McLaren dominates Friday practice: statements from Piastri and Norris

McLaren raises the bar in second free practice, putting half a second on the competition.

The second free practice session of the Bahrain Grand Prix saw a dominant McLaren performance, both in qualifying pace and long runs. The Papaya team left the rest of the field behind, putting half a second between themselves and the closest chasers, Russell and Leclerc, sending a strong message to the competition. Piastri topped the timesheets ahead of teammate Norris, the Australian finishing a tenth and a half ahead.

Despite a very strong Friday showing, McLaren’s two drivers chose to keep expectations in check, pointing out the significant track degradation and how different the conditions were compared to the February testing. These were Piastri’s words: “Friday done. Conditions weren’t easy today, especially in the first session, but overall it was a positive day. In the evening hour, the pace seemed good and we were able to gather a lot of useful data. Now we’ll analyse what worked and what we can improve before focusing on tomorrow’s qualifying.”

Lando Norris was even more “humble” in his assessment, with his comments already sparking some debate. Here’s what the Brit had to say: “What kind of feeling did I have? Shocking. Compared to testing, which felt like a dream, today was honestly horrendous. It wasn’t easy to adapt to the reality of Bahrain, and I don’t think we’re in for an exciting race on Sunday, because the degradation is insane. Even on a day when everything feels terrible, though, the result seems decent.

There’s wind, the temperatures are very high, and that’s the big difference from testing. But that’s the situation, and it’s the same for everyone. We basically have to throw all the data from a month and a half ago in the bin—the conditions have changed and we’re a second off the times we were doing. There’s still a lot to work on.”

Photo: X McLaren F1 Team