McLaren’s Lando Norris dominated the second practice session for the 2025 FIA Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix, with the Briton going quickest on Medium and Soft tyres to eventually beat championship-leading team-mate Oscar Piastri by 0.157 seconds, with Verstappen three tenths off top spot. 

The session began with drivers on a mix of Hard C3 and Medium C4 Pirelli tyres. Piastri opened proceedings with a 1:06.673s set on Hard tyres, before Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll went marginally quicker on his first lap with the C3s on board. 

Mercedes Kimi Antonelli then posted a 1:06.202 on Mediums to take top spot but McLaren’s Lando Norris was going quicker, and he moved to the top of the order with a Medium-tyre 1:05.905, four tenths of a second ahead of FP1’s fastest man, George Russell. The McLaren driver then eventually worked his way down to 1:05.437 on Mediums to tighten his grip on top spot. 

Williams’ Carlos Sainz then joined the party thanks to a P2 lap of 1:05.891 but he was swiftly bumped to third by Piastri who improved to 1:05.682 as he found more pace on his Hard tyres. 

Max Verstappen then appeared for the first time, on Soft tyres, and the Red Bull driver displaced Piastri, logging a lap of 1:05.654 to take second behind Norris. 

Elsewhere, mirroring their experience in FP1, the Ferrari drivers were having a tough time settling into the session. Charles Leclerc went off track at Turn 6 as he struggled for grip, while Lewis Hamilton reported that he had “no pace”.

Russell then bolted on a set of Soft tyres, and he jumped into P2, ahead of Verstappen with a lap of 1:05.471 that put him 0.034s off Norris. 

With a little under 25 minutes remaining Russell went for another run on the same set of Softs and thanks to a purple first sector the Mercedes driver at last dislodged Norris with a time of 1:05.229, two tenths clear of the McLaren driver’s Medium tyre best. 

Russell’s time in P1 was brief, however. Piastri emerged on the red-banded tyres to take top spot on 1:04.737 but he was then eclipsed by Norris who headed back to the top of the timesheet 0.157s clear of his team-mate. 

Verstappen then bolted on another set of Softs and after dropping to 13th he posted a lap of 1:05.404 to rise to seventh, a tenth of a second off team-mate Yuki Tsunoda. The Dutchman then put in two cool down laps before embarking on another push lap and this time he posted a lap of 1:04.898 to jump to third behind the McLaren pairing. 

The Dutchman’s late qualifying sim was the last before the field began to switch to hard compounds and race runs and the order stabilised.

Norris’ 1:04.580 kept him one-and-a-half tenths ahead of Piastri with Verstappen third. Stroll managed to take a good fourth for Aston Martin ahead of Leclerc who found some pace on the Soft tyres. Russell was left with P6, 0.063s ahead of Tsunoda, while Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto took P8. Fernando Alonso was ninth in the second Aston Martin and the top 10 was rounded out by Hamilton in P10. 

2025 FIA Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:04.580 35 241.152
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:04.737 0.157 35 240.567
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:04.898 0.318 24 239.970
4 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:05.022 0.442 32 239.512
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:05.190 0.610 32 238.895
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:05.229 0.649 34 238.752
7 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:05.292 0.712 31 238.522
8 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1:05.411 0.831 31 238.088
9 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:05.457 0.877 31 237.921
10 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:05.511 0.931 34 237.724
11 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:05.537 0.957 35 237.630
12 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:05.543 0.963 31 237.608
13 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:05.547 0.967 34 237.594
14 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:05.613 1.033 36 237.355
15 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:05.698 1.118 31 237.048
16 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:05.765 1.185 37 236.806
17 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:05.814 1.234 37 236.630
18 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:05.835 1.255 35 236.555
19 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:05.918 1.338 35 236.257
20 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Renault 1:06.176 1.596 34 235.33