Kimi Antonelli topped a Madrid Grand Prix FP3 that hardly resembled a follow session — three purple flags, a damaged chassis, a damaged axle, and a curfew violation earlier than the vehicles had even turned a wheel.
The session was in bother earlier than it began. Aston Martin had breached curfew in a single day combating a battery subject on Lance Stroll’s automotive, leaving Stroll staring down a grid penalty for brand spanking new PU elements. Racing Bulls weren’t significantly better off — Arvid Lindblad’s group have been nonetheless bolting in a brand new chassis after Friday’s FP2 crash, but Lindblad wasn’t even suited up when the session went inexperienced.
Audi have been out first as a substitute of the anticipated McLaren of Lando Norris, with Bortoleto and Hulkenberg first out on mediums. It didn’t take lengthy for issues to come back aside on the seams: Sainz clipped the Flip 7 limitations together with his entrance wing, Stroll locked up into the runoff for a short yellow. Small warnings of what was coming.
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Crimson flag one: Lewis Hamilton refuses to cease
Then it went flawed correctly. Lewis Hamilton speared into the final-corner barrier with beneath an hour left, tearing off his entrance wing and puncturing a tyre. Race management threw the purple instantly — Madrid’s director erring laborious towards warning the place different circuits might need waved yellows and moved on.
Session is quickly halted as particles from Hamilton’s crash is cleared up.
In the meantime, over radio… pic.twitter.com/WL1r1bMmXn
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Hamilton didn’t wish to hear it. Instructed to cease the automotive, he got here again over the radio as a substitute: “If I could make it again, I’ll. If I can’t, I’ll cease safely.” He saved driving — unsafely, by any studying of it — limping the wounded Ferrari towards the pits whereas the session sat frozen behind him. Race management can have phrases.
Crimson flag two: Albon’s axle, Verstappen’s nightmare
Barely had the sphere discovered rhythm once more earlier than it was gone. Albon put his Williams into the wall — not laborious, however laborious sufficient to snap a rear axle. “I’m slightly bit stunned – we’ve got broken a monitor rod,” group principal James Vowles stated. “It wasn’t a giant incident however we have to change that. It’s not on Alex, they must be on the restrict and scraping the wall.” He wasn’t completed: “This [delay] goes to make Qualifying extra fascinating for my part, as it’ll throw the cube slightly bit extra.”
For Verstappen, the timing couldn’t have been worse — his Crimson Bull nonetheless sat within the storage, untouched, when the second purple got here out. Race management lower the delay quick, stopping the session with quarter-hour nonetheless on the clock quite than bleed extra time. No person within the Racing Bulls storage was complaining — it purchased Lindblad’s crew the additional minutes they wanted to get his automotive race-ready.
Crimson flag three: Bearman ends it
Operating resumed at 13:32, Crimson Bull and Racing Bull straight out of the blocks, Bottas, Gasly and Colapinto proper behind them. For a couple of minutes it seemed just like the session may really end clear. It didn’t. Norris slid huge within the last sector with three minutes left, gathering Gasly on the way in which by means of — after which Bearman misplaced the rear totally between Turns 10 and 11, spinning laborious into the limitations with sufficient pressure to launch a tyre onto the roof of his personal automotive. He climbed out unharmed. The Haas didn’t get off so frivolously, and neither did the session — red-flagged for the third and last time, and by no means restarted.
When the mud cleared, it was Antonelli’s 1:32.797s on prime, Leclerc a tenth again in second. Getting there had taken many of the afternoon.
READ MORE – F1 2026 Spanish Grand Prix – FP3 Outcomes