Lando Norris topped the second practice session at the Hungarian Grand Prix, continuing McLaren’s dominance on Friday with a benchmark lap of 1m15.624s.
The Briton outpaced teammate Oscar Piastri by 0.291s after an eventful session that saw multiple changes at the top.
Norris had already led the early medium-tyre runs, clocking a 1m16.525s that moved him ahead of Piastri by over a tenth. But once the field moved onto soft compounds, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll temporarily displaced both McLarens with a strong lap on the C5s.
Piastri responded with the first lap in the 1m15s range—a 1m15.915s effort—but Norris immediately struck back with his session-topping time. Piastri’s second attempt ended in a wide moment at Turn 7, locking the order at the front.
The McLaren pair also had a near-miss at Turn 1, when Norris locked up exiting the pit lane as Piastri came sweeping around the outside.
For the second consecutive session, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc ended the hour in third, 0.399s behind Norris. Stroll kept his strong pace to finish fourth, while Fernando Alonso made a welcome return in fifth after missing FP1 due to back pain.
Lewis Hamilton was sixth for Ferrari, narrowly behind the Aston Martins, and led a tightly packed group that included Isack Hadjar and Yuki Tsunoda. Both outpaced George Russell and Max Verstappen – who endured a difficult session and a challenging day overall.
The Red Bull charger ended FP2 in a surprising 14th place, reporting that his car felt “undriveable” and that he “can’t get any balance.” To compound his frustrations, Verstappen is also under investigation for throwing a towel out of the cockpit—allegedly left inside during the session.
Kimi Antonelli completed the top 10, ahead of Oliver Bearman, who placed 11th for the fifth consecutive session or race appearance. Nico Hülkenberg, back in the Sauber after sitting out FP1, slotted into 12th.
With both McLarens once again leading the charge, the pressure is mounting on the rest of the field to respond as the weekend builds toward qualifying.
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