Russell said: “It might be my first time top of the leaderboard all year. Very positive day.
“We had higher expectations coming to this weekend because cooler conditions, the track’s quite smooth so the tyres naturally run quite cold and we know our weakness.
“When it’s hot, we struggle and when it’s cold, the tyres run cold, we’re pretty competitive. The was definitely validation today.
“The lap was really strong today, probably optimised, nothing more in the tank, we had it all on the table full beans, power and everything.”
Russell set his fastest time on the medium tyre, while Norris used the soft.
This reflects a potential repeat of the phenomenon experienced at last month’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, when some teams felt the medium compound was a better qualifying tyre than the soft.
The tyre selection is the same as at Imola, with Pirelli’s softest compound, the C6, as the soft. This is a fragile tyre that can be hard to make work over one lap.
Russell said: “A number of teams are thinking about the medium tyre. Come qualifying, do you go on the soft or the medium? That’s one of the challenges when we have the C6 compound.”
Williams’ Alex Albon and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso were fourth and fifth, ahead of Piastri, Williams’ Carlos Sainz, Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Belying his one-lap pace, the Dutchman, the closest challenger to the leading McLaren drivers in the championship, was the fastest on the race-simulation runs late in the session, although closely matched with Russell, Norris and Piastri.
Verstappen said: “Day was all right. I felt quite happy with the car. P2 was a bit more difficult. We lost something with the car, balance-wise and ride, which we need to investigate, but overall it was quite a positive day for us.”
Hamilton’s team-mate Charles Leclerc missed the second session after a crash midway through the first.
Leclerc’s impact with the barriers after locking his brakes at Turn Three and misjudging whether he could make the corner damaged his car’s chassis and it needed to be replaced before Saturday’s running.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll crashed early in the second session, hitting the barrier a glancing blow on the exit of Turn Six and breaking his left front suspension.
His car suffered understeer on the exit of the corner and the front washed out into the wall. Stroll had experienced the situation earlier in the lap but it was exacerbated in the incident by ‘dirty air’ from the traffic ahead.
A number of other drivers misjudged their braking points and skipped over the grass at one of the chicanes with no damage.
And Alpine’s Franco Colapinto had his second spin of the day at Turn Two, after an earlier one in the first session. The Argentine ended the second session slowest of the drivers who set a time.
