FP2: Leclerc leads Piastri during second practice as Norris deliberately hides McLaren's pace

F1 Grand Prix, GP Emilia Romagna, Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari

Having led the opening one-hour practice, Charles Leclerc continued to demonstrate the impressive performace of his upgraded SF-24, albeit McLaren's Lando Norris could have easily topped the session had he not aborted his qualifying simulation lap. F1Technical's senior writer Balázs Szabó reports on Free Practice 2 from Imola.

Charles Leclerc set the benchmark time in the second one-hour practice at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, posting a time of 1m15.906s on Pirelli's soft tyres.

While Ferrari appeared to have an edge over its rivals on Friday, McLaren displayed eye-catching pace with both drives. Oscar Piastri took second only two tenths of a second adrift of Leclerc. His team-mate Lando Norris finished down in P12, but his qualifying simulation lap would have been enough for him to top the session, but he aborted his lap in Sector 3 and dived into the pits.

Yuki Tsunoda took a brilliant P3 in the afternoon session on a very important weekend for his team as Visa RB's fatory is only a few miles away from the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari. However, the Japanese driver will be investigated after the session for a potential practice start infringement.

Having brought a few upgrades for the first European race of the season, Mercedes looked quick on all compounds. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell had a decent day, racking up a total of 28 and 31 laps. The seven-time world champion finished the one-hour session in P4, fourth tenths of a second off Leclerc's benchmark. His team-mate Russell was only fractionally slower as he took P5.