George Russell led a Mercedes one-two in first practice for the Spanish Grand Prix; the Englishman set a 34.077, just under three tenths faster than his teammate Kimi Antonelli. Russell went into the weekend admitting he didn’t know why he lacked pace compared to his teammate, but made a statement ahead of what is scheduled as the last European race of the year.
Charles Leclerc put his Ferrari almost two-tenths behind Antonelli, while going nearly a tenth faster than teammate Lewis Hamilton. But the Monegasque looked consistently fast throughout the session as drivers started to learn the Madring circuit, and there were several brushes with the wall.
Leclerc only narrowly improved on his personal best, while his teammate ended up as the only driver not to set his quickest lap on soft rubber. Following his crash on Sunday in Monza, he has been suffering from blurred vision in the aftermath of his huge Monza crash, eventually improved on the softs to third, but Hamilton’s best time remained on the mediums.
Hamilton was called out by at least four drivers for impeding across the practice hour as the tight confines of the Madring meant traffic was an issue. Arvid Lindblad first called Hamilton and Antonelli “stupid” for blocking the track at the high-speed banked Turn 12 before Leclerc, Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg and Williams’ Carlos Sainz all had to abandon flying laps due to the seven-time world champion not being aware of them coming.
There had been concerns about plenty of disruption in practice after 19 red flags were required in a two-day F3 test last month, but all drivers kept it out of the barriers. Track evolution was high throughout the session, but it already looks like Mercedes and Ferrari are going to contend for the top spot this weekend.
Both Ferraris were eight hundredths faster than Max Verstappen, with the Red Bull driver going just under a quarter of a second faster than Lando Norris, with Arvid Lindblad splitting the McLarens as he went eight and a half hundredths behind the world champion and ahead of the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri by almost four hundredths.
Nico Hulkenberg showed Audi’s pace as he went ninth just under for tenths behind the McLaren, while Liam Lawson, standing in for Isack Hadjar once again, completed the top ten. The Red Bull driver also split the two Audis, with Gabriel Bortoletto missing out on the top ten by just under two tenths.
Esteban Ocon was also just under two tenths behind the Brazilian, as the Haas driver suggested the grip of the circuit was higher than expected at this stage. But traffic appeared to be the main issue around the circuit, with several drivers appearing to trip over each other between their flying laps.
Ocon was one driver to report that “the grip is high”, with lap times continually tumbling as drivers utilised the medium Pirelli tyre in the early running and attempted to avoid traffic that was rife around the street circuit throughout.
Drivers soon began to exceed the limits, with Antonelli running wide at Turn 13, while both Audi drivers Gabriel Bortoleto and Hulkenberg cut the Turn 5 chicane. Franco Colapinto was a tenth behind Ocon as the Argentine went just over three tenths faster than Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly.
Despite this being a brand-new circuit, neither Alpine driver ventured onto the circuit for the first quarter of the session, though this appeared not to be down to technical issues.
Ollie Bearman put his Haas between the two Spaniards, the Englishman nearly four tenths behind Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz just under two hundredths behind. Yuki Tsunoda put his Racing Bull seven hundredths behind the Madrid-born driver, as he went three tenths faster than Lance Stroll.
Alex Albon was half a second faster than the two Cadillacs, with Sergio Perez over six and a half tenths faster than teammate Valtteri Bottas. Perez was the first driver to encounter a problem, the Cadillac man requiring a new steering wheel.
