Antonelli Tops Friday Practice at 2026 Spanish GP

Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli topped Friday Practice for the 2026 Spanish Grand Prix.

As F1 touched down in Madrid, Spain, for their first race weekend at the new Madring Circuit, teams endured two lively opening practice sessions in which Ferrari looked quick, yet it was Mercedes who topped the timesheets with George Russell in FP1 then Andrea Kimi Antonelli in FP2.

FP1

Haas’ Esteban Ocon was the first F1 driver to roll out onto the new Madring circuit and laid 1m 44.336 as the initial benchmark time, but it was Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who topped the first set of flying laps with 1m 38.504 in the seventh minute.

Times soon tumbled as everyone stayed out for a long opening run and come the halfway mark, Leclerc sat quickest on 1m 34.683 which was set in the 25th minute.

Leclerc’s teammate, Lewis Hamilton however was his closest challenger but he went fastest just seconds past the halfway mark with 1m 34.620 before everyone commenced soft tyre qualifying simulations.

With just under 20 minutes left, Russell set 1m 34.145 then found 0.068s shortly afterwards to top the session with 1m 34.077 from Antonelli.

Hamilton and Yuki Tsunoda finished fourth and 18th respectively – having been the only two drivers who set their best lap times set on the medium tyre, with Tsunoda having failed to set a soft-tyre lap time due to a power steering issue whilst Hamilton encountered traffic on his attempt.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	George Russell	Mercedes	1m 34.077
2	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+ 0.286
3	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+ 0.459
4	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+ 0.543
5	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+ 0.626
6	Lando Norris	McLaren	+ 0.870
7	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	+ 0.956
8	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+ 1.051
9	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	+ 1.452
10	Liam Lawson	Red Bull	+ 1.462
11	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	+ 1.575
12	Pierre Gasly	Haas	+ 1.680
13	Esteban Ocon	Haas	+ 1.757
14	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	+ 1.856
15	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+ 2.396
16	Oliver Bearman	Haas	+ 2.776
17	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+ 2.793
18	Yuki Tsunoda	Racing Bulls	+ 2.862
19	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+ 3.177
20	Alex Albon	Williams	+ 3.803
21	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	+ 4.073
22	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	+ 5.207

 

FP2

Ocon again was the first driver out on track and set 1m 37.878 as the initial benchmark but Antonelli headed everyone who set an initial lap time with 1m 34.428, whilst Alonso stayed in the garage with an issue and Norris pitted with a serious gearbox issue.

Verstappen displaced Antonelli in the 17th minute by 0.050s, but the Italian responded shortly afterwards with 1m 33.926 to head Russell by 0.099s as the opening stints ended, which saw everyone on medium tyres except for Hulkenberg who opted for the hard tyre.

Once the soft-tyre qualifying simulations began, Leclerc briefly displaced Antonelli in the 29th minute but the Italian responded a minute later with 1m 33.662 to top the timesheets.

There however was a red flag in the 36th minute after Lindblad slid out into the barriers at Turn 13 after he lost the rear end on entry to the corner, although the session was able to resume 12 minutes later.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1m 33.662
2	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+ 0.113
3	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+ 0.149
4	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	+ 0.228
5	George Russell	Mercedes	+ 0.337
6	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+ 0.401
7	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+ 0.538
8	Yuki Tsunoda	Haas	+ 1.096
9	Esteban Ocon	Red Bull	+ 1.205
10	Liam Lawson	Alpine	+ 1.276
11	Pierre Gasly	Audi	+ 1.297
12	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	+ 1.398
13	Gabriel Bortoleto	Haas	+ 1.508
14	Oliver Bearman	Racing Bulls	+ 1.541
15	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	+ 2.224
16	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+ 2.629
17	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+ 3.118
18	Alex Albon	Williams	+ 3.274
19	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	+ 3.533
20	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+ 3.611
21	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	+ 4.065
22	Lando Norris	McLaren	No Time