Practice report
Formula 1 Spanish GP
F1 Spanish GP: Kimi Antonelli tops red-flagged FP3 following Lewis Hamilton, Oliver Bearman crashes
Antonelli pips Charles Leclerc in final practice at Formula 1's Spanish Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton caused a lengthy red flag
Filip Cleeren
Edited: Sep 12, 2026, 10:54 PM
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Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
Championship leader Kimi Antonelli heads into qualifying at the Spanish Grand Prix's challenging Madring circuit with the fastest time, following a final Formula 1 practice session marred by two crashes.
Antonelli fended off advances by Ferrari's Charles Leclerc to reclaim top spot after a lengthy stoppage during the middle of the practice session in Madrid.
FP3 was halted after 23 minutes when Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton locked up his front tyres into Turn 22, the final corner, bumping straight into the wall and dislocating his front wing.
Hamilton's tap with the TecPro wall would have been relatively innocuous if he hadn't just passed pit entry, and thus had to try and complete a full lap of the circuit on three wheels as his wing dragged on the ground and started piercing the front-right tyre. Contrary to his team's instructions, the seven-time world champion attempted to make it round under the red flag until he had to abandon his effort midway through at the exit of Turn 14.
The barrier repairs that followed took so long that race control decided to stop the clock at 15m38, ensuring that there would still be a reasonable amount of time left for drivers to resume practice.
At that stage, Hamilton's team-mate Leclerc had the fastest time to his name, a 1m33.332 that beat Antonelli's earlier benchmark of 1m33.664s, while Hamilton was fourth behind world champion Lando Norris.
Lewis Hamilton hit the barrier in FP3
Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
After an extended delay of nearly 40 minutes as track workers realigned the barriers, action got under way for a last chance to fine tune cars set-ups ahead of qualifying.
Leclerc was the first frontrunner to embark on a hot lap, lowering his own benchmark to a 1m32.963s. That was initially faster than what Mercedes had in the tank, with Antonelli conceding three tenths, narrowly ahead of Oscar Piastri.
But on his second attempt Antonelli found a chunk of lap time to take over the lead with a 1m32.797s effort.
Antonelli's time didn't come under threat, due to a late second red flag for a crash by Haas driver Oliver Bearman. In the final minute of the session, Bearman lost the rear of his car into the Turn 10 right-hander, smacking into the concrete wall and sustaining significant damage to his car's left-hand side. Bearman's crash into the concrete effectively cemented Antonelli's lead ahead of Leclerc.
After having been farther adrift on Friday, McLaren appeared to have taken a tentative step forward as Piastri and Norris sealed third and fourth, just two tenths behind Antonelli.
Max Verstappen made a delayed start after only joining the action right before Hamilton's red flag. The Dutchman was fifth, 0.375s behind, as Red Bull continued to struggle over the Madring circuit's kerbs and generally lacked performance compared to its rivals.
Oliver Bearman brought practice to an early end
Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images
Russell, who had to abort his pre-red flag flyer that yielded the fastest first sector time, didn't piece together a representative lap after the stoppage either and only managed sixth, followed by the second Red Bull of Liam Lawson who made a mistake on his final flyer.
Nico Hulkenberg was ninth in the Audi after surprisingly setting the fastest first sector, only to be blocked by traffic later on in the lap. Hamilton dropped down to ninth by the end, with Hulkenberg's team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto rounding out the top 10.
The session ended early for Williams man Alex Albon, who tapped the wall at the start of the session and disappeared into the garage for suspension repairs.
F1 Spanish GP: FP3 Results
All Stats
Cla Driver # Chassis Engine Laps Time Interval Tyres km/h 1
A. Kimi Antonelli Mercedes
12 
Mercedes Mercedes 13
1'32.797
S 210.032 2 C. Leclerc Ferrari 16
Ferrari Ferrari 13
+0.166
1'32.963
0.166 S 209.657 3 O. Piastri McLaren 81
McLaren Mercedes 12
+0.189
1'32.986
0.023 S 209.605 4 L. Norris McLaren 1
McLaren Mercedes 13
+0.236
1'33.033
0.047 S 209.499 5 M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing 3
Red Bull Red Bull 9
+0.375
1'33.172
0.139 S 209.187 6 G. Russell Mercedes 63
Mercedes Mercedes 11
+0.702
1'33.499
0.327 S 208.455 7 L. Lawson Red Bull Racing 30
Red Bull Red Bull 14
+1.105
1'33.902
0.403 S 207.561 8 N. Hulkenberg Audi 27
Audi Audi 14
+1.136
1'33.933
0.031 S 207.492 9 L. Hamilton Ferrari 44
Ferrari Ferrari 5
+1.487
1'34.284
0.351 S 206.720 10 G. Bortoleto Audi 5
Audi Audi 15
+1.491
1'34.288
0.004 S 206.711 11 F. Colapinto Alpine 43
Alpine Mercedes 14
+1.549
1'34.346
0.058 S 206.584 12 E. Ocon Haas F1 Team 31
Haas Ferrari 12
+1.633
1'34.430
0.084 S 206.400 13 O. Bearman Haas F1 Team 87
Haas Ferrari 12
+1.684
1'34.481
0.051 S 206.289 14 A. Lindblad Racing Bulls 41
RB Red Bull 7
+1.708
1'34.505
0.024 S 206.236 15 Y. Tsunoda Racing Bulls 22
RB Red Bull 12
+1.768
1'34.565
0.060 S 206.105 16 P. Gasly Alpine 10
Alpine Mercedes 13
+2.174
1'34.971
0.406 S 205.224 17 F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing 14
Aston Martin Honda 17
+2.223
1'35.020
0.049 S 205.118 18 C. Sainz Williams 55
Williams Mercedes 15
+2.667
1'35.464
0.444 S 204.164 19 L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing 18
Aston Martin Honda 12
+2.773
1'35.570
0.106 S 203.938 20 S. Perez Cadillac F1 Team 11
Cadillac Ferrari 13
+3.644
1'36.441
0.871 S 202.096 21 V. Bottas Cadillac F1 Team 77
Cadillac Ferrari 13
+3.873
1'36.670
0.229 S 201.617 22 A. Albon Williams 23
Williams Mercedes 2
S View full results
Read Also:
Formula 1Audi’s long road back to the top of grand prix racing
Formula 1Charles Leclerc: Madrid qualifying to be "one of the most challenging" in F1 2026
Formula 1Why Madring’s banked Turn 12 could be crucial in the Spanish GP
Photos from F1 Spanish GP - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
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Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
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Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
Spanish Grand Prix - Saturday
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