Norris expecting 'tight' fight for pole in Austria

Lando Norris said he expected it to be "tight" in qualifying after leading team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri to a McLaren one-two in Friday practice at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Norris was 0.157 seconds quicker than Piastri, with Red Bull's Max Verstappen third fastest, 0.318secs off the pace.

Aston Martin's Lance Stroll took fourth place, ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and the Mercedes of George Russell.

McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari all have upgrades to their cars this weekend.

McLaren have new front suspension shaping that is aimed at working with a new front wing that was first tested at the last race in Canada.

After the session, Norris said "the car felt good from the off".

Red Bull have a new floor edge and Verstappen said: "We didn't have any big issues; just lacking a bit of pace, a bit too much understeer in the car as well - short run and long run. That is something that we have to try and get rid of."

Ferrari, for whom Lewis Hamilton was 10th fastest, have a completely redesigned new floor, their first upgrade since Bahrain in April.

"A huge amount of work went on to bring the floor but as you can see, it's not necessarily changed our competitiveness.," said Hamilton. "The car actually doesn't feel bad, it's just we're a huge chunk off pace-wise. We need to look into that."

Hamilton, who had issues with the gearbox in first practice, said he hopes Ferrari can improve, but added: "We won't be at the front."

Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda was seventh, while Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto, Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso and Hamilton completed the top 10.

The race-simulation runs later in the session provided a complex picture, as the leading drivers chose different tyre compounds.

On the medium tyre, Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, 11th fastest on the list of headline lap times, appeared to have a slight edge over Norris and Leclerc.

Verstappen was slightly quicker than Hamilton, both using the soft tyre, while Piastri did his long run on the hard tyre.

Norris said: "We have shown a bit more pace than some of the others but I certainly think they are going to catch up. Max is not far behind and [Red Bull] normally improve a lot into Saturday.

"I expect a good day tomorrow, and I'm sure we'll improve on some things, but it's not as easy as maybe it looked today. It's still going to be tight tomorrow. It always is."

Championship leader Piastri agreed with Norris that Verstappen is the driver most likely to challenge the McLarens. "He'll definitely be a threat this weekend," said the Australian.

"The car is feeling good, I think the pace is quite good, so positive day."

Russell, who won the Canadian Grand Prix two weeks ago, said his time that topped first practice was "definitely a surprise" to Mercedes.

"Second practice, we definitely didn't have the pace like we did this morning, in the qualifying runs, and the race pace was a step worse, so we need to analyse why that was," he added.

In the first session, there was an impressive F1 debut by McLaren's Alexander Dunne.

The 19-year-old Irishman, leading the Formula 2 championship this season and having his first taste of an F1 car on a grand prix weekend, took over Norris' car and ended up fourth fastest, just 0.069secs slower than Piastri.

Dunne had a test in McLaren's 2023 car in Austin, Texas, last week in preparation for his run at the Red Bull Ring, but it is rare for a young driver to be so close to a regular racer in such circumstances.

As such, Dunne's performance can be seen to be comparable with Norris' similar pace when he drove in practice at the 2018 Italian Grand Prix, alongside then McLaren driver Alonso.

"Straight away I just felt really comfortable, and then I had the confidence to push more and more," Dunne said. "So then at the end, I felt comfortable to go out and try and do a decent lap."