The China Mail - Norris bounces back as McLaren take 1-2 in Austrian practice

As the paddock digested news that Mercedes had held talks about possibly signing Max Verstappen from Red Bull alongside George Russell in 2026 Norris clocked a best lap in one minute and 4.580 seconds to beat Piastri by 0.157 seconds.

Four-time champion Max Verstappen was third fastest for Red Bull, adrift by 0.318 seconds.

For Norris, who sat out the first session at the Red Bull Ring, it was a relief to move on from his collision with team-mate Piastri in Montreal where he retired pointless, admitting he had "made a fool of myself".

"I didn't mind sitting on the pit wall," he said, with a grin, referring to missing the morning session.

"I actually felt a lot more relaxed there than in the car, especially here.

"I've always enjoyed this track. The car felt good right from the start. Alex (Dunne, reserve driver) gave solid feedback this morning after FP1 and was on pace straight away, which was encouraging to see."

Norris added that he was pleased with the development of the car with McLaren's latest upgrades.

"They definitely moved the car in the right direction for FP2," he said.

"Now, we just need to figure out if we want more of that tomorrow, less, or somewhere in between.

"So, it’s a good step forward, but hopefully there's still a bit more to come."

- 'Max is still close' -

McLaren came to the Styrian Alps with three performance-based updates including aerodynamic revisions of the front and rear of the car and suspension.

Piastri, who leads Norris by 22 points in the title race, said he was satisfied with his first day in the car.

"It looked pretty good," he said.

"Max is still close, so I think he'll definitely be a threat this weekend, but the car's feeling good. I think the pace is quite good, so a positive first day."

He added that both he and Norris had "all the parts that we think will make the car faster" on their cars.

Verstappen, who took his time to improve through the sessions, said: "We didn't have any big issues.

"We lack a bit of pace and had too much understeer, both on the short and the long run. So that is something we have to try to get rid of."

Lance Stroll was fourth for Aston Martin ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, George Russell of Mercedes, who won last year and two weeks ago in Canada, and Yuki Tsunoda in the second Red Bull.

Gabriel Bortoleto was eighth for Sauber ahead of two-time champion Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, struggling in his updated Ferrari.

Norris added: "We've shown a bit more pace than some others, so I certainly think they're going to catch up. Max is not far behind and they normally improve a lot on Saturday.

"So I expect a good day tomorrow (Saturday) and I’m sure we’ll improve on some things, but it's not as easy as maybe it looked.

"I think it's still going to be tight tomorrow — it always is. There’s no reason for it not to be, but we’ll work hard to make it as big of a gap as possible."

F.Brown--ThChM