Kimi Antonelli bounced back from George Russell’s FP1 pace to top the second practice session at the Spanish Grand Prix, leading Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in a tightly packed session at the new Madring circuit in Madrid.

The championship leader set the fastest lap of the session with a 1:33.662, finishing just 0.113 seconds ahead of Leclerc and 0.149 seconds clear of Hamilton. The result gave Mercedes another strong showing after Russell had topped the opening session earlier in the day.

Arvid Lindblad produced one of the biggest surprises of the session by briefly rising to fourth fastest, only 0.228 seconds behind Antonelli. However, the Racing Bulls rookie brought out the red flags after losing the rear of his car at Turn 13 and hitting the barriers. He was unhurt, but the incident ended his session with more than 20 minutes remaining.

Russell finished fifth, 0.337 seconds off his Mercedes teammate, with Max Verstappen sixth and Oscar Piastri seventh. Yuki Tsunoda was eighth, followed by Esteban Ocon and Liam Lawson.

McLaren endured a difficult session as Lando Norris was unable to set a representative time after the team decided to change his gearbox. The reigning world champion therefore missed valuable running on a circuit where drivers are still learning the challenging layout.

Fernando Alonso also faced problems, with Aston Martin forced to delay his start after a clutch issue. The Spaniard eventually finished 17th, while Carlos Sainz ended the session 16th at his home event.

The tight gaps at the front suggest qualifying could be extremely competitive. With the Madring featuring fast corners, narrow sections and walls close to the racing line, drivers have very little room for mistakes, while overtaking is expected to be difficult.

Antonelli now heads into Saturday’s final practice session with the strongest time of Friday and another important boost in his championship fight. After winning at Monza from 19th on the grid, the Mercedes youngster will be looking to turn his Friday pace into another victory on Sunday.