McLaren
Mclaren had a strong opening session, despite Norris being on the sidelines. Dunne was driving in an FP1 session for the first time and impressed many by finishing fourth, less than a tenth back from Piastri’s time. Norris wasted no time getting going in FP2 though, jumping to the top of the timing sheets and staying there. He wound up well over a tenth clear of his team mate, and looks well placed to fight for pole tomorrow. But Piastri often takes longer to build into the weekend, so cannot be discounted just yet.
Oscar Piastri – FP1: 1:05.697, P3; FP2: 1:04.737, P2
“It was a decent Friday. The pace looks strong, and the car is feeling good. There are a few things to try and work on overnight to make sure we can maximise Quali, but I’m in a happy place at the moment and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Lando Norris – FP2: 1:04.580, P1
“A good day on track to start the weekend. I had to play a bit of catch-up in FP2, but Alex did a good job this morning to give the team important feedback on where we could improve the car for the second session. We took some more positives steps forward, so I’m feeling good but will work with the team overnight to make sure I feel completely happy on the limit tomorrow.”
Alex Dunne – FP1: 1:05.766, P4
“I’m very happy with how today went. I knew going into the session that the goal wasn’t performance, it was to run through a test plan and help the team prepare for the weekend, so to be also able to show some pace at the end felt great.
“In terms of the session itself, it was nice and clean. Running the rakes to begin with meant I was able to gather valuable data for the team and support with comparisons. I was able to put it all together and make sure I applied what I needed to from the learning we did in the TPC tests and on the sim, so thank you to the team for preparing me so well.
“I want to say a massive thank you to Zak, Andrea, Alessandro, Stephanie, Warren, and everyone at McLaren for giving me the opportunity, I am very grateful and, as I said at the end of the session on the radio, a little boy’s dream came true today.”
Andrea Stella, Team Principal
“It’s been a productive Friday in Austria with both sessions running smoothly today. It was great to be able to give Alex the opportunity to take part in his debut FP1 session as part of his progress within our Driver Development Programme. Alex did a good job driving Lando’s car in the first session, working his way through a quite extensive plan of testing with some new parts, some rake work and multiple adjustments of settings on the steering wheel before a solid performance run. We have collected important data which the team, Lando and Oscar have available overnight to take into Saturday. Thank you and well done to Alex for his contribution.
“Whilst Oscar completed his run plan in FP2, Lando returned to the MCL39 and was immediately on the pace and able to learn about the car and tyres. Overall, a positive Friday but we know that the field is very competitive, and we will have to maximise all the opportunities.”
