Kimi Antonelli has gone quickest in the second practice session at this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix.
The Italian youngster crossed the line 0.237 seconds ahead of McLaren's Oscar Piastri, setting a time of 1:07.014.
Piastri's teammate Lando Norris finished in third, while Max Verstappen was fourth in the Red Bull. Lewis Hamilton was off the pace again and finished in fifth.
Antonelli, who is 41 points clear of Hamilton prior to the eighth of 22 scheduled rounds, looked in ominous form as he completed a practice double.
He beat his teammate George Russell, who finished second in first practice, before getting the better of him again in second practice.
Russell has not won since the opening round of the season in Melbourne in March and he was an alarming 0.623 seconds adrift of Antonelli in the second session down in sixth.
Hamilton, who won last time out in Barcelona, faces an uphill task to carry his winning momentum over to Austria, with Ferrari struggling for outright speed.
Hamilton's teammate Charles Leclerc was even further back in eighth, 0.841 seconds off the leading pace.
Mercedes has won six of the first seven races, with Antonelli taking five consecutive victories.
And it is McLaren, rather than Ferrari, who are primed to take the battle to the Silver Arrows.
Norris finished 0.325 seconds behind Antonelli. However, the Englishman should have finished with a vastly superior time but for a mistake in the closing stages of his quickest lap.
Russell stopped short of declaring Sunday's race a "must-win," but he will be keen to stop the Antonelli juggernaut.
Russell is already 50 points behind Antonelli in the standings and the deficit would have been greater had the latter not retired from second place with an engine failure in Spain.
Information from PA contributed to this report.
