Antonelli Tops FP3 in Spain Amid Crashes and Red Flags

On a stop-start Saturday in Spain, Kimi Antonelli kept his head while the session fell apart around him.

In a third practice riddled with red flags and frustration, the young Italian fired in the quickest lap of FP3, topping the timesheets ahead of Charles Leclerc by almost two-tenths of a second. Oscar Piastri, Lando Norris and Max Verstappen rounded out a top five that had precious little time to show its true hand.

The session never found a rhythm.

Major Interruptions

The first major interruption came courtesy of Lewis Hamilton, whose crash midway through FP3 brought out a red flag and forced lengthy barrier repairs. The delay ripped a huge chunk out of the available running time, leaving teams scrambling to compress their programmes into a handful of laps.

When the track finally went green again, the push for representative laps began in earnest. Antonelli seized the moment. With grip at a premium and traffic an ever-present nuisance, he stitched together a clean effort that no one could match before the clock ran down.

Just as drivers geared up for a final flurry, the session unraveled again.

Oliver Bearman suffered a heavy crash with only a minute left on the clock, triggering a second red flag and effectively ending FP3 on the spot. Any late attempts to challenge Antonelli’s benchmark evaporated in the dust and debris of Bearman’s incident.

Hamilton's Struggles

For Hamilton, it was a session to forget. The seven-time world champion not only crashed but then tried to drive the damaged car back to the garage, going against Ferrari’s instructions in the process. On a morning when others found confidence, his preparations for qualifying took a serious hit.

Antonelli, by contrast, walks into the rest of the weekend with something far more valuable than just a purple lap: momentum on a day when calm and clarity were in short supply.