Norris hopeful of McLaren step forward after topping Barcelona practice

Lando Norris was hopeful McLaren would take a step forward in competitiveness at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix after topping the times in Friday practice.

Norris was 0.009 seconds quicker than Mercedes' George Russell, with the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri just 0.057secs off the pace.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was fourth, 0.373secs behind Norris, and ahead of runaway championship leader Kimi Antonelli.

McLaren arrived in Spain after difficult weekends in Canada and Monaco where they struggled for pace.

Norris, who retired from both races, said: "Very different from the last two tracks in Monaco and Canada. It's quicker, playing with the car in a very different regime than the last few weeks and it seems to be working in a better place than the last few weeks.

"A reasonable Friday. Still a good few things to improve. It's hot and I don't think anyone's going to be that happy. It's difficult with the wind and with the conditions but it seems to be working better than the last few weeks, which is a good sign.

"We're up there with the people we want to be with. It's hard to know what fuel loads others are on but we're just happy we're heading in the right direction after the last couple of weeks."

Russell, 68 points behind Antonelli in the championship, did not do any media interviews on Friday - only one driver from each team was required to do so. He ended up 0.274secs ahead of Antonelli, who did not take part in the first session as reserve driver Frederik Vesti was driving in one of the mandated junior driver days.

Antonelli, who had traffic on his fastest lap, said: "The tyres are overheating quite a lot. Just trying to find the best balance. With only one lap, it is always difficult, but overall there is still quite a bit of work to do.

"But I am quite confident ahead of tomorrow. Long run was good but looking forward to tomorrow and the changes we're going to make."

Deputy team principal Bradley Lord said: "George looked very quick and McLaren looked very quick as well.

"For Kimi, it was just a question of trying to make up for lost time and get used to the car, which I am sure he will be tomorrow.

"It looks like the pecking order is a little bit different to Monaco, more similar to Miami. It looks very tight between us and McLaren. Ferrari looked strong, especially on the long run with Charles in P2."

Leclerc's long run was actually quicker than Russell's, when using the same medium compound tyres at the same time.

On the race runs, the picture for McLaren looked less positive - Norris was not competitive with Antonelli when both were using the soft tyres, nor Piastri with Russell on the mediums.

Although Antonelli looked quick on his race-simulation runs later in the session, it was not possible to make a direct comparison with Russell as they were running different tyre compounds.

Lewis Hamilton - second in the championship, 66 points behind Antonelli - had a difficult day.

After sitting out the first session so Ferrari junior driver Dino Beganovic could have a run, Hamilton was only ninth fastest in the second session.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen was sixth fastest, but 0.895secs off the pace, ahead of Racing Bulls' Arvid Lindblad and Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto.

Verstappen, who was concerned ahead of the weekend because of the Red Bull's struggles in high-speed corners so far this year, felt his team were not in a position to compete at the front.

"For sure not," he said. "We lose in the high speed, low speed and medium speed, the whole day lacking grip, feeling with the car, the balance. Nothing felt nice.

"There is no grip, the cars are drifting around, tyres not giving any kind of grip. We struggled a little more than the top guys but I think no one had a good balance."