Formula 1 turned a long-anticipated page on Friday afternoon. At 13:30 local time, the light went green at the end of the pitlane on the northern edge of Madrid and 22 cars rolled out onto a circuit none of them had ever raced. The Madring, built around the IFEMA exhibition complex and the Valdebebas development close to Barajas airport, hosted its first official Formula 1 session – Free Practice 1 for the 2026 Spanish Grand Prix – and delivered an hour that was busy, technical, and notably cleaner than many had feared.
Mercedes set the early standard. George Russell ended the session fastest with a 1:34.077 on the soft Pirelli tyre, 0.286 seconds clear of team-mate and championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Ferrari followed with Charles Leclerc third at 0.459 seconds and Lewis Hamilton fourth at 0.543, ahead of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. It was a tidy, incident-free introduction to a venue that had dominated pre-weekend conversation for its walls, its banking, and its lack of margin.
A Circuit Unlike Anything Else on the Calendar
Madring is the first completely new track to join Formula 1 since the Las Vegas Strip Circuit in 2023, and it has been deliberately designed to feel different from both Barcelona, which it replaces as the Spanish Grand Prix host, and the other modern street-influenced venues.
The official length is 5.414km with 22 corners, combining permanent, purpose-built sections with stretches that use adapted public road infrastructure. That hybrid nature is central to its character. Unlike a conventional street circuit that is entirely temporary, Madring has proper paddock and run-off infrastructure in places, but retains the close walls, abrupt sightlines and camber changes of a city track.
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The signature is La Monumental, the banked Turn 12. It is a long, sweeping, heavily cambered right-hander that loads the outside tyres for several seconds and immediately became the talking point of FP1. Through there, drivers are committing to high speed while unsighted to traffic ahead, with limited room to bail out. Elsewhere the lap includes a tight Turn 5 chicane that proved to be a magnet for track limit violations, and a technical final sector around Turn 17 where lock-ups were frequent.
Pre-event analysis had focused on risk. Drivers including Russell had described Madring as one of the most demanding layouts for precision on the current calendar. The paddock was also aware that a two-day Formula 3 test at the venue last month required 19 red flags. In that context, an FP1 with no red flags, only a handful of yellow flags for spins and excursions, and all cars avoiding the barriers was a meaningful operational result for the organizers as much as for the teams.
Teams arrived with almost no real-world data. Apart from simulator work and limited filming running undertaken earlier in the year, there were no previous race traces, no tyre histories and no established racing line. Every lap was therefore building the reference from scratch, with aerodynamic platforms, brake cooling levels, and energy deployment maps all being validated live.
Conditions helped. The session was held in dry, warm late-summer weather, with track temperatures climbing into the high 40s. That accelerated rubbering-in and made tyre behaviour readable quite quickly, even as evolution remained very high throughout the hour.
How The Hour Unfolded
The opening minutes were frantic. Almost the entire field left the garage immediately to begin mapping the circuit.
Early setbacks were minor but telling. Sergio Perez, driving for the new Cadillac entry, required a steering wheel change on his installation lap. Both Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto stayed in the garage for the first 15 minutes while the team completed checks, delaying their learning.
On medium tyres, which most teams started on, lap times tumbled quickly. Esteban Ocon’s radio comment that “the grip is high” captured the initial feeling as rubber went down on the permanent sections, but that grip was inconsistent across the lap where dusty public-road elements still offered less adhesion.
Driver errors came quickly but stayed low-consequence. Antonelli ran wide at Turn 13 on a push. Both Audi drivers, Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, cut the Turn 5 chicane and triggered lap deletions. In total, race control logged 12 track limit infringements at Turn 5 and nine at Turn 17, a clear indicator of where drivers were searching for time.
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At the halfway mark, the order was already taking shape but on different programmes. Hamilton led the timing sheet with a 1:34.620 set on mediums, fractionally ahead of Leclerc, with Antonelli two tenths further back having already touched the soft compound. Russell, meanwhile, had aborted his first soft-tyre attempt after hitting traffic.
