McLaren's Lando Norris headed Mercedes' George Russell at the end of a Friday practice day that left plenty of questions as to form for the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

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

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was third fastest, 0.373secs adrift of Norris, with runaway championship leader Kimi Antonelli fourth.

But the Italian had traffic on his qualifying simulation lap in the Mercedes, so his headline lap time is unrepresentative.

And 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, but 0.895secs off the pace, ahead of Racing Bulls' Arvid Lindblad and Audi's Gabriel Bortoleto.

Russell, 68 points behind Antonelli after the first six races and in dire need of a good weekend, was quickest in the first session from Piastri while Antonelli made way for reserve driver Frederik Vesti.