Norris finished 0.023 seconds faster than the championship leader, who had a sloppy session that included traffic on one fast lap and a mistake on another.

Alex Albon, driving for Williams, set the third-fastest time, ahead of Lewis Hamilton’s improved Mercedes.

Ferrari appeared to be suffering, as Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin failed not post a representative lap time.

Charles Leclerc was the quickest Ferrari, finishing 11th and 0.585 seconds off the pace, while teammate Carlos Sainz placed 16th.

The Spaniard sat out the first session while Ferrari test driver Robert Shwartzman drove, then had two mishaps in the second, misjudging the entry to Turn 11 and skating into the gravel on a fast lap, and then driving wide at the penultimate corner during his race run.

Alonso, who was second fastest in the Aston Martin in the morning session, was just 10th fastest over one lap in the afternoon.Norris’ pace in the McLaren highlighted the team’s development since an upgrade in Austria at the beginning of last month, as they had been the second fastest team in qualifying on average.

Even if McLaren can fight Verstappen in qualifying, expecting a threat to the local hero in the race is foolhardy. Verstappen was 0.2 seconds faster than Norris and 0.5 seconds faster than Leclerc on the lengthy runs on the soft tyre.

Oscar Piastri, Norris’ teammate, was 19th fastest following a spin at the severely banked Hugenholtz hairpin early in the practice that injured his car.

Daniel Ricciardo of Alpha Tauri also became entangled in Piastri’s incident when he failed to detect the McLaren until too late in the bend and crashed in avoidance.

The Australian said he wounded his wrist in the collision because he didn’t take his hand off the wheel before the car hit the barriers, and he proceeded to visit a doctor about it before being brought to hospital for further examinations.

Yuki Tsunoda, Ricciardo’s teammate, was fifth fastest, ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, and Esteban Ocon’s Alfa Romeo.

Albon’s race pace could only be compared to Hamilton’s because both used the medium tyre and the Williams was 0.2secs slower.