George Russell set the pace in the opening practice session for the Madrid Grand Prix, leading a Mercedes one-two ahead of Kimi Antonelli as Formula 1 completed its first competitive running at the new Madring circuit. Russell’s benchmark of 1:34.077 put him almost three tenths clear of Kimi Antonelli, while Charles Leclerc finished around half a second behind in third as Ferrari also made an encouraging start to the weekend.
Lewis Hamilton completed the top four ahead of Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, Arvid Lindblad, Oscar Piastri, Nico Hulkenberg and Liam Lawson. However, it remains far too early to draw firm conclusions about the competitive order because this was the first full Formula 1 practice session ever held at the new Madrid venue. FP2 should therefore offer a clearer indication of outright performance and the emerging hierarchy ahead of qualifying and the race.
Madrid FP1 starts strongly for Ferrari, but Mercedes raises the pace
Most of the field headed out immediately when the session began, with every team needing to learn a completely new circuit. Ferrari was the notable exception in terms of prior experience, as Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc had already driven at Madring during the team’s second filming day of the season. That earlier running gave the two Ferrari drivers some familiarity with the layout, although Hamilton had played down the significance of Ferrari’s filming-day advantage before the weekend.
All of the leading teams selected the medium compound for their opening stint. The first laps were primarily about learning braking points, lines and track characteristics, meaning the early times offered little meaningful indication of performance. Hamilton nevertheless looked immediately comfortable and quickly settled into a rhythm on a circuit he had already sampled several months earlier.
Ferrari appeared to have made a particularly solid start, potentially helped by that extra familiarity. After the opening 20 minutes, Hamilton led the session from Charles Leclerc by one tenth, with Max Verstappen three tenths away. Lando Norris, George Russell and Oscar Piastri followed, while Kimi Antonelli initially sat ninth before improving shortly afterwards to move into second place.
Lewis Hamilton leads first stint before Mercedes switches to soft tyres
The opening run ended with Hamilton still at the top of the timesheets, just 0.063 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc. Kimi Antonelli was third, 0.528 seconds behind the seven-time World Champion. Further down the order, Audi made an impressive start, while Racing Bulls once again looked competitive after establishing itself as one of the strongest teams in the midfield group since the beginning of the season.
Mercedes was among the first leading teams to move onto the soft compound for the second stint. Kimi Antonelli improved but initially remained third, reducing his deficit to Hamilton to around two and a half tenths. George Russell then went third on the same compound, also approximately a quarter of a second behind his former Mercedes team-mate.
Kimi Antonelli found more time on his following laps and reclaimed third place, moving to within just 0.063 seconds of Hamilton. Elsewhere, Yuki Tsunoda encountered a steering problem and was forced to return to the pits.
George Russell takes control as Mercedes completes FP1 one-two
Russell then extracted considerably more performance from the soft tyre, jumping to first place with an advantage of almost half a second over Hamilton. The lap underlined the early speed Mercedes had shown after the team arrived in Madrid expecting the new circuit to present a very different challenge from Monza.
Meanwhile, the two McLaren drivers moved into fifth and sixth, with Lando Norris ahead of Oscar Piastri. Charles Leclerc subsequently switched to the soft compound but ran wide on his second attempt at the beginning of the third sector, prompting the Monegasque driver to return immediately to the pits.
Hamilton was unable to improve his time on the soft tyre and remained second at that stage. Max Verstappen climbed to fifth, six tenths away from Russell’s benchmark, before Kimi Antonelli produced another improvement to move into second place, almost three tenths behind his Mercedes team-mate.
With less than a minute remaining, Charles Leclerc completed a faster lap to move into third place, pushing Lewis Hamilton down to fourth. Hamilton therefore finished the session without improving on his earlier benchmark after switching to the soft compound.
Russell ultimately remained fastest with his 1:34.077, completing a Mercedes one-two with Kimi Antonelli. Charles Leclerc secured third for Ferrari ahead of Lewis Hamilton, while Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, Arvid Lindblad, Oscar Piastri, Nico Hulkenberg and Liam Lawson completed the top ten. The result gives Mercedes the strongest opening reference in Madrid, but the second practice session should provide a far more representative picture of the competitive order as the drivers gain experience and the new circuit continues to evolve.
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