Antonelli tops Madrid practice as Lindblad crashes and Norris loses running

Kimi Antonelli set the fastest time in Friday practice at the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid, while Arvid Lindblad crashed shortly after putting his Racing Bulls among the leading cars. BBC Sport reported that the British rookie still finished fourth in the session, with his earlier lap leaving him just 0.228 seconds behind the Mercedes driver despite the damage that ended his run.

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Lindblad, 19, lost control approaching Turn 13 and struck the wall sideways. The impact damaged the car's front and rear suspension and broke its front wing. According to the BBC report, it was the only incident of the day in Formula 1 running, on a circuit whose combination of speed and nearby barriers had already prompted concerns from George Russell.

Ferrari supplied Antonelli's closest challengers, with Charles Leclerc second and Lewis Hamilton third, both a little more than a tenth of a second behind. Russell was fifth in the other Mercedes, followed by Red Bull's Max Verstappen and McLaren's Oscar Piastri. Russell trails his team-mate Antonelli by 66 points in the championship.

World champion Lando Norris had no lap time to compare with those of the leaders. A gearbox problem kept his McLaren off the timesheet, leaving Piastri as the team's representative among the top seven. Lindblad's fourth place, meanwhile, meant his pace before the accident remained one of the session's notable results even though his car sustained damage.

Before the first session, Russell had explained why he considered the new Madring layout particularly unforgiving. He told reporters that its higher speeds could leave drivers with less opportunity to recover from a mistake than at Monaco. He also highlighted fast corners where the barriers angle back towards the track, increasing the difficulty for a driver who runs wide.

Russell identified Turns Five, Seven and 17 as areas of concern; Leclerc used the run-off at Turn 17. He also pointed to three corners requiring drivers to brake while turning, with a wall ahead if a wheel locks. In describing those challenges, Russell drew comparisons with Baku's downhill Turn 15 and with the high-speed direction changes at Jeddah.