Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli headed McLaren's Oscar Piastri in Friday practice at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Antonelli, who leads Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton by 41 points in the world championship, was 0.237 seconds clear of the Australian.

The second McLaren of world champion Lando Norris was third fastest, ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen and the second Mercedes of George Russell.

McLaren also looked competitive on race pace, with Norris mixing it with the Mercedes for the best pace on the long runs late in the session.

Ferrari have an engine upgrade for this weekend but the Italian team have not yet shown the pace that led to Hamilton's landmark victory in Spain last time out.

Hamilton was 0.597secs off the pace, and team-mate Charles Leclerc a further 0.244secs adrift in eight place, behind the second Red Bull of Isack Hadjar.

Russell was lacking pace over one lap - 0.623secs off team-mate Antonelli - but was on pace on the race-simulation runs.

Read the report here.

Kimi Antonelli looks ominous already and it's only Friday. The Mercedes man looks in fine form headed into Saturday's final practice session and qualifying.

But can he pull further ahead in his race for a maiden drivers' championship title? Or will McLaren, Ferrari or Red Bull have something to say about that?

I'll be back on Saturday for final practice and qualifying to guide you through the action.

Our coverage gets under way at at 11:15 BST ahead of third practice 15 minutes later.

Until tomorrow, folks!

11. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)

12. Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls)

13. Ollie Bearman (Haas)

14. Nico Hulkenberg (Audi)

15. Esteban Ocon (Haas)

16. Franco Colapinto (Alpine)

17. Alex Albon (Williams)

18. Carlos Sainz (Williams)

19. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)

20. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

21. Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac)

22. Sergio Perez (Cadillac)

1. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 1:07.014

2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.237

3. Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.325

4. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.550

5. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.597

6. George Russell (Mercedes) +0.623

7. Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +0.744

8. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.841

9. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.221

10. Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1.286

Thom: I’m still certain that had George Russell not had that bad luck early on, he’d be dominant. Instead he’s lagging once more because he’s overthinking everything. Like Mr Brightside, it’s all in his head.

Michael: The changes to the power ratio has really made a difference to the speed through the corners at Barcelona and Red Bull Ring but we still need to go further.

"I think my brakes have been on five for like five laps."

Charles Leclerc's done a late run on the mediums.

However he's gone wide headed into the final corner, eventually setting a time in the 1:15s.

We're into the final stages of FP2 now and it's very much a case of as you were in terms of who's dominated the session.

Kimi Antonelli looks mightily impressive in his Mercedes so far but McLaren look like they're in a close second so far.

Six minutes remain on the clock.

Abbie Eaton
British racing driver on Sports Extra 2

Kimi Antonelli is quickest at the moment and George Russell is down in sixth at the moment, sixth tenths off his team-mate - he's not going to be happy with that and scratching his head why, to be fair.

1. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 1:07.014

2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.237

3. Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.325

4. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.550

5. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.597

Everyone, other than the Cadillac of Valtteri Bottas, is on the soft tyre now as you might expect.

Bottas, is in the garage, and has managed just six laps after the floor of his car caught on fire earlier.

Meanwhile, if you're just joining us, his team-mate Sergio Perez managed only a couple of laps before his car gave out, causing a VSC.

Kimi Antonelli improves on his own fastest time by almost two tenths.

His 1:07.014 is currently the time to beat.

The Mercedes man has looked very impressive indeed, today.

Abbie Eaton
British racing driver on Sports Extra 2

In the last sector when we were onboard with George Russell, it looked like he was not confident with the car. He wasn't really thowing the car around all that much, and it looked like he was a bit hesitant with the car.

1. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) - 1:07.209

2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.042

3. Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.130

4. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.402

5. George Russell (Mercedes) +0.530

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent

It looked like Lando Norris lost some time in the final sector, because he was up on McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri by a tenth and a bit after sector two.

Kimi Antonelli regains top spot with a 1:07.209, just a narrow four hundredths faster than Oscar Piastri.

Lando Norris is third fastest with the soft spell well and truly beginning, here.

Abbie Eaton
British racing driver on Sports Extra 2

There is a bit of a pace difference between Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton at the moment; so Hamilton is four tenths behind Leclerc on the medium run pace.

Now, I wonder if some drivers started to do their push lap when the virtual safety car came out? So, potentially, the laps that have been put in are slightly out of sync.

Oof.

Tell you what, Lando Norris' mechanical issues earlier probably overshadowed how decent McLaren look this weekend.

His team-mate Oscar Piastri goes quickest, with a 1:07.251, taking a chunk out of Kimi Antonelli's best time.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent

So far, Kimi Antonelli has looked particularly strong in that Mercedes, and he looks like he has an edge over team-mate George Russell, as well as all the other cars.