30pm AEST).