Kimi Antonelli sets the fastest time around MADRING in practice for the Spanish Grand Prix

Mercedes drivers set the pace on the opening day of practice for the FORMULA 1 TAG HEUER GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA 2026, with Italian Kimi Antonelli recording the fastest time around the new MADRING.

The World Championship points leader was quickest in Free Practice 2, following on from his Mercedes team-mate George Russell, who topped the timesheets in the morning session.

Antonelli’s best lap on the soft compound tyre was a 1m33.662s just 0.113s ahead of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari with seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton finishing FP2 in third.

British driver Arvid Lindblad achieved the fourth fastest time in the afternoon, but unfortunately spun into the wall at Turn 13 which led to a red flag stoppage. There was a brief pause while the marshals recovered his car and repaired the barriers on the outside of the corner.

A couple of other drivers tapped the wall during practice, including Liam Lawson in his Red Bull and local hero Fernando Alonso in the opening session. The Spanish driver also stopped on track at the end of FP2, and missed the start of the afternoon practice while his Aston Martin mechanics resolved an issue with his clutch. He finished the day with a P15 and P17 across the two practice hours.

Drivers were clearly enjoying driving the new 5.4km MADRING for the first time, while fans enjoyed watching the cars speed through the showpiece ‘La Monumental’ banked corner.

The two competitive sessions set the tone for what is expected to be an exciting qualifying tomorrow and the 57-lap FORMULA 1 TAG HEUER GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA 2026 on Sunday.

First appearance on track

Frenchman Esteban Ocon was the first driver out on track when the green light appeared at the end of the pit lane at 1.30pm to signify the start of First Free Practice. He immediately radioed back to his team to report that the “grip is high.”

With a smooth surface and hot, sunny temperatures, FP1 was a trouble-free session as drivers got to grips with the new 22-turn MADRING. The early pace-setters were the Ferrari drivers, but it was Russell’s 1m34.077s lap which put him at the top of the timesheets for the first session, 0.286s ahead of Antonelli.

A couple of runners suffered technical issues, with Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda reporting an issue with his power steering, while Lando Norris missed all of FP2 as his McLaren required a change of gearbox.

Madrid-born Carlos Sainz completed 30 laps in FP1 in his Williams to secure the 17th quickest time, while he improved one place in the afternoon after completing another 25 laps.

All the teams will spend Friday evening going through their data to refine their setups in time for tomorrow’s final hour of free practice, before heading into qualifying to set the grid for Sunday’s FORMULA 1 TAG HEUER GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA 2026.

Formula 2 makes its MADRING debut

Sweden’s Dino Beganovic set the quickest time in Formula 2 qualifying to secure pole position for Sunday’s Feature race. The DAMS driver set his time towards the end of the session, recording a 1m44.331s lap ahead of Alpine Academy driver Alexander Dunne.

Campos Racing’s Noel León set the eighth quickest time which means he will line up in pole position for Saturday’s reverse grid Sprint race. F2 points leader Nikola Tsolov could only manage P5 after he was caught out by a late red flag.

There were three stoppages in total for drivers suffering incidents at different sections of the MADRING. In the final moments of qualifying British racer John Bennett had just gone fastest overall in the first sector, but made a mistake at the exit of Turn 11.

In the morning, the first F2 practice was also interrupted following a crash for Tansanapol Inthraphuvasak, who spun backwards into the Turn 19 barriers. Championship leader Nikola Tsolov topped the times in the truncated session.

Double F3 qualifying to end the day

Taito Kato and Tuukka Taponen shared the spoils as Formula 3 ran two qualifying sessions to set the grid for its two Feature races at MADRING. Kato was second fastest in the morning practice and the Japanese driver was delighted to secure pole by just 0.012s from Pedro Clerot.

The Brazilian was attempting to secure pole in the dying moments of the second qualifying session when he clattered into the wall at the final corner. It meant he couldn’t improve on his third place, so P1 went to Taponen.

In the championship battle, F3 points leader Freddie Slater struggled with issues affecting his Trident machine, and could only manage P17 in first qualifying. He fared a little better in the second 20-minute session, to finish in eighth.

His closest championship rival, Ugo Ugochukwu, enjoyed a much better run, securing fourth on the grid for the first Feature Race and second — by just 0.021s — for the second Feature race on Sunday morning.

The grid for tomorrow’s shorter F3 Sprint race is based on reversing the top 12 of Qualifying 1, which puts Prema’s James Wharton on pole.

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