World Championship leader set 1:32.797 and surpassed Leclerc and Piastri before qualifying; Bortoleto put Audi in tenth, while accidents involving Hamilton and Bearman marked a troubled session at Madring.
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Kimi Antonelli was the fastest in the third free practice, FP3, of the Spanish Formula 1 GP. In the session held this Saturday (12), the Mercedes driver set 1:32.797 and finished 0.166 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc, while Oscar Piastri put McLaren in third.
Lando Norris finished fourth, followed by Max Verstappen, George Russell, Liam Lawson, and Nico Hülkenberg. Lewis Hamilton, who crashed and caused a long red flag, still ended up ninth, while Gabriel Bortoleto finished tenth, just 0.004 seconds behind the seven-time champion, completing the top 10.
FP3 was marked by two red flags. The first came after Hamilton’s accident at Turn 22 and caused a long stoppage for the repair of the TecPro barrier. The second appeared in the final moments, after a heavy crash by Oliver Bearman, definitively ending the activity.
FP3
The last free session before qualifying started at 07:30 Brasília time, with special importance. After a Friday mainly dedicated to learning the rookie Madring, FP3 represented the last opportunity for teams and drivers to fine-tune the cars before the fight for pole position.
Mercedes arrived as the benchmark. Russell had led FP1, while Antonelli finished FP2 in first place. Ferrari appeared very close, and McLaren still had work to recover mainly with Norris, who practically did not participate in the second practice due to a gearbox problem.
Qualifying also gained additional importance after the first experiences on the circuit. Drivers reported difficulties following other cars and making overtakes, increasing the possibility that starting position will be decisive for the race.
Bortoleto arrived on Saturday after finishing 11th and 13th in the two Friday sessions. Audi’s goal was to find the tenths needed to enter the fight for Q3 more consistently.
As usual in FP3, however, the first minutes saw little movement. Drivers stayed in the garages, saving tires for the rest of Saturday.
Bortoleto opens the track
Bortoleto was the first to go out.
The Brazilian started Audi’s program and set 1:35.777 as the first reference. Hülkenberg appeared shortly after and responded with 1:35.721.
Audi was using medium tires, while several teams that started their programs later opted for softs. Lawson appeared on hards.
The race direction also noted an incident involving Bortoleto at Turn 1 for not following instructions related to the escape area.
As more cars entered the track, times began to drop quickly.
Lawson reached 1:35.602, Alonso set 1:35.708, and Leclerc put Ferrari in front with 1:34.433.
Bearman appeared with 1:34.769 before Antonelli significantly lowered the reference.
The Italian set 1:33.664 and took the lead.
Norris, trying to recover the mileage lost on Friday, appeared second with 1:34.099.
Leclerc responded again.
The Ferrari driver set 1:33.332 and regained first position.
Meanwhile, Hülkenberg drew attention by managing to stay among drivers using softs even while still working with medium tires.
Hamilton crashes and causes red flag
The session changed completely shortly before 08:00.
Hamilton went straight at Turn 22 and hit the barrier.
The impact did not seem especially strong and the driver managed to engage reverse gear and remove the Ferrari from the spot, but the race direction immediately showed the red flag.
Hamilton tried to return to the pits.
The front wing of the Ferrari was partially loose and scraped the front tire as the Briton crawled around the circuit. Since the accident happened precisely at the last corner, it would be necessary to complete almost a full lap.
Ferrari began to insistently ask Hamilton to stop the car.
The Briton replied that he was safe and could return to the pits.
The team insisted, warning that he had a flat tire.
Hamilton responded: “I know! I can see!”
Shortly after, the seven-time champion finally stopped and left the car.
His FP3 was over.
TecPro repair halts session
The problem, however, was just beginning.
Marshals needed to remove the Ferrari and rebuild the TecPro barrier at Turn 22.
The work took much longer than expected.
Ten minutes passed.
Then, 15.
The clock initially kept counting down while drivers stayed in the garages and marshals tried to rebuild the protection.
The situation drew even more attention because Hamilton’s accident had happened at relatively low speed. The delay raised concerns about how long it would take to repair the barrier if a stronger crash occurred later.
The interruption even began to compromise Saturday’s schedule.
Given the delay, the FIA decided to pause the FP3 countdown and confirmed that the session was temporarily suspended.
The stoppage reached about 25 minutes.
The consequence also affected the Formula 2 schedule, whose activity planned for 09:15 was later moved to 09:25 Brasília time.
Thirteen minutes to decide everything
Finally, work at Turn 22 was completed.
A huge queue formed at the pit exit even before the green light.
When the track was released at 08:32, about 13 minutes of activity remained.
Hamilton was definitely out. Albon also would not participate in the final part after a touch on the track.
The scenario turned the end of FP3 practically into a qualifying simulation. Almost everyone needed to find space for a quick attempt amid traffic.
Leclerc immediately showed speed.
The Monegasque set 1:32.963, becoming the first driver of the weekend to break the 1:33 barrier.
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Verstappen appeared with 1:33.522.
Bortoleto also improved significantly. The Brazilian set 1:34.551 and jumped to seventh at that moment.
Piastri came shortly after with 1:33.288, while Antonelli responded with 1:33.260.
Russell, who was only 21st before completing his fast lap, jumped to fourth with 1:33.499.
Norris showed that Friday’s problem had not eliminated his speed and set 1:33.033, closing in on Leclerc.
Antonelli breaks Leclerc’s mark
The leaderboard kept changing practically every lap.
Bortoleto even surpassed Hülkenberg, but there was an important difference between the programs at that moment: the Brazilian was using softs, while the German still had mediums.
When Hülkenberg finally got the softs, he immediately set the best first sector.
The German completed the lap in 1:33.933 and moved up to eighth, opening a significant gap over Bortoleto.
Ocon reached 1:34.430, Bearman set 1:34.481, and Lindblad, whose car had to be rebuilt after the heavy crash in FP2, reached 1:34.505.
Lawson also appeared strong with 1:33.902.
Up front, Antonelli found even more performance.
The World Championship leader completed the lap in 1:32.797 and took first position from Leclerc.
Piastri responded with 1:32.986, while Verstappen reached 1:33.172.
Thus, the top positions showed different teams and indicated a very open fight for qualifying.
Bortoleto enters the top 10
Bortoleto still had one last attempt.
The Brazilian had dropped to 14th as rivals improved but managed to find more speed in the final minutes. Gabriel set 1:34.288.
The lap took the Audi driver to tenth place, just four thousandths behind the 1:34.284 set by Hamilton before the accident.
Hülkenberg, however, confirmed a competitive Audi by finishing eighth with 1:33.933, 0.355 seconds ahead of the Brazilian.
Bortoleto thus reached, for the first time in the weekend, the end of a session inside the top 10, although there was still a significant gap to his teammate before qualifying.
Bearman crashes hard and ends FP3
As the session was heading to its final moments, another accident happened. Bearman crashed hard.
The race direction immediately showed another red flag and deployed the Medical Car.
The Haas driver quickly reported via radio that he was fine, but the car suffered considerable damage, especially on the left side.
With so little time left, there would be no restart.
FP3 was over.
The accident also created an additional concern for Haas. With about two hours until qualifying and a heavily damaged car, the team faced a race against the clock to try to get Bearman back on track.
Antonelli completes Friday and Saturday in front
Antonelli thus finished as the fastest with 1:32.797.
Leclerc was second, only 0.166 seconds behind, confirming once again Ferrari as one of the main threats to Mercedes.
Piastri finished third, just 0.189 seconds behind the leader, while Norris completed McLaren’s strong recovery in fourth.
Verstappen was fifth and Russell finished sixth.
Lawson put Red Bull in seventh, followed by Hülkenberg.
Hamilton, even after missing more than half the session due to the accident, remained ninth.
And Bortoleto completed the top 10.
After finishing 11th in FP1 and 13th in FP2, the Brazilian finally entered the top ten with 1:34.288.
The result also left a clear indication for qualifying: the fight in the midfield promises to be extremely tight. Bortoleto was only 0.004 seconds behind Hamilton, but also just 0.058 ahead of Colapinto, 11th.
Up front, the scenario remains open as well. Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, and Red Bull placed representatives among the top five, while Antonelli confirmed again his benchmark status by leading for the second consecutive session.
FP3 results of the 2026 Spanish GP:
1) Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), 1’32.797
2) Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), 1’32.963
3) Oscar Piastri (McLaren/Mercedes), 1’32.986
4) Lando Norris (McLaren/Mercedes), 1’33.033
5) Max Verstappen (Red Bull/Red Bull Ford), 1’33.172
6) George Russell (Mercedes), 1’33.499
7) Liam Lawson (Red Bull/Red Bull Ford), 1’33.902
8) Nico Hülkenberg (Audi), 1’33.933
9) Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), 1’34.284
10) Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi), 1’34.288
11) Franco Colapinto (Alpine/Mercedes), 1’34.346
12) Esteban Ocon (Haas/Ferrari), 1’34.430
13) Oliver Bearman (Haas/Ferrari), 1’34.481
14) Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls/Red Bull Ford), 1’34.505
15) Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls/Red Bull Ford), 1’34.565
16) Pierre Gasly (Alpine/Mercedes), 1’34.971
17) Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin/Honda), 1’35.020
18) Carlos Sainz (Williams/Mercedes), 1’35.464
19) Lance Stroll (Aston Martin/Honda), 1’35.570
20) Sergio Pérez (Cadillac/Ferrari), 1’36.441
21) Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac/Ferrari), 1’36.670
22) Alexander Albon (Williams/Mercedes), no time
Read more F1: Hamilton crashes during free practice 3 and causes red flag in Madrid
