McLaren fight back with resurgent pace in Barcelona FP2 as Lewis Hamilton struggles

Lando Norris bounced back from his recent woes with a commanding result in the second hour of free practice at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

The British driver, who relinquished his car to Leonardo Fornaroli in FP1, showcased McLaren's strong performance in Spain, beating George Russell by nine milliseconds to top the final session of the day.

Oscar Piastri in the second MCL40 was third fastest at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya, from Charles Leclerc, Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen.

Lewis Hamilton endured a difficult first hour of running, having handed his SF-26 over to Dino Beganovic for FP1. The Ferrari driver finished ninth, complained about the rear of his car during the session and found the grass in the dying moments.

Valtteri Bottas overcame a late start to the session to go P18, beating Cadillac team-mate Sergio Perez, who almost caused an accident with Isack Hadjar.

Fernando Alonso copped a warning from the stewards for crossing the white line at the pit exit when overtaking the Red Bull driver earlier in the session.

First half

Minutes into FP2 running, Verstappen set the benchmark 1:16.452 on hard tyres, going almost two-tenths of a second quicker than Leclerc in second, the Ferrari driver on the theoretically faster medium compound.

The Dutchman was soon bested by Piastri, who put seventh-tenths between himself and the Red Bull with a 1:15.724.

That lap time was almost six-and-a-half tenths up on the best time from FP1, a 1:16.363 from Russell.

The Mercedes driver, who was later than most on track in the second hour of running, immediately popped up in second, the second driver to drop into the 1:15s range.

15 minutes into the session, Bottas had yet to emerge from the pits, with Cadillac investigating an issue with this MAC-26. The American team would later confirm it due to the ECU in his Ferrari power unit.

The problems would not stop with the Finnish driver. Liam Lawson soon triggered a virtual safety car with his Racing Bulls car parked at the pit exit due to a gearbox failure.

The 24-year-old was seventh-quickest at the time, just ahead of team-mate Arvid Lindblad, illustrating the Faenza-based squad's strong start to the weekend.

Second 30

As the session entered its second half, most of the field strapped on red-walled Pirellis for their qualifying simulations.

After Piastri went faster still with a 1:15.473, Russell returned to the summit of the timing board with a 1:15.435, before Norris underlined McLaren's strong pace in Barcelona by going nine milliseconds quicker than his compatriot.

Alonso, meanwhile, caught the race director's attention for crossing the white line at the pit exit, done whilst overtaking a cruising Hadjar.

The stewards promptly decided to take a closer look, with the incident to be investigated after the session. It would not take long for the panel to issue the Spanish driver a warning as the chequered flag flew.

Hamilton spent much of the session in the lower reaches of the top 10, the seven-time F1 drivers' champion unhappy with the rear of his SF-26, to which all Ferrari could suggest was caused by the wind.

Verstappen was also not thrilled with how his session was unfolding, having a wild moment on the exit of Turn 10 and asking to switch from the hard compound tyre he was running.

With the clock ticking down to zero and most of the pack settled into longer runs, Hadjar narrowly avoided an accident with Sergio Perez.

The Cadillac driver squeezed his Red Bull on the inside of Turn 4, forcing the Frenchman onto the grass.

"Why did he do that?! I nearly crashed into him!" a flustered Hadjar said over team radio. The incident was noted by race control soon after, but nothing more came of it other than a black and white flag for erratic driving.

After the session, the American squad did, however, receive a €100 fine for Bottas speeding in the pit lane.