Oscar Piastri’s FP2 dominance ‘will play on the mind’ of Lando Norris

Nico Rosberg believes Oscar Piastri’s impressive pace in second practice for the Spanish Grand Prix will ‘play on the mind’ of Lando Norris.

Piastri topped the timesheets in FP2 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The current F1 world championship leader was nearly 0.3s quicker than the rest of the field.

Norris set the fourth-best time, with a significant deficit to his teammate in the second session.

It’s a pivotal weekend in the F1 title race, with just three points between Piastri and Norris in the standings.

Speaking after Friday practice in Barcelona, Rosberg suggested Piastri’s strong Friday display could disrupt Norris’ momentum.

“Yes but don’t underestimate the setback today with Piastri dominating like this in FP2 and putting in such a strong lap,” Rosberg said.

“That will play on his mind for the rest of the day because now he will be there studying the data and he will see how Oscar was so quick there, so quick there. That’s not an easy day for him.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t stop his momentum which has been on the rise so much.”

Norris looking for “tiny” gains ahead of qualifying

While Piastri held the advantage in the second session, Norris topped the timesheets in the first.

Norris revealed that McLaren's ability to set up the car with a strong baseline allowed them to “try a different direction.”

“A decent Friday. The car was better in FP1 than it was in FP2, but we were trying things out. We’ll keep trying to improve for tomorrow,” Norris said.

“It’s tiny things. I think something that we always do very good is a good baseline and find it difficult to improve from that point onwards which is a good thing, not a bad thing. It allows us to try a different direction, different things and try and get a bit of a feel.”

Piastri wary of “quick” competitors

Heading into the weekend, it was expected that Red Bull would be back in the mix for the win, given that the RB21 performs better in high-speed corners.

Assessing his Friday, Piastri said: “I mean it’s been a bit of an up and down day. Ending on an up which is good. Our competitors look quick. Verstappen’s been quick all day. Ferrari have been there. Mercedes popped up at the end. It's going to be a tight battle tomorrow I think. Definitely still some things to try and work on.

“We expected Red Bull to be quick. That’s not a big surprise. Just trying to make the car a bit faster really that’s all.We’ve tried a few things today. We’re learning. It’s been a good day.”