George Russell makes the best possible start at the new Madring. The Mercedes driver set the fastest time in the first free practice session of the 2026 Spanish Grand Prix, finishing ahead of teammate Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc\u2019s Ferrari.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Formula 1\u2019s historic first-ever session at the Madrid circuit, Russell stopped the clock at 1:34.077, immediately showcasing Mercedes\u2019 potential. Antonelli finished 286 milliseconds behind his teammate, while Leclerc lagged 459 milliseconds off the pace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was a particularly interesting opening session, especially since drivers and teams had to tackle a completely brand-new track for the first time. The Madring features characteristics very different from traditional circuits, making data collection a top priority for all teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ferrari started the session with a strong pace, to the point where Lewis Hamilton initially climbed to the top of the standings. However, as the asphalt progressively improved, Mercedes found more competitiveness and Russell began climbing up the order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The British driver had to abandon one of his early soft-tyre runs due to traffic, but subsequently managed to put together an effective lap. His 1:34.077 secured him the top spot for good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kimi Antonelli confirmed his speed right behind him. The young Italian driver got his Madrid weekend off on the right foot, immediately showing a strong adaptation to the new circuit. Following his success in Monza, Antonelli thus confirmed that he is going through a particularly positive moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ferrari completed the top four with Leclerc in third and Hamilton in fourth. The SF-26 showed good potential, even though Leclerc was unable to fully exploit his first run on the softer tires and suffered a excursion off-track in the final stages of the session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Max Verstappen took fifth place. The Red Bull driver finished 626 milliseconds behind Russell, ahead of Lando Norris\u2019s McLaren.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Arvid Lindblad also put in a good performance, ending the session in seventh. The young driver made good use of his first approach to the Madring, managing to place the Racing Bulls near the front of the timesheets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oscar Piastri finished eighth, followed by Nico H\u00fclkenberg and Liam Lawson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was no shortage of technical issues either. Yuki Tsunoda was forced to stop in the pits with about twenty minutes remaining due to a power steering problem, which prevented him from completing his scheduled run plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fernando Alonso finished the session in fifteenth position, while Carlos Sainz ended up seventeenth. For both, work in the upcoming sessions will be crucial to better understand how the cars behave on the new circuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The weekend’s first snapshot therefore rewards Mercedes, with Russell ahead of Antonelli. Ferrari nevertheless appears competitive with both cars in the top four, while Red Bull and McLaren will have to try to claw back ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the gaps are still largely unrepresentative. The Madring is a completely new circuit, and the evolution of the track surface could significantly alter the pecking order. As early as the second practice session, more precise indications regarding the real balance of power ahead of qualifying will begin to emerge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
George Russell makes the best possible start at the new Madring. The Mercedes driver set the fastest time in the first free practice session of the 2026 Spanish Grand Prix, finishing ahead of teammate Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc\u2019s Ferrari. In Formula 1\u2019s historic first-ever session at the Madrid circuit, Russell stopped the clock at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1979"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1982,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1979\/revisions\/1982"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}