Norris leads McLaren one-two as Verstappen faces investigation over towel incident

The same drivers occupied the top three places at the end of the second practice session as they did the first.

Lando Norris was quickest, followed by McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri, with Charles Leclerc in third place.

Both McLaren drivers appeared to be wringing the maximum from their cars, each coming close to sliding off at the final corner. The pair also had a near-miss at the end of the session when Norris snatched a brake at turn one and came close to hitting Piastri.

Max Verstappen ended the session in a lowly 14th place, which was only the beginning of his troubles. The stewards announced he is under investigation for a curious incident during the session.

Verstappen’s onboard camera revealed he threw an item, which appeared to be a towel, from his car’s cockpit at turn three. The incident occured at the beginning of his qualifying simulation run on soft tyres. Verstappen did not tell his team he had discovered the item or ask whether he should return to the pits to hand it back.

However his RB21’s handling is likely to be a greater concern. Not for the first time this weekend, Verstappen reported he was labouring to coax a competitive time out of the Red Bull.

“I don’t know what’s going on, it’s undriveable,” Verstappen said on his radio at one stage. “I haven’t got any balance.” His team mate Yuki Tsunoda fared considerably better, however, setting the ninth-fastest time.

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Lance Stroll was a strong fourth for Aston Martin. He lapped a tenth of a second faster than team mate Fernando Alonso, who was back in his car after missing the first session.

Lewis Hamilton ended the session in sixth place, setting the fastest time of anyone through the first sector. George Russell was next for Mercedes, separated from team mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli in 10th by Isack Hadjar and Tsunoda.

The Williams pair ended the session in 16th and 18th. The team briefly lost telemetry communication with their cars, leading them to tell their drivers to pit, though they cancelled the instructions soon afterwards when the problem cleared up.

2025 Hungarian Grand Prix Grand Prix second practice result

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2025 Hungarian Grand Prix

• Why Piastri believes he and Norris can avoid a Senna-Prost style fall-out
• Alonso felt “no pain” from back injury when he returned to car after missing practice
• Red Bull’s lack of pace on Friday looks like business as usual: Practice data analysis
• Red Bull warned over “unsafe release” after Verstappen throws towel from cockpit
• Verstappen still “in the game” despite 81-point championship gap – McLaren

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