FP3 Highlights | 2026 Spanish Grand Prix

The final practice in Madrid and Lewis Hamilton caused a red flag halfway through the session after he nosed into the tech pro at the final turn. It's just carried so much speed into that and he's realized before he gets to the apex, so he tries to straighten up and hit the brakes with it. Unfortunately, it's a street circuit and at that part the barrier comes at you very quickly. Stop the car, stop the car, stop the car. How's it going? Stop in the safest place, in the safest place possible. If I can make it back, I will. If I can't, I'll do it safely. We have a puncture on the front right. Stop the car. I can see that, I can see that. Unable to limp all the way back to the pits, the Briton, six times a winner of the Spanish Grand Prix, parked his Ferrari up at turn 14 and took the scooter back. The barriers needed repair, which meant the session countdown clock was suspended with 15 minutes to go to allow team's time to get some qualifying simulation laps in before the flag fell. Of the Scuderia drivers, Charles Leclerc has had the better time of it at the Madring, quicker than his teammate in both Friday sessions and second fastest of all in FP2. He finished the disrupted final session in P2 with Lewis Hamilton's best lap before the crash only good enough for P9. Mercedes Sean in Friday practice, George Russell topping FP1 and Kimi Antonelli taking the honours in the second session with the fastest lap of the day. And the current Drivers' Championship leader was again the quickest man on track, clocking a lap of 1 minute 32, 7.97. Max Verstappen has won the Spanish Grand Prix on four occasions, most recently in 2024. He took some time to dial in the new home circuit, P5 and P6, respectively, in the first two practice sessions. In final practice, he fell foul of the delay, only getting out once the red flag has been lifted. Max remains in the fight, P5 this time out, with substitute teammate Liam Lawson in P7. After yesterday's sessions, Oscar Piastri, winner of this race last year in Barcelona, suggested McLaren were lacking a bit of pace, but he found some today. P3 in the final hour, one better than teammate Lando Norris. With two wins and a couple of podiums to his name this season, the reigning world champion remains in the fight to defend his title. 30 points behind George Russell in P2 will be at a long way off Antonelli's incredible points haul. A gearbox issue prevented him from properly taking part in FP2, so he was eager to get some laps down in final practice, cutting the Turn 5 chicane on one of his early excursions. Despite the error which saw him crash out of FP2, Arvid Lindblad put in the fourth fastest time of that session and suggested Friday was a good day. Not so much on Saturday. He's car not track ready and up on the blocks for almost the whole session, the mechanics working feverishly to get the V-carb ready. He made it out for the final quarter of an hour, his best lap only good enough for P14. The Faenza-based team's other representative was Supersub Yuki Tsunoda, and he was one place below the Briton. Both Alpines locked up at Turn 1, a corner that proved tricky for quite a few drivers. Later, Pierre Gasly felt obstructed by Norris. Oh my gosh! Honestly, that's terrible. **** this guy. God, that's my client. Gasly has said his Monza pole last weekend brought belief and motivation to the French team. Indeed, with both drivers in the points last time out, they're still well in the fight for P5 in the Constructors' Championship. Nico Hülkenberg locked up at Turn 1 and cut across the next corner and was later involved in the tangle between Gasly and Norris. We've had this already this weekend. Driver A gets frustrated at driver B, gesticulates, isn't happy, and then they go side by side and it makes it even worse for driver C coming through. The German took the Audi bragging rights on Friday over teammate Gabriel Bortoletto, and in this disjointed session, he was again ahead at the flag. P8, the Brazilian P10. There's a bit of drama to end the session. Oliver Behrmann into the wall at Turn 10. It's a really quick approach. It's almost on the edge of flat, but you need to keep it to the right-hand side to open up the next part, and then you've got La Monumentale on the exit of that, and I think he's just on tyres that have done one or two flying laps already, starting to overheat, trying to bring it back to the right-hand side and just simply putting too much load through the Haas car and pitches it off into the barriers. Are you okay, Oli? Sorry, guys. Are you okay? Yeah, I'm fine. Okay, don't worry. We'll get it rebuilt for quality. Haas are one of an increasingly small number of teams yet to confirm their driver line-up for 2027, so both current pilots have something to prove. It was Esteban Ocon to the fore on Friday, and the Frenchman was again at one place to the good in FP3. P12 to Behrmann's P13. Fernando Alonso went out early, the two-time champ. Another driver keen to make up for lost time yesterday when a clutch issue limited his running in FP2. He was P17, two places better off than teammate Lance Stroll, who went deep at Turn 20 at one point, taking to the runoff. Alex Albon had a close shave at the penultimate corner. It's just a little area left, I think. Yeah, good pick. And Carlos Sainz had to slam on the brakes to get his Williams to stop before the barriers at Turn 7. You bail out or you commit, and if you're stuck in between, you find the wall. Sainz wasn't quite carrying enough speed there to find the wall, but I tell you, that would have been a massive panic. Albon didn't get back out and finished bottom of the pile. Sainz was P18. So it finished Antonelli top from Leclerc, Piastri, Norris, Verstappen, Russell, Lawson, Hülkenberg, Hamilton, and Bortoletto. P11 for Colapinto, and he was ahead of Ocon, Behrmann, Lindblad, Tsunoda, Gasly, Alonso, Sainz, Stroll, Perez, Bottas, and Albon, who only managed two laps.