(Motorsport-Total.com) – The first Free Practice for the Spanish Grand Prix is over, and the brand-new Madrid circuit has passed its baptism of fire. After a spectacular fire accident in the first Formula 2 practice, the first session of the premier class Formula 1 went without any notable incidents. The best time was secured by George Russell (Mercedes) in 1:34.077 minutes.
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Russell relegated his teammate Kimi Antonelli (+0.286), Lewis Hamilton (+0.543) and Charles Leclerc (both Ferrari/+0.606) to places 2 to 4. There were no major crashes, but minor excursions on the initially still dusty asphalt by Antonelli and Leclerc among others. Both were able to avoid hitting the track limits.
Max Verstappen (Red Bull) finished 5th with a gap of 0.626 seconds, followed by Lando Norris (McLaren), Arvid Lindblad (Red Bull), and Oscar Piastri (McLaren). Seven drivers were within one second at the end. The entire field was spread out by nearly five seconds.
Somewhere in the middle, Nico Hülkenberg (Audi), the only German in the Formula 1 starting field, drove to 9th place. Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls) ended up 18th with problems in the power steering area.
The most delicate incident of the session occurred when Lindblad, on a fast lap in the steep curve La Monumental, caught up to the slow-moving cars of Antonelli in the Mercedes and Hamilton in the Ferrari. “Those two guys again, man!” the rookie complained over the radio. “I don’t know what they’re doing. They’re just stupid, right in the middle of the fast corner! That’s really very dangerous. This has already happened for the second time.”
Hamilton was subsequently involved in further obstructions, which his teammate Leclerc and Hülkenberg suffered from. Carlos Sainz (17th/Williams/+2.793) also complained about how the seven-time world champion let him pass in La Monumental.
On the topic:
Result: 1st Free Practice GP Spain, Madrid
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How is the new Madrid circuit received?
When the first driving images from Madrid were broadcast live on German TV at exactly 13:30, many fans saw the track for the first time. An aha effect like in 2008, when the first night Grand Prix was held in Singapore, was missing. Nevertheless, for example, ORF commentator Ernst Hausleitner said with a wink: “I would have imagined it uglier.”
Hausleitner’s co-expert, Alexander Wurz, then described his first impressions as follows: “From turn 5 to turn 17, the track layout is very nice in some sections. Because of the ups and downs, and because of this steep wall corner. Really cool. It has a bit of an old-school touch – translated into modern. That’s cool, that’s good, the first part of the track.”
But Wurz also voices criticism: “The last part of the track is rather a bit 90-degree boring,” he says, and: “When I look at this concrete channel, I would eventually not know anymore which street circuit I am on. Am I in Australia, am I in Valencia, am I here in Madrid, where am I? Or in Jeddah? They all look the same. That means I don’t represent my host city that cool. There could be some improvements.”
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Wurz, who also works as a race track designer, explains that he likes the basic concept of the Madrid circuit: “We are in a global metropolis, Formula 1 attracts, that’s cool. As a race track designer, I also find the challenge of combining exhibition grounds, race track, football stadium, whatever it is, exciting. That’s the future. You can achieve many multifunctional uses.”
Whether the racing itself will be exciting is, in his eyes, marked with a question mark, because: “This race track is not energy-hungry, but it is an energy-saturated track. That means there won’t be yo-yo racing. You have enough corners and braking distance to recharge energy. Accordingly, there will also be few energy-assisted overtaking maneuvers.”
“You have to somehow overtake naturally like in Zandvoort. The straights are all relatively short. The only section 4-5, where you say, you would have a top speed of 340 – but you brake for a long time around the corner. So it’s simply easy to defend. But we will see what race day brings. You can’t really predict it,” says Wurz.
Formula 1 Madrid schedule: What’s next?
Madrid is the last race weekend of the 2026 Formula 1 World Championship on European soil. Afterwards, the season continues with station number 15 of the current season, on the street circuit in Baku (Azerbaijan). The last two season races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi are still officially on the 2026 Formula 1 calendar but are uncertain due to the military situation in the Middle East.
The Spanish Grand Prix continues on Friday afternoon with the second Free Practice (from 17:00 CEST). The first sporting decision falls in qualifying on Saturday, which starts at 16:00 CEST. The race start in Madrid on Sunday is at 15:00 CEST.
The race weekend will be broadcast live on Sky (Germany), ORF (Austria), and SRF (Switzerland) (Here is the complete TV overview for Formula 1 in Madrid!).
The usual Formula 1 live streams can be followed by fans on Saturday and Sunday evening on the YouTube channel of Formel1.de. With a summary of the events and analyses far beyond the end of the TV broadcasts. Host Kevin Scheuren presents the streams again in the regular lineup with editor-in-chief Christian Nimmervoll as expert.
The provisional start time of the live streams on Saturday and Sunday is set for 21:00 CEST.
Reload page: This training report is continuously updated. Only when this notice disappears are no further updates planned.
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