Kimi Antonelli is out, and George Russell takes advantage of the situation in Barcelona

George Russell got off to the best possible start at Montmelò, setting the fastest time in the first free practice session of the 2026 Barcelona Grand Prix, the seventh round of the Formula 1 World Championship. The British Mercedes driver took advantage of the absence of his teammate and championship leader Kimi Antonelli, who handed the wheel of the W17 to Danish driver Frederik Vesti, regaining the lead with a car that immediately appeared particularly competitive.

Russell clocked a time of 1:16.363 during a qualifying simulation on soft tires, also completing several long runs to gather valuable data for determining the optimal setup for qualifying and the race. The driver from King’s Lynn finished 0.203 seconds ahead of Oscar Piastri’s McLaren and 0.520 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, which was equipped with the major update package introduced by the Maranello team in Spain. Max Verstappen lagged further behind, finishing fourth in the Red Bull, 684 thousandths of a second off the pace.

Among the most positive notes of the session was the performance of Italian Leonardo Fornaroli, the best of the seven rookies participating in FP1 as part of the rotation program planned by the teams. At the wheel of the McLaren in place of Lando Norris, the young Italian put in a flawless session, finishing in fifth place, 853 thousandths of a second behind the leader.

Estonian Paul Aron also put in an excellent performance, finishing sixth in the Audi as a replacement for Nico Hülkenberg and managing to keep the gap to less than a second. Rounding out the top ten were the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson, seventh, and Arvid Lindblad, ninth; the Ferrari of Swedish talent Dino Beganovic, eighth and less than a second behind Leclerc; and Franco Colapinto’s Alpine, tenth.

Here are all the times:

1 George Russell Mercedes 1:16.363 27
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren + 0.203 29
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari + 0.520 29
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull + 0.684 29
5 Leonardo Fornaroli McLaren + 0.853 22
6 Paul Aron Audi + 0.958 24
7 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls + 1.109 24
8 Dino Beganovic Ferrari + 1.415 30
9 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls + 1.441 29
10 Franco Colapinto Alpine + 1.530 28
11 Oliver Bearman Haas + 1.809 25
12 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi + 1.846 28
13 Carlos Sainz Williams + 1.930 27
14 Ayumu Iwasa Racing Bulls + 1.935 21
15 Frederik Vesti Mercedes + 2.002 28
16 Esteban Ocon Haas + 2.009 27
17 Pierre Gasly Alpine + 2.145 23
18 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac + 2.551 23
19 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin + 3.704 23
20 Lance Stroll Aston Martin + 3.955 21
21 Colton Herta Cadillac + 4.334 27
22 Luke Browning Williams no time