Antonelli leads Spanish GP practice as Madring debuts

Kimi Antonelli set the fastest lap in second practice for the Spanish Grand Prix at Madrid's new Madring circuit, while Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad crashed to bring out the first Formula 1 red flag at the venue. The Mercedes driver, who leads the championship by 66 points, clocked a time of 1 minute 33.662 seconds in FP2 on Friday, September 11, 2026, finishing 0.113 seconds ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. Lewis Hamilton completed the top three, 0.149 seconds off Antonelli's pace. The session was red-flagged with approximately 25 minutes remaining after Lindblad lost control of his car at Turn 13 and slid into the TecPro barriers. The 19-year-old walked away uninjured and apologized to his team over the radio. The incident disrupted the final soft-tyre qualifying simulations for many drivers. George Russell, Antonelli's closest title rival, had led the first practice session with a time of 1:34.077 but finished fifth in FP2, three-tenths behind his teammate. Max Verstappen placed sixth for Red Bull, with Oscar Piastri seventh for McLaren. Yuki Tsunoda, standing in for the injured Isack Hadjar, was eighth for Racing Bulls.