2026 F1 Round 14, Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid FP1: Russell tops Madring debut with a 1:34.077 as Mercedes takes a one-two

On September 11, the Spanish Grand Prix opened with first practice at Madrid’s Madring circuit. Russell went fastest with a 1:34.077, 0.286 seconds ahead of teammate Antonelli, as Mercedes took the top two places. Leclerc and Hamilton were third and fourth respectively.

One hour to learn the Madring on its first outing

At 13:30 local time, the drivers began collecting data on the 22-corner circuit. Pérez needed a steering wheel change early on, while lap times continued to fall as track conditions improved during running on medium tyres. There were no red flags, although the drivers still had traffic and track limits to contend with. According to The Race’s count, there were 12 infringements at Turn 5 and 9 at Turn 17.

Russell goes fastest on softs, Hamilton fourth on mediums

Just past the halfway point, Hamilton led Leclerc with a 1:34.620, while Antonelli was still around 0.2 seconds behind despite already running soft tyres. Traffic forced Russell to abandon his first soft-tyre lap, but he subsequently improved, first setting a 1:34.145 before lowering it to 1:34.077, a time that stood until the chequered flag.

Leclerc’s progress was hindered after switching to softs, and he ran into the escape road at Turn 17. Antonelli, meanwhile, moved into second before the final 10 minutes. Hamilton ultimately finished fourth on his medium-tyre lap, 0.543 seconds behind Russell, with Leclerc’s deficit at 0.459 seconds.

Steering failure and controversy over giving way

In the second half of practice, Yuki Tsunoda’s Racing Bulls car returned to the garage with a power-steering failure, ending his running early. He completed 16 laps and finished 18th. Verstappen encountered graining during his medium-tyre running but still took fifth, 0.626 seconds off the pace.

How drivers gave way during practice also caused controversy. Motorsport.com reported that Lindblad encountered the slow-moving Antonelli and Hamilton at La Monumental and expressed his frustration over the radio. Leclerc, Hülkenberg and Sainz also voiced concerns about Hamilton’s approach to giving way.

Norris, Lindblad, Piastri, Hülkenberg and Lawson completed the top ten in that order. Home drivers Alonso and Sainz were 15th and 17th respectively, while Cadillac’s Pérez and Bottas filled the final two positions. The teams would next head into FP2 to continue gathering data at the new circuit.

Full Spanish Grand Prix FP1 results