World championship leader Kimi Antonelli was fastest on Formula 1’s first day of running at the Spanish Grand Prix’s new Madrid circuit as the hugely challenging nature of the Madring was exhibited by a big crash for British rookie Arvid Lindblad.
After being outpaced by his Mercedes team-mate George Russell in the day’s first session, Antonelli produced a quicker time of 1:33.662 in Practice Two to edge out Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton by little more than a tenth of a second.
The timesheet was further evidence of Antonelli’s sky-high confidence, which was elevated by a stunning victory at the Italian Grand Prix last weekend as he won his home race from 19th on the grid to move 66 points clear of Russell at the top of the standings with 10 rounds of the 2026 season remaining.
On the evidence of Friday’s sessions, Mercedes and Ferrari are closely matched and could deliver an exciting pole contest in qualifying on Saturday, with huge excitement in the Spanish capital as F1 returns to the city for the first time since 1981.
Many had predicted a high number of red flags on Friday – and throughout the rest of the weekend – due to the tight and punishing nature of a circuit that the field have never raced at before.
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While there were several crashes and red flags in Friday’s F2 and F3 sessions, the F1 drivers showed their excellence to avoid any major incidents in first practice, but it was Lindblad who came unstuck just beyond the halfway point of Practice Two.
The 19-year-old was driving impressively and had just elevated himself to fourth when he pushed too hard on his next flying lap, losing control at Turn 13 and spinning into the barrier at high speed.
A delay of just over 10 minutes put an end to the qualifying simulations that had been taking place at that stage, securing Antonelli’s position at the top of the timesheet.
Russell was fifth after appearing to struggle to optimise his setup, but still managed to edge out Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.
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Reigning world champion Lando Norris was unable to set a time after a gearbox failure took him out of the session after just two laps.
McLaren were expected to be competitive in Madrid given Norris had claimed back-to-back victories before Antonelli’s win in Monza, but there was little evidence of that on Friday.
While Norris has generally been quicker than Piastri recently, losing an entire session at a new circuit will put the Brit on the back foot going into Saturday.
More to follow…
Sky Sports F1’s Spanish GP live schedule
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Saturday September 12
10am: F3 Sprint
11am: Spanish Grand Prix Practice Three (session starts at 11.30am)
1.10pm: F2 Sprint
2.15pm: Spanish Grand Prix Qualifying build-up
3pm: SPANISH GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING*
4.55pm: F3 Feature Race 1
6pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook
Sunday September 13
8.40am: F3 Feature Race 2
10.20am: F2 Feature Race
12.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Spanish GP build-up
2pm: THE SPANISH GRAND PRIX
4pm: Chequered Flag: Spanish GP reaction
5pm: Ted’s Notebook
*also on Sky Sports Main Event
Formula 1 is in Madrid for the Spanish Grand Prix at the new Madring circuit with Sunday’s race at 2pm (build-up from 12.30pm), live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime