Lindblad crashes as Antonelli fastest in Madrid

British rookie Arvid Lindblad crashed his Racing Bulls in Friday practice at the Spanish Grand Prix shortly after setting an impressive fourth fastest time.

The 19-year-old lost control into Turn 13, and slid sideways into the wall, damaging his front and rear suspension and breaking his front wing.

Lindblad ended the session fourth fastest, just 0.228 seconds behind pace-setter Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes in Madrid.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were second and third fastest, just over 0.1secs behind Antonelli.

Antonelli's team-mate George Russell, who trails the Italian by 66 points in the championship, was fifth fastest ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen and McLaren's Oscar Piastri.

World champion Lando Norris did not set a time in his McLaren because of a gearbox problem.

Lindblad's incident was the only one of the day in Formula 1 running, but it did back up some remarks from Russell before the first session that the new Madring track had "less margin than Monaco, purely because of the speed".

Russell added: "In Monaco, the walls are closer, but because you're going far slower, if you make a mistake, you're not into the wall as quickly, and you can recover it sometimes, a small lock-up.

"There's a lot of really fast corners, but the barrier is kind of like coming back on to the track. So, if you are to go wide and hit the wall, you're not hitting it kind of at the same angle as the car is going. The wall is sort of coming in at you."

Russell singled out Turns Five, Seven and 17, where Leclerc went off into the run-off area at Turn 17.

Russell said: "Another element of the challenge here, which probably won't cause major crashes, but I think there'll be a lot of lock-ups.

"You've got three corners where you're turning and braking, and if you lock up, the wall is right in front of you, which is very reminiscent of the corner in Baku, Turn 15. You know, the one down the hill where a lot of people go off."

There is also a section of high-speed swerves, Russell said, which is similar to the fast Jeddah street track in Saudi Arabia.