Antonelli Tops Chaotic FP3 at Spanish Grand Prix

Kimi Antonelli topped a wildly fragmented final practice session at the Spanish Grand Prix, mastering a stop-start FP3 that never found a proper rhythm.

Two red flags ripped the heart out of the hour. The first came courtesy of Lewis Hamilton, whose crash triggered a lengthy interruption while the barriers were repaired. When the track finally reopened, drivers scrambled for meaningful laps, but the clock – and the tension – were against them.

Antonelli cut through the mess. The youngster delivered the standout lap of the session, beating Charles Leclerc by almost two-tenths of a second to underline his speed on a day when very little ran to plan. Oscar Piastri slotted into third, with Lando Norris and Max Verstappen rounding out a top five that looked more like a qualifying sheet than a gentle Saturday warm-up.

The pressure finally told again in the closing seconds. With just a minute left, Oliver Bearman crashed heavily, bringing out the second red flag and ending any hope of late improvements. The chequered flag never really felt necessary; the session had been effectively over the moment Bearman hit the barriers.

For Hamilton, it was a disastrous FP3. The crash in the middle of the session was damaging enough, but his attempt to drive the wounded car back to the garage, against Ferrari’s instructions, only deepened the sense of frustration and disorder around his running.

Antonelli, though, walked away with the headline time from a session that offered more drama than data – and set up an intriguing qualifying battle in Barcelona.