Ferrari takes third and fourth in Spanish Grand Prix opening practice at new Madring circuit
Charles Leclerc was third fastest and Lewis Hamilton fourth as Scuderia Ferrari HP opened the Spanish Grand Prix weekend at the new Madring circuit, the pair completing 54 laps between them.
- 54
- 27
- 1'34"536
- 1'34"865
What Happened
Scuderia Ferrari HP opened the Spanish Grand Prix weekend at the new Madring circuit with the third-fastest time for Charles Leclerc and the fourth for Lewis Hamilton. Both SF-26s began the session on Medium tyres, with Hamilton setting a 1'34"620 that was 63 thousandths quicker than his team-mate's 1'34"683. They completed 15 and 14 laps respectively to get to grips with the Madring circuit and its walls before returning to the pits.
54
Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton ran 27 laps each in the opening session in Madrid.
- 1'34"536
- 1'34"865
- Hamilton 1'34"620, Leclerc 1'34"683 — Hamilton quicker by 63 thousandths
With 20 minutes remaining, the two SF-26s went back out on Soft tyres to start upping the pace, but Charles and Lewis encountered traffic or made small mistakes. It meant the Monegasque driver only improved on his final attempt, getting down to 1'34"536, while Hamilton's best of 1'34"865 was slower than his previous best on the Medium tyre.
Previously from Ferrari N.V.
This is the first Spanish Grand Prix at Madring, a new 5.416-kilometre circuit built around Madrid's IFEMA exhibition district. Ahead of the weekend, Lewis Hamilton played down any advantage from his July filming-day laps at the venue and said Ferrari must focus on executing the weekend as well as possible. Charles Leclerc said he was 100 per cent fit for the Madrid Grand Prix after his Monza accident and that he had cleared the air with Hamilton over their Monza clash.
- Hamilton plays down Madring filming-day laps as Ferrari targets strong Spanish Grand Prix weekend
- Leclerc declares himself fully fit for Madrid Grand Prix after Monza accident
- Ferrari heads to Madring as Spanish Grand Prix moves to a new Madrid circuit
Background drawn from MotorClaw's earlier coverage of Ferrari N.V.'s official releases.
Why this matters
This was Ferrari's first competitive session at the new Madring circuit, and both SF-26s finished inside the top four, with only a small gap between the two drivers. The team used long opening runs to get to grips with the circuit and its walls before switching to the softer tyre, so the session was as much about learning the track as about lap times.
Terms in This Story
- Free Practice 1
- The first of the timed practice sessions held before a Formula 1 race weekend's qualifying and race, used by teams to set up the cars and learn the circuit.
- Medium tyres
- One of the tyre compounds Formula 1 teams can choose from; compounds differ in how quickly they warm up and how long they last.
- Soft tyres
- The softest of the available tyre compounds, generally used when a driver wants a quicker single lap.
- Thousandths
- A thousandth of a second, a common unit for measuring very small gaps between lap times.
Summarised from the linked release; details can be imperfect — always verify against the original source.