Antonelli Breaks the Madring Lap Record in FP2 as Norris Loses His Session to a Gearbox Issue

If FP1 left the impression that the Madring hadn’t quite shown its teeth yet, FP2 made sure to confirm it has them. Kimi Antonelli walked away with the fastest time of the afternoon and rewrote the circuit lap record not once but twice, while Formula 1’s first-ever red flag at the new track arrived courtesy of Arvid Lindblad. To top it off, Lando Norris didn’t even manage to complete a real timed lap after McLaren discovered a serious gearbox problem.

The First Big Scare: Lindblad Goes Off at Turn 13

Unlike FP1, which had passed without incident despite all the predictions, this second session didn’t take long to confirm the entire paddock’s fears. Arvid Lindblad lost the rear at Turn 13, the corner right after the banked La Monumental section, and ended up in the barriers, triggering Formula 1’s first-ever red flag at the Madring. The impact wasn’t major, but since practice sessions don’t stop the clock during red flags, repairing the TecPro barriers cost the field nearly a quarter of an hour of genuine track time, a luxury nobody could afford on a weekend where every minute of reference data is worth its weight in gold.

Antonelli Rewrites the Record Book, Twice

Once the session resumed, Antonelli got down to business. He first set a 1:33.926 that made him the provisional record holder for the circuit, beating what Russell had left behind in FP1. But he didn’t stop there, dropping the time even further late in the session to a 1:33.662, a mark nobody else came close to matching for the rest of the afternoon.

Behind him, Leclerc finished second just 0.113 back, and Hamilton rounded out the session’s podium at 0.149, though with an interesting detail: the seven-time champion set his best lap on the medium tyre, not the soft, suggesting there’s still hidden margin in the Ferrari once they nail down the qualifying lap properly. Leclerc, for his part, had his own moment too, making a mistake on his first attempt on softs, a sign that this track still doesn’t forgive even the smallest slip.

The Problem That Wrecked Norris’s Afternoon

While the rest of the field fought over lap times, McLaren confirmed over the radio something nobody in the garage wanted to hear: Norris had a problem that required a full gearbox change. The team worked against the clock trying to get him back out before the hour ran out, but there wasn’t enough time, Norris closed out the session with just two laps on the board and no real reference time to show for it, on a weekend where he desperately needs to gather data on a circuit nobody knows.

More Scares, and a Battle That Nearly Turned Ugly

Lindblad wasn’t the only one with a rough moment. Piastri ran wide at Turn 7, a section with a blind crest where more than one scare is already expected throughout the weekend, though he managed to save the car and continue without further damage. Lawson had to head into the garage with a problem of his own, and Stroll was directly told over the radio to park the car, leaving him with considerably fewer laps than everyone else.

Near the end of the session, there was a close call between Leclerc and Perez that came close to a stewards’ inquiry, nothing serious in the end, but enough to make clear that even a Ferrari fighting for position against a Cadillac isn’t a simple move on this track. Colapinto, meanwhile, had a quiet afternoon and finished 15th, four places ahead of Perez.

What’s Coming Next

With Antonelli arriving at this weekend carrying a 66-point championship lead over Russell after his Monza comeback, and Hamilton already 76 points back in the fight, every session in Madrid is under a microscope. Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies already warned that tyres are going to be the big issue this weekend, they overheat quickly and then start graining, so nobody has the perfect setup figured out just yet.

With FP2 leaving behind a new lap record, the category’s first-ever red flag at this circuit, and Norris with homework to do before tomorrow’s FP3, the picture heading into this evening’s qualifying looks considerably more open than it did after FP1.

Can McLaren sort out Norris’s problem before FP3, or is the championship leader heading into qualifying with an information deficit that could weigh on him all weekend? Tell us your prediction in the comments.

RESULTS — FP2, 2026 SPANISH GRAND PRIX (MADRING)

Pirelli’s official tyre guide for this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix at the Madring, covering the compound selection and the circuit’s key technical data.

Sources: Motorsport.com, RacingNews365, Crash.net, GPblog, Yahoo Sports, Autoracing1