Mercedes’ George Russell was fastest in the first Formula 1 session at the new Madring circuit, the first practice for the Spanish Grand Prix. Twenty of the 22 cars took to the new track in the first 100 seconds of the session, with Nico Hulkenberg and Franco Colapinto appearing some time later. The first fastest laps were a bit hesitant, with most drivers in the 1:42 to 1:45 range, but Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris immediately lapped in 1:39. Lap times continued to drop in the early part of the session, with Hamilton dropping to 1m36.066s in just eight minutes. Constantly faster than anyone else, the Ferrari driver successively improved the mark to 1m35.563s and 1m34.803s. Teammate Charles Leclerc was 0.120s faster, but Hamilton narrowly regained first place with a 1m34.620s. After all drivers except Gabriel Bortoleto (hard) spent the first half of the session on medium tyres, the softs came into action. However, the first attempts by Kimi Antonelli and Russell (two each) with that compound were 0.063 s and 0.109 s below Hamilton’s average tire reference. Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari Photo by: Clive Rose / Formula 1 via Getty Images Russell’s third attempt, a 1m34.145s was good enough to be the fastest, and he subsequently improved it to 1m34.077s. Antonelli, in 1m34.363s, put Mercedes 1-2. Meanwhile, both Leclerc and Hamilton went wide at Turn 17. The Monegasque only narrowly improved his personal best, while his teammate finished as the only driver not to set his fastest lap on soft rubber, along with Yuki Tsunoda, who was ruled out of the session with 25 minutes remaining due to a problem with the power steering of his Racing Bull. Max Verstappen was fifth ahead of Lando Norris, Arvid Lindblad, who cleared the rest of the midfield group, and Oscar Piastri. Nico Hulkenberg, Liam Lawson, Gabriel Bortoleto, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon and Franco Colapinto followed in a 1m35.5s-1m35.9s category. Local hero Fernando Alonso came in an encouraging 15th (by current Aston Martin standards) ahead of a Haas, both Williams, both Cadillacs and team-mate Lance Stroll. The main incident of the session occurred when Lindblad, on a fast lap, ran into the slow Mercedes and Ferrari of Antonelli and Hamilton at La Monumental. Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team, Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls Photo by: Simon Galloway/LAT Images via Getty Images “These same two guys, man!” —the rookie shouted over the team radio. “I don’t know what they’re doing, they’re just stupid, right at the fast corner! It’s actually very dangerous, they’ve already passed it twice.” Hamilton was then involved in further incidents that hampered the race at the expense of teammate Leclerc and Hulkenberg. Carlos Sainz also complained about the way the seven-time world champion let him pass in La Monumental. Spanish F1 GP – FP1 Results Also read: We want to hear from you! Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future. Take our survey: the Autosport.com team
