2026 #F1 #SpanishGP #FP2 & #FP1 Combined Report.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, #12, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team, F1 W17, Free Practice 2, Formula 1 Tag Heuer Gran Premio De Espana 2026, Madring, Madrid, Spain. Image credit to Mark Thompson/Getty Images. Antonelli Spanish GP FP2, Russell Spanish GP FP1, F1 Spanish GP Practice Results.
FP2 – Antonelli quickest ahead of Ferrari pairing
Antonelli Spanish GP FP2 – Championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli ended the day quickest on the time-sheets in FP2 at the Spanish GP ahead of Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Sir Lewis Hamilton who completed the top three.
Antonelli posted the session-topping benchmark of a 1:33.662 on the C4 red side-walled softer compounds and was 0.113 seconds clear of Leclerc whilst Hamilton was a further 0.149 seconds off the Italian in third.
Championship leader Antonelli lead the early running on the C3 yellow-marked mediums setting a 1:34.428, which was beaten by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen as drivers had their work cut out for them keeping their cars away from the walls and finding clear air through the narrow, concrete-lined Madring Circuit.
Turn 17’s right hand corner proved very difficult for the drivers as several went wide on the exit, triggering track limit infringements.
Antonelli soon reclaimed the head of the time-sheets on a 1:33.926 lap, with his Mercedes team-mate George Russell within a tenth.
The session was a buzz of activity at the midway point as the majority of the field switched to the C4 softer compounds, which was a challenge to keep in optimal temperature as the lateral loads were pushing the Pirelli tyres to their limits.
Antonelli lowered the benchmark once more, the Italian brought it down to a 1:33.662. Russell was unable to find a quick response, with Ferrari pairing Hamilton and Leclerc slotting into second and third whilst Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad ended up fourth overall.
Shortly after with 25 minutes left on the clock, trouble hit for Lindblad as the Racing Bulls driver slid into the turn 13 barriers, the medium speed left-hander. The Briton escaped unharmed as the first red flag of the weekend was waved as the marshals came to remove the VCARB03 entry.
Partly due to the disruption, there were no changes at the top with the session ending with Antonelli on top ahead of Leclerc and Hamilton.
Lindblad who crashed out to bring out the first red flag of the session took fourth ahead of FP1 session-topper Russell who took fifth and Verstappen who placed sixth for Red Bull.
Piastri followed in seventh for McLaren as Tsunoda was eighth for Racing Bulls.
Haas’s Esteban Ocon and Red Bull’s Liam Lawson rounded out the top ten runners.
You can see the full Formula 1 Tag Heuer Spanish Grand Prix 2026 Free Practice 2 Results Classification at the link: FORMULA 1 TAG HEUER GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA 2026 – PRACTICE 2
FP1 – Russell tops time-sheets as Hamilton impedes several drivers
Russell Spanish GP FP1 – Mercedes’ George Russell was fastest at the all-new Madring Circuit at the Spanish GP ahead of team-mate and Championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc completed the top three.
Russell set the session-topping benchmark of a 1:34.077 on the C4 red side-walled softer compounds and was 0.286 seconds clear of Antonelli whilst Leclerc was a further 0.459 seconds adrift of the Briton in third.
Almost the entire grid (20 out of 22) ventured out on track at the beginning of the hour-long session, with Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto emerging sometime later.
Lap-times continued to tumble as the circuit gained more rubber with the drivers in the 1:42-1:45’s bracket, but Ferrari’s Sir Lewis Hamilton, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and reigning World Champion Lando Norris were lapping in the 1:39’s straight out of the box.
Hamilton brought it down to the 1:36.066 mark within just eight minutes of proceedings, consistently quicker than anyone, the seven-time World Champion lowered the benchmark down to 1:35.563 and then 1:34.803. Team-mate Leclerc went 0.120 seconds faster, but the Hamilton narrowly reclaimed top of the pile with a 1:34.620.
After all the drivers but Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto (on the C2’s) spent the opening hour of the session on the mediums, softs were brought into play.
However, Antonelli and Russell’s opening hot-laps – two each – on that tyre fell 0.063 seconds and 0.109 seconds off Hamilton’s medium compound reference.
Russell’s third flyer, a 1:34.145 was good enough to go quickest, and he lowered the benchmark to a 1:34.077 whilst team-mate Antonelli on a 1:34.363 made it a Silver Arrows 1-2.
Meanwhile, both Ferrari’s of Leclerc and Hamilton ran wide at turn 17. The former only marginally improved on his personal best, whilst his team-mate Hamilton wounded up as the only driver not to post the fastest lap on the softest tyre – alongside Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda, who was ruled out of the session with 25 minutes left on the clock due toa power-steering problem.
Verstappen took fifth place in-front of Norris, the other Racing Bulls entry of Arvid Lindblad took seventh in-front of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri who ended FP1 eighth.
Audi’s Hulkenberg and the other Red Bull RB22 entry of Liam Lawson completed the top ten.
The main incident of the session was when Lindblad on a flying lap, encountered a slow-moving Mercedes and Ferrari of Antonelli and Hamilton at La Monumental.
“These same two guys, man!” the Briton roared over the 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 also seen impeding both team-mate Leclerc and Hulkenberg’s flyers.
Williams’ Carlos Sainz also complained about the way Hamilton let him by at La Monumental.
You can see the full Formula 1 Tag Heuer Spanish Grand Prix 2026 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: FORMULA 1 TAG HEUER GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA 2026 – PRACTICE 1
