Kimi Antonelli sets practice pace as Arvid Lindblad crash causes first F1 red flag at Madrid
Mercedes once again set the pace in Madrid, but the Ferraris closed up in second practice at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Kimi Antonelli set the pace in second practice at the Spanish Grand Prix as Arvid Lindblad’s crash brought out the first Formula 1 red flag at the new Madrid track.
The 20-year-old Italian, who leads the championship by 66 points from Mercedes team-mate George Russell after his incredible comeback victory last time out at Monza, was 0.113 seconds faster than Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Lewis Hamilton was third-quickest in the other Ferrari, 0.149s off Antonelli’s benchmark in a session that was interrupted by a heavy crash for Lindblad.
Linblad, who impressive set the fourth-fastest time in FP2, lost control of his Racing Bulls car at Turn 13 and slammed into the barriers in the first major crash of the weekend.
The incident caused a red flag that disrupted most drivers’ soft tyre qualifying simulation laps, meaning the final times were not hugely representative.
FP1 pacesetter Russell was one of those who did not set a timed lap on soft tyres, having aborted his initial effort before red flag came out. The Briton ended up fifth in the timesheets, 0.337s behind his team-mate.
Max Verstappen ended up four tenths off in the Red Bull as he took sixth, ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in seventh, and Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda in eighth.
Esteban Ocon and Liam Lawson rounded out the top-10 for Haas and Red Bull.
It was a troubled session for reigning world champion Lando Norris, who suffered a gear shift problem that left him garage-bound for the majority of the session as McLaren carried out a gearbox change.
"The gearbox is still in false neutral. It seems really bad,” reported Norris. ”Something's not right. It's gone.”
On a track where every lap matters as the drivers get up to speed, it was bad news for Norris who missed out on some valuable track time.
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