Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton experienced a solid start to the 2026 F1 Spanish GP weekend at the new Madring circuit.
Ferrari emerged as the second force behind the Mercedes duo in FP1, with Leclerc finishing the session in third and Hamilton close behind in fourth. They started the session on the medium tire on which Hamilton set his fastest time of the session. Towards the end of FP1, Leclerc improved on his final attempt with the soft compound tire.
In FP2, Leclerc and Hamilton each moved up a place, finishing behind Championship leader Kimi Antonelli in P2 and P3, respectively. Again, the Ferrari drivers started the session on the medium tire before switching to the soft tire midway through. Both Leclerc and Hamilton set their fastest time on the softs this time. For the high-fuel run in the final minutes of the session, Ferrari opted to split, with Leclerc on the soft and Hamilton on the medium. Over the course of both 2026 F1 Spanish GP practice sessions, the Ferrari duo completed 103 laps around the Madring circuit.
Vasseur stresses importance of Ferrari anticipating grip-levels for 2026 F1 Spanish GP Qualifying
After a good start to the 2026 F1 Spanish GP weekend, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur was quick to point out that good form in practice is not enough and that the team needed to focus on finding the optimal setup for tomorrow’s qualifying. With track evolution on the newly completed Madring circuit high, Vasseur stresses the importance of anticipating the grip levels for the final run in qualifying.
“I think the good set-up is the set-up we will work in quali, not in free practice. We know that we’ll have a huge track evolution, even during the session. The most important is to anticipate the grip in Q3, and to be ready for Q3 that makes no sense to be the best in free practice and not in quali.”
With the Madring circuit hosting a wide variety of different corner types, the track offers a “challenge” for teams in their quest to find the optimal setup and deployment strategy for the fast sections. In addition, grip levels will improve, leading Vasseur to believe it’s going to be “key” to anticipate the cars’ “pace” for the final runs in qualifying.
“It’s a challenge that you have approximately all the types of corners of the season, and it’s a good exercise for the engineers. But at the end it’s also difficult to estimate what will be the grip evolution between FP3 and Quali, and even during Quali.
“That means that energy deployment is complicated with the high-speed section, and I think what will be key is to estimate the pace in Q3.”
Ferrari team principal on Leclerc bouncing back after Monza crash
After his high-speed crash during the 2026 F1 Italian GP, Charles Leclerc came back strong during Friday practice for the Spanish GP, placing third and then second, a result that was not a given after Monza, mentions Vasseur, who was “pleased” with the Monegasque’s performance.
“Yes, I think he’s always confident on this kind of track, I think he loves it, and he’s performing well,” says Vasseur when asked about Leclerc’s performance in practice.
“But it was not a given after Monza, but I’m very pleased,” he continued.
Asked about the state of Leclerc’s PU, which reportedly took damage following the crash in Monza, Vasseur declined to comment, saying:
“I won’t clarify it, no, no, no. I can’t.”
Leclerc’s first impressions of the new Madring circuit
Back in the car, following his heavy crash in Monza, Charles Leclerc reports no lasting effects after Friday practice at the 2026 F1 Spanish GP on the brand-new Madring circuit, which the Monegasque calls “very exciting.” While the Ferrari driver enjoyed his first laps on the new track, he already looks ahead to what he believes the “most challenging” Qualification of the 2026 F1 season.
“No, nothing special from the crash last weekend. The track is very exciting. It’s very exciting, it’s very challenging, and it’s a strict track as well.
“So, these are the tracks that I normally quite enjoy, and there’s no exception to that. It was really nice to be driving on this new track.
“There’s still a lot of work to be done, and I expect it to be one of the most challenging qualifying sessions of the year, being such a commitment track.”
Despite a solid first day and a “pretty good” feeling inside the car, Leclerc did not want to make predictions about the pecking order, noting that the main objective for today was to gather as much data as possible to prepare for tomorrow’s Qualifying.
“For now, the feeling was pretty good, but it’s true that Mercedes seems to be strong. However, we don’t really focus on what P1 says today, because we don’t know what the others are doing with their run plan.
“For us it was all about trying to maximise laps on the new track, to try and make sure that we have as many data as we want, and for us to be also at ease with the track coming tomorrow in qualifying.”
“But I think we did a good work today, and we’ll see tomorrow in qualifying.”
Leclerc believes good qualifying to be the key to success at the Spanish GP
During his high-fuel runs in the final stages of FP2, Leclerc was running in a train of cars, but despite arriving with a sizeable “pace-delta,” the 28-year-old struggled to complete overtakes. This leads Leclerc to believe that securing a front-running position in qualifying will be key to having a successful inaugural Spanish GP at the Madrid circuit.
“Yes, qualifying is for sure going to be the key moment of the weekend, because particularly in FP2, I tried to overtake, but even with the large pace delta, it was extremely difficult or impossible to overtake.
“So, most of the weekend’s performance will be based on qualifying.
About qualifying, Leclerc said:
“It’s going to be very, very tricky.”
Similar to Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur, Leclerc believes that the “track evolution” over the course of the 2026 F1 Spanish GP weekend will be significant, even though the Monegasque was impressed by the existing grip levels.
“But honestly, I was quite impressed by the amount of grip there was, considering it’s a full new track, so there was not much rubber, as you said. I think the track evolution will still be very, very big, but the grip to start with was impressively good.”
Lewis Hamilton on his 2026 F1 Spanish GP Friday practice sessions
After a good start in FP1, Lewis Hamilton recalled difficulties with getting the SF 26 into optimal working condition in FP2. In a statement released by Ferrari, the 41-year-old said the focus was now on reviewing today’s data and making improvements ahead of qualifying.
“It’s a fun track to drive, and FP1 was a good starting point for us. As the day went on, we found it a little more difficult to get the car in the right window, so there are a few things for us to look into, particularly around the balance.
“It’s a new circuit for everyone, and we gathered plenty of useful data today, which we’ll go through overnight. There are definitely some positives to take, and we’ll work to make a step forward ahead of qualifying tomorrow.”
