FP3 Barcelona: George Russell fast, world championship leader Kimi Antonelli annoyed

The GP stars were already battling with the hot temperatures in Barcelona on Friday and it was even hotter on Saturday morning as they got ready for the third free practice session. The thermometer showed 31.8 degrees outside and 47.5 degrees track temperature when the lights at the end of the pit lane turned green.

Not much was happening on the track at first, and the fans waiting in the sun had to make do with the first laps of the two Cadillac routiniers Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Pérez in the first 10 minutes, with the former remaining the quicker. Pérez provided the entertainment with a wild ride over the kerbs at turn ten as Nico Hülkenberg went to work in the Audi. The German completed the 4.657 kilometres in 1:18.477 minutes to take the lead.

It was clear that he would be ousted from this position, as his lap time was three seconds faster than the fastest time of the day on Friday. However, his faster colleagues were still waiting in the wings. 20 minutes after the start of the session, local hero Carlos Sainz set off - much to the delight of the fans in attendance - and his Williams team-mate Alex Albon and the Haas duo of Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon also left the pit lane.

Strong debut for George Russell

With Gabriel Bortoleto, Spanish superstar Fernando Alonso and world champion Lando Norris, the track soon filled up, although the Cadillac drivers turned back into the pits. Franco Colapinto and Charles Leclerc were the next drivers to pit and soon Bortoleto set a new benchmark with a 1:17.581 min, but it didn't last long.

Champion Lando Norris, who had set the fastest lap of the day the day before, lapped the Spanish circuit in 1:16.609 minutes and was therefore significantly faster than the Brazilian from the Audi team. Leclerc was also unable to match Norris' time for the time being, he was 76 thousandths slower on his first fast attempt and lined up in second place.

Topic of the week

From major doubts to a major spectacle: why GP fans have reason to be delighted

Before the start of the season, critical voices dominated, but the World Championship rounds so far have shown that the rule changes are delivering exactly what was hoped for: excitement right up to the final lap.

Read more

TV program

Today

Budapest: Das Rennen Re-Live

FIA Formula One World Championship

26.07.2026 - 17:15

A few minutes before half-time, Red Bull Racing stars Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar as well as George Russell and Kimi Antonelli also left the pits. Verstappen lined up in third place, but shortly afterwards he slipped to fourth position as Russell took the lead with a 1:16.258 minutes. World championship leader Kimi Antonelli was just under two and a half tenths slower and was therefore second fastest.

The order at the halfway point was Russell ahead of Antonelli, Norris, Leclerc, Verstappen, Piastri, Arvid Lindblad, Hadjar, Bortoleto and Liam Lawson, Sainz, Hülkenberg, BEarman, Colapinto, Esteban Ocon, Albon, Bottas, Alonso, Pérez, Lance Stroll, Lewis Hamilton and Pierre Gasly.

Valtteri Bottas with a stroke of luck

Hamilton set his first fast lap shortly afterwards and lined up in 6th place. The session was then interrupted four minutes after half-time because Bottas found himself in the gravel on the tenth corner. The Finn had to abandon his Cadillac racer and it only took five minutes for it to be removed.

Bottas reported on the radio: "My brake pedal failed, I was really lucky." As soon as the race started again, Pérez asked what was wrong with his team-mate and his race engineer reassured him: "We're looking into it, it's nothing that should affect you."

Most of the drivers were on the soft tyres, only Hülkenberg and Pérez had the medium-hard slicks on the car as they completed their laps. The Audi star was 13th 15 minutes before the end of the session, while Pérez was second last.

The duo were among the few drivers on track for the start of the final quarter of an hour, with most of them getting fresh tyres and Hülkenberg also changing to the fastest compound before the final 10 minutes began. This improved his position to seventh, but the competition had not yet made any final fast attempts.

Trouble for championship leader Kimi Antonelli

Russell improved the best time to 1:15.679, more than eight tenths faster than Antonelli and more than nine tenths faster than Norris. This caused a few raised eyebrows, as the FIA assessment had shown that Mercedes was allowed to improve on the combustion engine because the figures implied that Red Bull Racing had the most powerful engine in the field.

Piastri also stepped on the gas and managed to get within 0.214 seconds of Russell's time. Norris also stepped on the gas, but was only third fastest, 0.246 seconds behind Russell's best time. Verstappen improved to fifth place, seven and a half tenths behind Russell's best time. Antonelli's fast lap was affected by Stroll, which annoyed the championship leader on the radio.

Hamilton remained slightly faster than Verstappen and was fourth fastest, seven tenths off the top time. Antonelli was so annoyed by the traffic that he abandoned the time chase and headed for the pits. His team-mate Leclerc was slightly quicker and managed to slip between the McLaren stars into third place.

There were no more changes at the front, with Russell remaining fastest, followed by Piastri, Leclerc, Norris, Hamilton, Verstappen, Antonelli, Hadjar, Hülkenberg, Lindblad, Bortoleto, Lawson, Gasly, Colapinto, Sainz, Ocon, Bearman, Albon, Pérez, Alonso, Bottas and Stroll.