McLaren back on the pace as Norris heads Russell in Barcelona FP2
McLaren's Lando Norris set the fastest time in second practice for the 2026 Barcelona Grand Prix but FP1 pacesetter George Russell was just 0.009s off the pace for Mercedes.
Russell had a trouble-free session until a late off at Turn 10, where he collected plenty of gravel.
Norris's team-mate Oscar Piastri was third and just 0.057s behind Norris's fastest time of 1m15.426s. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was 0.373s off in fourth, but Lewis Hamilton was almost a second off his team-mate in ninth.
Kimi Antonelli returned to the Mercedes cockpit - he was one of seven drivers to step aside for a rookie, in his case Frederik Vesti, in FP1 - to go fifth, almost six tenths off Norris. Antonelli remarked late in the session that his brake pedal "felt horrible" and was going too long.
Every fastest lap on the board was set on softs, although an early flyer of 1m15.729s from Piastri on medium tyres proved hard to beat early on.
Max Verstappen was sixth and the only driver to set meaningful mileage - nine laps - on hard tyres, which he described as "horrendous". The Red Bull driver was nine tenths off the pace in sixth.
Arvid Lindblad was just 0.090s off Verstappen in seventh for Racing Bulls while Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto was eighth, 1.185s off the pace.
Behind Hamilton was Isack Hadjar in 10th for Red Bull - four tenths off his team-mate.
Nico Hulkenberg was 11th for Audi, three tenths behind Bortoleto, while Ollie Bearman was 12th for Haas and more than half a second faster than team-mate Esteban Ocon in 17th.
Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson stopped at the pit exit early in the session and was classified 13th. He remarked that the gearbox was the cause of the issue. However, Racing Bulls recovered his car and put Lawson back out on track for some late installation laps just as the chequered flag flew on FP2.
Cadillac's Valtteri Bottas was confined to the garage for much of the session with an ECU issue but he made it out to classify 18th. His team-mate Sergio Perez, 20th, was black-and-white flagged for driving erratically late in the session after a close call with Hadjar.
Aston Martin rounded out the standings with Fernando Alonso ahead of his team-mate Lance Stroll, the pair four seconds off the pace.
FP2 times
1 Lando Norris (McLaren) 1m15.426s
2 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.009s
3 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.057s
4 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.373s
5 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.589s
6 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.895s
7 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +0.985s
8 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.185s
9 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +1.205s
10 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +1.248s
11 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1.508s
12 Oliver Bearman (Haas) +1.519s
13 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.541s
14 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +1.594s
15 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1.625s
16 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.834s
17 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +2.112s
18 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +2.799s
19 Alex Albon (Williams) +3.364s
20 Sergio Perez (Cadillac) +3.835s
21 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +3.860s
22 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +4.033s
