Practice report
Formula 1 Spanish GP
F1 Spanish GP: George Russell tops FP1 as Lewis Hamilton impedes several drivers
Mercedes achieved a 1-2 in the opening practice session in Madrid, but Ferrari hasn’t shown its potential yet
Ben Vinel
Edited: Sep 11, 2026, 12:49 PM
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George Russell, Mercedes
Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images
Mercedes’ George Russell was fastest in the first-ever Formula 1 session at the brand-new Madring track – Free Practice 1 for the Spanish Grand Prix.
Twenty out of 22 cars took to the brand-new track within the first 100 seconds of the session, with Nico Hulkenberg and Franco Colapinto emerging some time later.
The very first flying laps were somewhat tentative with most drivers in the 1m42s-1m45s bracket, but Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris lapped in 1m39s straight away.
Lap times kept tumbling in the opening part of the session, with Hamilton down to a 1m36.066s within just eight minutes. Consistently faster than anyone, the Ferrari driver successively improved the benchmark to 1m35.563s and 1m34.803s. Team-mate Charles Leclerc did go 0.120s quicker, but Hamilton narrowly snatched the top spot back in 1m34.620s.
After all drivers but Gabriel Bortoleto (on hards) spent the first half of the session on medium tyres, softs were brought into action.
However, Kimi Antonelli’s and Russell’s opening efforts – two each – on that compound fell 0.063s and 0.109s short of Hamilton’s medium-tyre reference.
Lewis Hamilton held up several drivers
Photo by: Clive Mason / Getty Images
Russell’s third attempt, a 1m34.145s was good enough to go fastest, and he subsequently upgraded it to a 1m34.077s. Antonelli, in 1m34.363s, made it a Mercedes 1-2.
Meanwhile, both Leclerc and Hamilton went wide at Turn 17. The Monegasque only narrowly improved on his personal best, while his team-mate ended up as the only driver not to set his quickest lap on soft rubber – alongside Yuki Tsunoda, who was ruled out of the session with 25 minutes remaining by a power steering issue on his Racing Bulls.
Verstappen was fifth ahead of Norris, Arvid Lindblad – who cleared the remainder of the midfield group – and Oscar Piastri.
Hulkenberg, Liam Lawson, Bortoleto, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon and Colapinto followed in a 1m35.5s-1m35.9s bracket.
Home hero Fernando Alonso was an encouraging 15th – by Aston Martin’s current standards – ahead of one Haas, both Williams, both Cadillacs and team-mate Lance Stroll.
The main incident of the session occurred when Lindblad, on a flying lap, came across the slow Mercedes and Ferrari of Antonelli and Hamilton in La Monumental.
Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls
Photo by: Alex Bierens de Haan / LAT Images via Getty Images
“These same two guys, man!” the rookie ranted over team radio. “Like, I don’t know what they’re doing, they’re just stupid, right in the fast corner! It’s actually very dangerous, it’s been twice now.”
Hamilton was then involved in further impeding incidents at team-mate Leclerc’s and Hulkenberg’s expense. Carlos Sainz also complained about the way the seven-time world champion let him by in La Monumental.
Photos from F1 Spanish GP - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Spanish Grand Prix - Friday
Formula 1
50
F1 Spanish GP: FP1 results
All Stats
Cla Driver # Chassis Engine Laps Time Interval Tyres km/h 1 G. Russell Mercedes 63
Mercedes Mercedes 28
1'34.077
S 209.470 2
A. Kimi Antonelli Mercedes
12 
Mercedes Mercedes 27
+0.286
1'34.363
0.286 S 208.836 3 C. Leclerc Ferrari 16
Ferrari Ferrari 27
+0.459
1'34.536
0.173 S 208.453 4 L. Hamilton Ferrari 44
Ferrari Ferrari 27
+0.543
1'34.620
0.084 M 208.268 5 M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing 3
Red Bull Red Bull 25
+0.626
1'34.703
0.083 S 208.086 6 L. Norris McLaren 1
McLaren Mercedes 27
+0.870
1'34.947
0.244 S 207.551 7 A. Lindblad Racing Bulls 41
RB Red Bull 28
+0.956
1'35.033
0.086 S 207.363 8 O. Piastri McLaren 81
McLaren Mercedes 22
+1.071
1'35.148
0.115 S 207.113 9 N. Hulkenberg Audi 27
Audi Audi 26
+1.452
1'35.529
0.381 S 206.287 10 L. Lawson Red Bull Racing 30
Red Bull Red Bull 26
+1.462
1'35.539
0.010 S 206.265 11 G. Bortoleto Audi 5
Audi Audi 27
+1.575
1'35.652
0.113 S 206.021 12 E. Ocon Haas F1 Team 31
Haas Ferrari 25
+1.757
1'35.834
0.182 S 205.630 13 F. Colapinto Alpine 43
Alpine Mercedes 24
+1.856
1'35.933
0.099 S 205.418 14 P. Gasly Alpine 10
Alpine Mercedes 23
+2.167
1'36.244
0.311 S 204.754 15 F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing 14
Aston Martin Honda 27
+2.396
1'36.473
0.229 S 204.268 16 O. Bearman Haas F1 Team 87
Haas Ferrari 24
+2.776
1'36.853
0.380 S 203.467 17 C. Sainz Williams 55
Williams Mercedes 30
+2.793
1'36.870
0.017 S 203.431 18 Y. Tsunoda Racing Bulls 22
RB Red Bull 16
+2.862
1'36.939
0.069 M 203.286 19 L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing 18
Aston Martin Honda 26
+3.177
1'37.254
0.315 S 202.628 20 A. Albon Williams 23
Williams Mercedes 25
+3.514
1'37.591
0.337 S 201.928 21 S. Perez Cadillac F1 Team 11
Cadillac Ferrari 26
+4.073
1'38.150
0.559 S 200.778 22 V. Bottas Cadillac F1 Team 77
Cadillac Ferrari 25
+4.741
1'38.818
0.668 S 199.421 View full results
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