Antonelli Dominates Again, Tops Second Practice at Austrian GP

Italian driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli continued his strong performance at the Austrian Grand Prix, setting the fastest time in the second practice session on Friday. Antonelli, representing Mercedes and currently leading the Formula 1 World Championship, had also topped the timesheets in the morning session.

Driving on soft tires, Antonelli completed his best lap in 1 minute and 1.714 seconds. This blistering pace put him 0.237 seconds ahead of Australia's Oscar Piastri and 0.325 seconds ahead of Britain's Lando Norris, both drivers for McLaren.

Max Verstappen of Red Bull secured fourth place, trailing Antonelli by half a second. Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari finished fifth, just under six-tenths of a second behind the leader. These positions mirrored the results from the day's first practice session, indicating a consistent performance from the top drivers.

Other notable drivers included Argentina's Franco Colapinto of Alpine, who finished sixteenth, more than 1.8 seconds off Antonelli's pace. Spanish drivers Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso placed eighteenth and nineteenth, respectively.

The session was marked by another technical issue for Sergio Pérez of Cadillac, whose car stopped on track shortly after the session began, preventing him from setting a time and leaving him at the bottom of the leaderboard. The weekend's action will continue with a third practice session and qualifying on Saturday, which will determine the starting grid for Sunday's 71-lap race.