The final 30 minutes shifted to soft-tyre performance runs. Liam Lawson, standing in at Red Bull with Isack Hadjar sidelined by a wrist injury, briefly jumped to fourth on softs. Russell moved to third, then posted a 1:34.145 before shaving that to a 1:34.077 that would stand as the benchmark.
Leclerc, who according to team background was running the older-spec Ferrari power unit from Zandvoort after his heavy Monza crash, struggled to extract a clean soft-tyre lap and had an excursion into the run-off at Turn 17. Hamilton locked at the same corner on his soft run and never improved on his medium-tyre time, which explains why his gap of 0.543 seconds does not fully reflect the soft versus medium delta.
Yuki Tsunoda’s session ended early with 20 minutes remaining when his Racing Bulls car was wheeled into the garage with a power steering issue. Otherwise, the field kept running, with graining beginning to appear on both medium and soft tyres after just a handful of laps, particularly on the front left through La Monumental.
The final timesheet showed a spread of 4.741 seconds from first to last, typical for a first session on a new track with vastly different energy management strategies and with Cadillac at the very beginning of its Formula 1 programme.
The top 10 was: Russell 1:34.077, Antonelli +0.286, Leclerc +0.459, Hamilton +0.543, Verstappen +0.626, Lando Norris +0.870, Arvid Lindblad +0.956, Oscar Piastri +1.071, Hulkenberg +1.452, Lawson +1.462. Behind them came Bortoleto, Gasly, Ocon, Colapinto, Fernando Alonso, Ollie Bearman, Carlos Sainz, Tsunoda, Lance Stroll, Alex Albon, Perez and Valtteri Bottas.
Why Mercedes Hit the Ground Running
A Mercedes one-two in FP1 on a green track is not an accident. It points to three overlapping strengths that are particularly relevant at Madring.
First, platform stability. Madring rewards a car that can ride low-speed chicanes without unsettling the floor, then remain stable through the high lateral load of the banking. Russell and Antonelli were able to attack Turn 5 and Turn 17 without the heavy corrections seen in several other cars, allowing them to carry more minimum speed into the following acceleration zones.
Second, tyre preparation. Mercedes was among the earliest to get both drivers onto the soft tyre in a clear window and managed the out-lap temperatures well. On a track where graining appeared after just three to four push laps, that preparation matters. Russell completed a notably long run on a single set of softs earlier in the session, giving the team a rare early look at degradation on a surface that Pirelli expects to be abrasive.
Third, energy deployment. Madring has several medium-length straights after slow corners where efficient recovery and deployment translate directly into lap time. Mercedes has been strong on deployment efficiency this year, and the fact that both drivers set their best sectors in the final part of the lap suggests they were managing electrical energy effectively.
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It is still only FP1. Fuel loads were unknown, and Ferrari was clearly quicker on the medium tyre than the final gap suggests. But the fact that Antonelli’s best came after Russell’s and still landed within three tenths indicates that the car has a workable window, not just a single star lap.
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Ferrari’s third and fourth positions undersell and oversell at the same time. On the medium compound, Leclerc and Hamilton were the quickest pair for much of the session, and their long-run pace looked consistent. On the soft, Leclerc could not string together his best sectors, heading wide at Turn 17, while Hamilton never set a representative soft time after a lock-up. The team will take confidence from the medium-tyre balance, but will need to understand why the soft did not deliver the expected step.
There is additional context for Leclerc. After a very large accident at Monza the previous weekend that left him with reported blurred vision symptoms, he was passed fit for this event and is understood to be running the pre-upgrade power unit as a precaution. That he was within half a second of the outright pace and ahead of both Red Bulls and McLarens on a new track is therefore a solid recovery drive.
Red Bull’s Friday was measured. Verstappen finished fifth, 0.626 seconds off, with visible graining on his mediums in the middle of the session. The RB22 looked more settled later on softs, but the team did not chase a peak time. Lawson in tenth, 0.836 seconds behind Verstappen on the same team, provided useful comparison data while deputising for Hadjar.
