The China Mail - Norris completes 'double top' in Hungary practice

The 25-year-old Briton, who is 16 points behind Piastri in the drivers' title race, clocked a best lap in one minute and 15.624 seconds to outpace the Australian by 0.291 seconds after a tense second session at the Hungaroring circuit.

Charles Leclerc was third for Ferrari, adrift by nearly four-tenths, ahead of the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso, and Lewis Hamilton in the second Ferrari.

George Russell was seventh for Mercedes ahead of Racing Bulls’ rookie Isack Hadjar, Yuki Tsunoda of Red Bull and Kimi Antonelli in the second Mercedes.

All this left four-time champion Max Verstappen, grumbling throughout about his car's poor balance and performance, down in 14th place, 1.167 seconds off the pace and three tenths adrift of his team-mate.

To make matters worse for the Dutchman, who described his car as "undriveable", he faced a likely investigation into his disposal of a cloth towel from his cockpit during the session.

From the start, it was clear that the duelling McLaren title protagonists were in no mood to take the session lightly as they traded best laps and, in a final late incident, ran close to making contact as Norris locked up and Piastri swept past him around Turn One.

On a bright, dry afternoon, Nico Hulkenberg – who had missed the first session to give reserve driver Paul Aron an outing for Sauber – was first out and within five minutes ran wide and scattered gravel across the track.

As Norris and Piastri dominated, endorsing the clear impression that a McLaren intra-team duel was in prospect for Sunday's race, Verstappen was down in 10th, adrift by a second, and reported, when asked about his car's balance, that it was like "driving on ice".

His teammate Tsunoda was a tenth faster in ninth.

Verstappen's pedestrian session was punctuated by an unusual late incident when he was filmed throwing a cloth, or towel, from his cockpit.

He was expected to face a stewards’ investigation.

And showing signs that he was feeling the pressure, Norris endured 'a moment' when he slid wide on the grass at the final corner and recovered with 15 minutes remaining on used softs.

Like Piastri, the winner here 12 months ago, he switched back to mediums signalling the fight for fastest lap was over.

E.Lau--ThChM