Russell tops first practice at Madrid's new F1 street circuit

George Russell recorded the quickest time of 1:34.077 on soft tyres in the 60-minute opening practice for the 2026 Spanish Grand Prix at the newly constructed Madring street circuit, with fellow Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli 0.286 seconds slower. The session, the first F1 event on the Madrid-area track, proceeded without major incidents, featuring only a few yellow-flag periods for spins and off-track excursions and no red flags.

Several drivers had laps deleted after exceeding track limits, with 12 violations at Turn 5 and nine at Turn 17. Tyre graining was observed on both medium and soft compounds after only a few laps, particularly through the heavily banked Turn 12 (La Monumental).

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was third fastest, 0.459 seconds off the lead, while teammate Lewis Hamilton locked up at Turn 17 and posted his best time of 1:34.620 on medium tyres. Leclerc is reportedly using an older-spec Ferrari power unit following a crash at Monza.

McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were positioned sixth and eighth respectively, each about two tenths of a second behind Max Verstappen. Racing Bulls driver Arvid Lindblad was roughly a second slower than the leaders. Audi’s Nico Hülkenberg and Red Bull stand-in Liam Lawson completed the top ten.

The field was spread over 4.741 seconds, with Cadillac drivers rounding out the lower end of the times. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso finished 15th, eight tenths ahead of teammate Lance Stroll, while Carlos Sainz was 17th and Williams’ Alex Albon 20th.