Antonelli sweeps Mercedes practice clean as Hamilton and Bearman crash in Spanish GP FP3

Kimi Antonelli will carry championship momentum into Spanish Grand Prix qualifying after topping a chaotic final practice session at the Madring circuit in Madrid on Saturday, completing a clean sweep of all three practice sessions for Mercedes. The session was twice halted by red flags — first for a Lewis Hamilton wall strike, then for an Oliver Bearman crash — before Antonelli’s 1m32.797s lap held firm as the benchmark.

FP3 was stopped after just 23 minutes when Hamilton locked up his front tyres into Turn 22, the final corner, and bumped into the TecPro wall, dislocating his front wing. Because he had already passed the pit entry, the seven-time world champion was forced to attempt a full lap of the circuit on three wheels, his wing dragging along the ground and beginning to pierce the front-right tyre. Against team instructions, Hamilton tried to complete the lap before abandoning his effort at the exit of Turn 14. Barrier repairs consumed so much time that race control stopped the clock at 15m38s to preserve a meaningful window for drivers to return to track.

At the point of the stoppage, Hamilton’s Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc led the timesheets with a 1m33.332s, ahead of Antonelli’s earlier 1m33.664s. After a delay of nearly 40 minutes while track workers realigned the barriers, running resumed for a final set-up push before qualifying.

Leclerc was first to fire in a representative lap, lowering his benchmark to a 1m32.963s — initially faster than Mercedes could match, with Antonelli conceding three tenths and sitting narrowly ahead of Oscar Piastri. On his second attempt, however, Antonelli found the time to move clear with a 1m32.797s effort.

That lap was never threatened. In the final minute, Haas driver Oliver Bearman lost the rear of his car into the Turn 10 right-hander, smacking into the concrete wall and sustaining significant damage to the left-hand side of his car. The resulting red flag ended the session and cemented Antonelli’s advantage.

Leclerc finished second, with McLaren’s Piastri and Lando Norris sealing third and fourth — just two tenths behind Antonelli — after the Woking outfit appeared to take a tentative step forward having been further adrift on Friday. Max Verstappen also featured among the frontrunners before the session was cut short.