McLaren had a split session. Norris was sixth, two tenths clear of rookie Arvid Lindblad’s Racing Bulls, with his best lap coming early in a soft stint before the tyre dropped off. Oscar Piastri was eighth, a further two tenths back. The data suggests McLaren was focusing more on high-fuel running than outright single-lap optimisation, which is consistent with their Friday approach this season.
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Audi showed promising signs. Hulkenberg took ninth, Bortoleto eleventh, both within 1.6 seconds of the lead despite limited running earlier in the year. That puts them ahead of both Alpines and the Aston Martins on headline time, though again fuel and engine modes will shift that picture.
Traffic, The Unavoidable Theme
If there was a single operational headache from FP1, it was traffic, and Hamilton’s name featured in most of the radio exchanges.
The issue is structural. Madring is 22 corners in just over five kilometres, with several blind entries and only one or two genuine places to let a faster car through without compromising your own preparation lap. With all 20 cars trying to learn the track simultaneously, closing speeds became large.
The most reported sequence involved La Monumental. Lindblad, on a fast lap, came across Hamilton and Antonelli running slowly together through the banking and called them “stupid” on the radio for blocking the line. Shortly after, Leclerc had to abandon a push after catching Hamilton mid-track at high speed. Hulkenberg registered a similar complaint, and Sainz had two encounters.
Sainz was the most vocal. After finding Hamilton in the middle of Turn 12, he said over the radio: “Lewis letting by in the middle of Turn 12. It’s always the same, it’s so dangerous. Like it takes zero effort to be two metres more left. Zero effort!” Later he closed rapidly on Hamilton approaching Turn 12 again, creating a moment of proximity that highlighted how little time there is to react in the banked section.
Hamilton himself was then impeded by Esteban Ocon in an awkward spot and had to abort a lap. These are typical FP1 frictions, not matters for the stewards, but they illustrate why communication between race engineer and driver will be as important as car set-up this weekend. Drivers who had done the filming day, including the Ferrari pair, had warned that overtaking and traffic management would be complicated, and FP1 confirmed it.
The sporting consequence is straightforward. In qualifying, a compromised preparation lap or a car ahead in the final sector could cost several tenths, more than the usual margin between advancing to Q3 and going out in Q2. Teams will likely run more structured gaps in FP2 and FP3, and may adjust their run plans to avoid the pack.
Tyres, Limits and Energy: The Technical Takeaways
Three technical themes emerged that will shape the rest of the weekend.
Tyre behaviour. Pirelli brought its softest range, and graining was visible on both medium and soft after a handful of laps. The banked corner puts sustained energy through the tyres, and the abrasive new asphalt adds to the stress. Russell’s longer soft run will be pored over by every team, because if graining stabilises after a few laps it may push strategy toward a two-stop, but if it continues to grow, management in the race will become critical. Leclerc’s lock-up and excursion at Turn 17 also suggested the front tyres are sensitive to temperature under braking after the long banking.
Track limits. The 12 deletions at Turn 5 and nine at Turn 17 show where the lap time is. At Turn 5 drivers are cutting the chicane to straight-line the exit, gaining on traction. At Turn 17 they are running wide to open the entry to the final acceleration zone. Both will be policed in qualifying, so drivers will need to build a margin rather than rely on a deleted lap being their best.
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Energy recovery. Madring offers strong braking events from moderate speed into tight corners, ideal for harvesting, followed by traction-limited exits where deployment helps. Teams were experimenting with different clipping points, the moment where the electric motor stops pushing to save energy for later in the straight. The fact that the field spread was over four seconds even without major incidents suggests different deployment strategies were already in play, with some teams prioritising a full-energy qualifying simulation and others running a more race-like profile.
Midfield Picture and the Home Favourites
Beyond the top teams, FP1 offered a first snapshot of the midfield order at a track where downforce efficiency and mechanical compliance matter more than pure power.
