McLaren encouraged by FP2 pace, but sees status quo among leaders

There was a flicker of old McLaren swagger at Suzuka on Friday – the kind that had become so familiar over the past two championship-winning years. But this time, it came with a dose of realism.

Yes, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri topped the timesheets in second practice, but beneath the headline performance, the team remains grounded in a harsher truth: the Formula 1 pecking order may not be shifting anytime soon.

While Piastri led the way in FP2, putting the team firmly in the spotlight, Lando Norris battled through a disrupted session still managing to stay in the mix.

McLaren racing director Randy Singh struck a balanced tone when reflecting on the day – pleased with the team’s performance, but far from carried away.

“I think we made the most of FP2, obviously we had the hydraulic leak with Lando, we weren’t able to fully fix that for the session,” commented Singh.

In a sport where track time is everything, that kind of issue could have derailed the session entirely. Instead, McLaren salvaged valuable data – and perhaps a little confidence too.

“But the team did a really good job to get as much running as we could and we tried to make the most of the learning we had there. Oscar finished P1, which I think is always nice to see, but similar to pace in Australia on Friday,” he added.

“I think the pecking order generally looks pretty much the same in broad terms.”

It was a grounded assessment – one that hinted the headline result might flatter to deceive.

Reality check looming

And if Singh’s words offered subtle caution, McLaren’s own internal view made it explicit: don’t expect miracles come qualifying.

“Despite Oscar topping the timesheets in FP2, the underlying pictures appear to have remained the same as previous races,” he stated.

“Since the opening double-header, the team has worked hard to understand how to extract performance from the 2026 regulation power units, and some progress has been made in this area.”

Singh suggests there are gains being made – but not yet enough to shift the balance of power.

“However, with no upgrades to the car this weekend, our performance in FP2 is likely to be an outlier over the weekend, as it’s expected that Mercedes and Ferrari will resume their positions as the first and second fastest teams as we head into competitive running,” he concluded.

• Read also: Norris says patience required but ‘we’ll return to winning races’

For McLaren, Friday was a welcome lift – a reminder of what’s possible when everything clicks. But as the team itself openly admits, Formula 1 doesn’t hand out points for practice pace.

The stopwatch may have smiled on them today. The real test is still to come.

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