The Madring’s first taste of Formula 1 ran clean and uninterrupted, and Mercedes wasted no time in stamping their authority on Friday’s opening practice.
George Russell topped the first hour with a 1:34.145 on the soft tyre, 0.286 seconds clear of championship leader and team-mate Kimi Antonelli. Behind them, Ferrari and Red Bull lurked, but it was Lewis Hamilton – in red these days – who ultimately set the benchmark of the session on the medium compound with a 1:34.620.
No red flags, no stoppages, and a brand-new circuit quietly baring its teeth.
Hamilton and Leclerc reset after Monza
Hamilton and Charles Leclerc arrived in Madrid with unfinished business after their clash at Monza, but the Ferrari garage looks calm again. The seven-time champion revealed they sat down “face to face” to talk it through, and the tone on track reflected that reset.
Leclerc was the first to throw down a serious time, a 1:38.504 on the mediums, before being quickly shuffled down as Antonelli and Max Verstappen improved. Hamilton then arrived with his own opening statement, a 1:36.066 on C3 mediums that sent him to the top and underlined his intent as he chases ground in the title race, where he sits third.
Later, on another push lap, Leclerc ran up behind a slow Ferrari in the final sector. It turned out to be Hamilton. No fireworks this time. Just a measured radio note from Leclerc: “I don’t think Lewis knew I was coming.”
For a team that spent last weekend in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, that will have felt like progress.
Mercedes vs Antonelli: the title thread runs through Madrid
The other storyline at the sharp end is purely silver. Antonelli’s lead over Russell stands at a hefty 66 points after the Italian’s stunning charge from 19th to victory at Monza. Yet in this first run at the Madring, it was Russell who looked the sharper of the pair.
On softs, Russell pieced together a committed lap to go fastest with that 1:34.145, then found a little more rhythm as the track evolved. Antonelli, by contrast, had a slightly scruffier opening. A lock-up at Turn 13 hinted at how demanding this layout can be, though he gathered it up and still delivered enough to climb to second at one stage, 0.345 seconds off Hamilton’s best time at that point.
The margins were small, but the tone was clear: Mercedes have arrived with a car that bites into this new surface, and both of their drivers are already leaning on it.
Ferrari, Red Bull and the new order at the top
Behind the silver and red of the Hamilton–Antonelli–Russell triangle, the rest of the usual heavyweights were still feeling their way in.
Leclerc spent much of the session in the top three, eventually ending up just 0.105 seconds behind Hamilton on the timesheets at one stage, while Verstappen slotted into the upper reaches as Red Bull worked through a conservative early programme.
Liam Lawson, once again stepping in for the injured Isack Hadjar at Red Bull, showed solid pace. On soft tyres, the New Zealander lit up the middle sector in purple, only to stay fourth at the line, 0.919 seconds shy of Hamilton’s leading medium-tyre effort. Not spectacular, but quietly efficient, and close enough to Verstappen to underline why the team trusts him in this stand-in role.
Hadjar out, Lawson and Tsunoda rotate again
Hadjar’s fractured wrist continues to keep him out of the car, even though he has been spotted walking the paddock in Madrid. The Frenchman remains sidelined for a third consecutive weekend.
That means Lawson once again partners Verstappen at Red Bull, while Yuki Tsunoda continues his own stand-in stint at Racing Bulls, effectively completing a three-race rotation between the two teams. It’s a strange, temporary ecosystem, but one that has given Lawson extended time in a front-running car and Tsunoda a fresh environment.
Tsunoda’s session, though, never quite got going. After backing out of his first hot lap on the softs, he reported an issue and was told to return to the garage. Racing Bulls later called time on his FP1, deciding the car needed closer inspection.
Hulkenberg fumes, Piastri puzzled
Midfield traffic and teething issues added a bit of edge to an otherwise orderly hour.
Nico Hulkenberg, who dragged his Audi up to seventh on the softs with a 1:35.533, found Hamilton in his way on one of his late flyers. The German did not bother hiding his frustration, telling the Audi pit wall: “I mean, that’s nasty.” It was the kind of radio bite that often hints at simmering tension over track etiquette, especially on a tight, technical new layout where clean laps are gold dust.
Oscar Piastri, sitting sixth with around 14 minutes to go, had a different kind of problem. The Australian suddenly reported “something hanging in the cockpit around my feet. It’s banging my feet.” McLaren didn’t hesitate. He was immediately called back to the pits so the team could investigate, ending his run and underlining how little anyone wants to risk this early in the weekend.
Rookie learning curve and Alpine’s quiet graft
Further down the order, Arvid Lindblad continued his education at Racing Bulls. The British rookie ran the medium compound and climbed to 12th on the timing tower, though he complained of being held up by rivals running wide in a fast corner. The culprits? None other than Hamilton and Antonelli, proof that even the biggest names are still learning the lines here.
Alpine, meanwhile, ticked through a low-key but important session. Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto logged only a handful of laps early on, but the team will be encouraged simply to have both cars working methodically after Gasly’s emotional high at Monza, where he took a maiden F1 pole six years after his first win at the same circuit.
New track, old risks
The Madring brings a fresh challenge to the calendar, and Pirelli have gone conservative but not timid with their tyre choices: C2 as the hard, C3 as the medium, C4 as the soft. With no race history to lean on, every run in FP1 carried extra weight.
Pirelli’s preview put the circuit among the top five most demanding for tyre energy, with lateral loads in the same bracket as Barcelona and Silverstone. Then there’s La Monumental, the 550-metre banked corner with a 24% gradient, generating the highest vertical tyre load of the season.
Drivers approached it with respect. Russell “successfully navigated” the banking on his early push lap, while Esteban Ocon reported surprisingly high grip levels overall – an encouraging sign, but one that could lure the bold into overconfidence. Hamilton already flirted with that line, coming perilously close to the wall at one point.
Team bosses, of course, had a simple message: don’t bin the car on day one.
A calm start before the storm
As the chequered flag fell, the headline order told a familiar story in an unfamiliar setting: Hamilton ahead, Leclerc close, Antonelli and Russell right in the mix, Verstappen lurking, Lawson and the midfield snapping at their heels.
No crashes, no red flags, no dramatic breakdowns. Just a clean, controlled first look at a circuit that promises to punish mistakes once the wick is turned up.
The real question now is whether this calm, measured opening is a sign of control from the front-runners – or the quiet before the Madring finally bites back in qualifying and the race.
