Kimi Antonelli was the fastest on Friday in a second free practice session of the Spanish GP interrupted by a red flag. The red flag was the result of a crash by Arvid Lindblad, who walked out of his car unscathed on the Madring. Max Verstappen had to settle for P6. More important than the ranking, however, is the information the teams gathered for qualifying and the race.
Read more Second Free Practice (FP2) Results GP Spain 2026
Searching for grip, for the limit, for speed. The Formula 1 drivers did the same in the second session of the day on the Madring. Or did they? Not everyone. For example, Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) spent a long time in the pits with gearbox problems in front of his home crowd, later followed by Lando Norris at McLaren.
Crash Lindblad
Initially, Arvid Lindblad fared better. He seemed to be the revelation of the second free practice in Madrid, because with 25 minutes left on the clock, the rookie from Racing Bulls was in a neat fourth place. He showed a lot of speed, but the session ended on a sour note for him: the Englishman went off the track. Lindblad did get out uninjured, but caused a red flag.
At that moment, the drivers had just been running on soft tires for a few minutes. In that, World Champion leader Kimi Antonelli was initially the fastest, followed by the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton. Max Verstappen had to be content with a spot in the upper midfield.
Read more VIDEO: First red flag on Madring is a fact: Arvid Lindblad finishes VT2 in barriers
Moment Verstappen
That was also the case in the first half hour of the training. On mediums, the drivers searched for the right margins during the session. This led to ‘moments’ here and there. For example, from Oscar Piastri in the chicane and from Hamilton and Verstappen in turn 17.
After the runs on soft tires and the subsequent red flag, the drivers resumed the session with thirteen minutes left on the clock. Some did so on soft, others on medium. The times, and thus the ranking, did not change much. Antonelli ended FP2 as the fastest, ahead of the Ferraris of Leclerc and Hamilton. Verstappen, who reported problems with his steering in the final minutes, ended Friday in Madrid in sixth place.
The third and final free practice of the weekend is on Saturday at 11:00, with qualifying starting at 16:00.
Read more Max Verstappen already jokes about opponent in kart race: ‘Move aside, or else into the wall’
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