Racing Bulls had a strong showing with Lindblad seventh, immediately ahead of Piastri’s McLaren. That continues the rookie’s upward trend this season and suggests the team’s simulator preparation for the new circuit was effective. Tsunoda’s stoppage prevented a fuller read, but his earlier pace was within a few tenths of Lindblad.
Alpine and Haas were clustered together. Gasly 12th, Ocon 13th, Colapinto 14th and Bearman 16th were separated by less than a second, indicating a tight fight for the lower points if qualifying stays similarly bunched.
The home drivers had a quiet start. Fernando Alonso, racing in front of a large early crowd at Aston Martin, was 15th, 2.396 seconds off the pace but eight tenths clear of team-mate Lance Stroll in 19th. Carlos Sainz, who has acted as an ambassador for the Madring project with Williams, was 17th, 2.793 seconds off Russell and seven tenths clear of Alex Albon in 20th. Both Spaniards spent the session working through baseline set-up sweeps rather than chasing a time, and both will expect to move forward as track knowledge improves.
At the back, Cadillac’s first competitive hour at a new venue was predictably difficult. Perez, after his early steering wheel change, finished 21st, 4.073 seconds off, with Bottas 22nd and a further 0.7 seconds back. The team is in its debut season and is using these early sessions to build mileage and systems understanding rather than outright performance.
What This Means for the Championship
Context matters. Antonelli arrived in Madrid as the championship leader after a remarkable run that included a recovery win from 19th on the grid at Monza last weekend. Russell sits second, Hamilton third for Ferrari, with Verstappen and Norris in close pursuit. Mercedes also leads the constructors’ standings with a substantial margin.
In that light, a Mercedes one-two in the first session at a new track is a psychological marker as well as a data point. If the Silver Arrows can translate early adaptation into a front-row lockout, they will further extend their advantage on a weekend where reliability on an unforgiving layout could easily cost rivals points.
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However, FP1 history is clear that first practice at a new circuit rarely predicts the final order. Track evolution alone was worth more than a second through the session as rubber was laid down. Ferrari’s medium-tyre pace suggests they are closer than the soft-tyre timesheet shows. Red Bull and McLaren historically improve more than average from FP1 to FP2 once they have a baseline to work from.
For Hamilton, the traffic incidents are a footnote but a useful reminder. His third place in the championship has been built on consistency, and starting the weekend with clean data is more important than a headline time. For Leclerc, completing the session without physical issues after Monza was itself an important milestone.
Looking Ahead to the Rest of the Weekend
The programme continues with FP2 later on Friday, then FP3 and qualifying on Saturday and the race on Sunday at 14:00 local time. The focus for teams now shifts from discovery to optimisation.
In FP2, expect race simulations to dominate. Long runs will test whether the graining seen in FP1 recovers or forces an early pit stop. Teams will also experiment with different cooling levels, particularly for the rear brakes which were working hard after repeated low-speed stops.
Qualifying will bring traffic management to the fore. With 22 corners and limited overtaking spots, finding a clear gap will require careful coordination on the pit wall. The deleted laps at Turns 5 and 17 will also force drivers to leave a small margin, which could bring the midfield closer together.
For the race, two factors will decide strategy. First, safety cars. The proximity of walls and the narrow nature of several sections have led drivers including Sainz to predict safety cars and even red flags during the weekend, despite the clean FP1. Second, tyre management through La Monumental. If graining persists, the undercut could be powerful, and teams may look to get off the soft tyre early.
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Madring’s debut hour delivered what a first practice should: a clean, informative baseline, a clear early benchmark from Russell and Mercedes, and enough technical questions around tyres, traffic and energy to keep the field working overnight. It showed that the infrastructure can host Formula 1 safely while retaining the demanding, wall-lined character that its designers intended.
Russell has drawn first blood in Madrid, but with Ferrari within half a second on a sub-optimal tyre, Verstappen within six tenths, and the track still evolving rapidly, the hierarchy established on Friday afternoon is provisional at best. The coming sessions will reveal whether Mercedes’ early authority is sustainable, or whether the rest of the field can close the gap as Madring continues to rubber in.
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