McLaren’s Lando Norris topped Friday Practice for 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.
Norris skipped FP1 which was topped by Mercedes’ George Russell in a session which saw seven rookie drivers participate in line with modern F1 rules.
The Brit however bounced back once he got into the cockpit of his McLaren to narrowly top FP2 from his compatriot whilst his McLaren teammate, Oscar Piastri wasn’t far behind in third position.
FP1
Alpine’s Franco Colapinto was the first driver on track but it was Cadillac’s FP1 driver – Colton Herta who set 1m 24.225 as the initial benchmark time.
His time was soon usurped by several drivers as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen lowered the benchmark time to 1m 18.511 in the fifth minute, but Russell two minutes later further lowered the benchmark time to 1m 17.414 and 0.205 seconds clear of Piastri.
Russell subsequently lowered the benchmark to 1m 17.353 as Piastri shaved 0.003s off his deficit to sit 0.202s off the Brit at the halfway mark.
Once attention turned to low-fuel qualifying simulations, Verstappen set 1m 17.047 with 28 minutes left but Russell responded three minutes later to set 1m 16.363 to top the session from Piastri and Leclerc.
Seven rookie drivers participated in the session with McLaren’s Leonardo Fornaroli quickest of that group in fifth position overall, albeit 0.105s ahead of sixth-placed Paul Aron who replaced Nico Hulkenberg at Audi just for the opening practice of the weekend.
Dino Beganovic finished eighth for Ferrari, whilst Ayumu Iwasa put his Red Bull 14th in the classification and just 0.005s behind the Williams driven by ex Red Bull junior member, Carlos Sainz.
Mercedes’ rookie, Frederik Vesti finished 15th whilst Cadillac’s Colton Herta was slowest of the whole field who set a lap time, as electrical issues prevented Luke Browning from getting out on track at Williams.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1m 16.363 |
| 2 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.203 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.520 |
| 4 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.684 |
| 5 | Leonardo Fornaroli | McLaren | + 0.853 |
| 6 | Paul Aron | Audi | + 0.958 |
| 7 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | + 1.109 |
| 8 | Dino Beganovic | Ferrari | + 1.415 |
| 9 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | + 1.441 |
| 10 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | + 1.530 |
| 11 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | + 1.809 |
| 12 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | + 1.846 |
| 13 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 1.930 |
| 14 | Ayumu Iwasa | Red Bull | + 1.935 |
| 15 | Frederik Vesti | Mercedes | + 2.002 |
| 16 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 2.009 |
| 17 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 2.145 |
| 18 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | + 2.552 |
| 19 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 3.704 |
| 20 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 3.955 |
| 21 | Colton Herta | Cadillac | + 4.334 |
| 22 | Luke Browning | Williams | No Time |
FP2
Having sat out FP1, Cadillac’s Sergio Perez was first out onto the circuit and set 1m 20.518 as the initial benchmark time, which quickly tumbled as Verstappen went quickest on the hard tyre.
Piastri though would top the opening stint in the eighth minute with 1m 15.724 on the medium tyre ahead of Russell by 0.221s.
Lawson’s session meanwhile was curtailed less than 20 minutes in due to a suspected gearbox failure, which meant that he missed the soft-tyre qualifying simulations.
On the soft tyre, Russell was the first driver to displace Piastri’s medium-tyre time as he set 1m 15.435 with 28 minutes left in the session, which saw the Aussie fall 0.048s shy on his own attempt.
Norris however left it to the line to go quickest with 1m 15.426 to top the session in a Mercedes-powered top three ahead of Russell by 0.009s and Piastri in third, as the top three were split by 0.057s.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1m 15.426 |
| 2 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.009 |
| 3 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.057 |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.373 |
| 5 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | + 0.589 |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.895 |
| 7 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | + 0.985 |
| 8 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | + 1.185 |
| 9 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 1.205 |
| 10 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | + 1.248 |
| 11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | + 1.508 |
| 12 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | + 1.519 |
| 13 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | + 1.541 |
| 14 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 1.594 |
| 15 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | + 1.625 |
| 16 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.834 |
| 17 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 2.112 |
| 18 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | + 2.799 |
| 19 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 3.364 |
| 20 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | + 3.835 |
| 21 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 3.860 |
| 22 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 4.033 |
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