Why McLaren's pace improvement is intriguing: Barcelona FP2 Data Analysis

McLaren ended FP2 with both cars in the top 3 and topping the session with Norris, and why is what matters when it comes to how they stack up against Mercedes and when the heat gets turned up.

McLaren strongest over a single lap?

Lando Norris ended FP2 as the quickest driver on track, setting a lap of 1:15.426, only 0.009s clear of George Russell and 0.057s ahead of his own teammate Oscar Piastri.

It might be a minute difference in the grand scheme of things, but it drove me to look into why McLaren have been able to out-do Mercedes in Barcelona when they haven’t so far this year. The track dominance map reveals the answer which is an intriguing one in the context of where Mercedes have been strongest so far this year.

Their advantage has typically been in the higher speed corners and down the straights, but this week, that accolade has been taken over by the McLarens.

Lando had the highest top speed, although not a lot split the three cars. He also had the highest speed through the fastest corner of the lap - turn 9 - where he carried 6km/h more through than Russell, but only 1km/h more than Piastri.