Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix FP2: Lando Norris fastest, McLaren and Mercedes very close
F1 NewsFriday, 12 June 2026 at 18:00
Lando Norris topped the second practice session for the 2026 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix as George Russell and Oscar Piastri chased.
It appears that the fight in Barcelona will be between Mercedes and McLaren as the top three were within 0.057s.
The reigning Formula 1 Champion delivered a lap time of 1:15.429, 0.009s faster than Russell in second while Piastri was 0.057s off the pace in third.
Ferrari still have some work to do to dial in their upgraded SF-26 as Charles Leclerc was fourth fastest, 0.373s off the top and ahead of Kimi Antonelli who was back in the car after missing FP1 and was fifth fastest, 0.589s away from the benchmark.
Red Bull Racing continued to struggle with the RB22 looking nervous with Max Verstappen only sixth fastest and a worrying 0.895s off the pace.
Arvid Lindblad was seventh fastest for Racing Bulls, 0.985s off the pace while Gabriel Bortoleto was eighth almost two tenths behind.
Lewis Hamilton did not have the best of sessions after getting his Ferrari back from Dino Beganovic and was ninth fastest with Isack Hadjar tenth.
Buildup towards FP2
While Russell topped the first practice session in Barcelona, the session remained unrepresentative as several major players were out of the picture, namely Antonelli who handed his car over to Fred Vesti.
In a way, having Mercedes at the top of the timing screens as they have been the team to beat so far in 2026 with the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya only serving as a confirmation of that status.
The focus is not more on the battle between Antonelli and Russell within Mercedes as we will witness another round this weekend with FP2 hopefully showing is where Antonelli stands.
Ferrari's start of the weekend with a new upgrade was not promising with Leclerc around half a tenth slower than Russell, but then, the team will need time to fine tune the car and understand the new package while we also wait to see how Hamilton gets on with it.
McLaren seemed better with Piastri second fastest, but then, they were expected to do better in Barcelona after struggling on tracks with specific requirement like Canada and Monaco.
FP2 Session highlights
Dry and clear conditions carried on into FP2 with track temperatures remaining high, 50 degrees Celsius to be precise while air temperature was 30 degrees.
Aside from Verstappen who was on Hards, all the other drivers started the session on Mediums.
Replays showed several drivers having snaps, namely Carlos Sainz, Verstappen, and Russell - no crashes though.
Soon after, Antonelli ran wide at Turn 10, aborted his lap and then went again.
Steady, Carlos 😮#F1 #BarcelonaGP pic.twitter.com/UhzFwWLfrx
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 12, 2026
With a little over 15 minutes gone from the second, Liam Lawson parked his VCARB at the pit exit with now power.
He brought up the Yellow flag which soon became a Virtual Safety Car.
Replay showed Lawson's car just grinding to a halt and not sounding healthy at all. He radioed believing it was a gearbox issue.
However, it didn't take too much time for the stricken VCARB to be cleared and the session was soon back to Green conditions.
Liam Lawson emerges from the pit lane only to grind to a halt a few metres onto the track
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 12, 2026
⚠️ Virtual Safety Car ⚠️#F1 #BarcelonaGP pic.twitter.com/mKfpD9l0SR
Even before halftime, Verstappen bolted on a set of Softs and went for a qualifying simulation. Lindblad, Sainz, Sergio Perez, and Nico Hulkenberg followed suit.
In the meantime, Cadillac revealed an ECU issue with Valtteri Bottas and that they were working on it hoping to get him back out on track before the session was over.
Alex Albon wasn't having a decent session. He said his car was disconnected and asked his team that he boxed to regroup.
Fernando Alonso had a small battle with both Red Bulls for track position. No contact though...
The Spaniard was then noted for crossing the white line when exiting the pits and would be investigated after the session.
Traffic ahead of Turn 1 👀
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 12, 2026
The stewards will be having a word with Fernando after he crossed the white line as he exited the pit lane#F1 #BarcelonaGP pic.twitter.com/3bcQGKVcwq
Towards the final 20 minutes of the session, Medium tyres were back with teams starting some long runs.
Verstappen wasn't happy with the tyres he was on, said it was horrendous, and asked to stop before the end of the planned stint to change tyres.
Hamilton was complaining about his Ferrari bottoming out and went back to the garage for some work.
Hadjar had a close moment with Perez who did seem to see the Red Bull coming through and almost crashed.
📻 "Why did he do that? I nearly crashed into him!"
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 12, 2026
Hadjar takes to the grass to avoid contact with Perez 😰#F1 #BarcelonaGP pic.twitter.com/BZt1B4NKmx
Russell had an off moment as he ended up in the gravel at Turn 10, but managed to get back to the pits before going out again.
Antonelli had a moment at the same corner but avoided the gravel. However, he complained about the brake pedal being very long.
Hamilton was asking whether all other drivers were suffering from tyre degradation like he was. Yes was the answer from his engineer.
The session was concluded with practice starts.
Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix FP2 Classification
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