Antonelli fastest in crash-hit Madrid practice

Hamilton's crash led to a red flag stoppage that lasted 54 minutes and rendered an extra quarter of an hour added, as the drivers' continued to explore the limits of the new high-risk Madring circuit, dubbed a 'car-killer' in many quarters.

In the end, Antonelli's pure talent took him clear again with Leclerc second ahead of Oscar Piastri and world champion Lando Norris with four-time champion Max Verstappen taking fifth for Red Bull in the final minutes.

George Russell was sixth in the second Mercedes, seven-tenths off his team-mate's pace, ahead of Liam Lawson in the second Red Bull, Nico Hulkenberg of Audi, Hamilton and Gabriel Bortoleto in the second Audi.

After a crash-free opening hour on Friday, the second produced one crash – for Racing Bulls' Arvid Lindblad, who returned to take 14th place, and the third delivered two as Oliver Bearman also hit the barriers in his Haas in the final minute.

After a slow start, Ferrari had joined the fray on softs and clocked immediate fastest laps before a hasty Hamilton slammed into the barriers. The 41-year-old Briton locked up at the final corner after 24 minutes, breaking his front wing which was stuck under the car as he reversed successfully and began to return to the pits.

The session was red-flagged. Race engineer Carlo Santi realised and asked him to "stop in the safest place possible" but Hamilton was not keen to obey. He replied, saying "if I can make it back, I will.

If not, I will do it safely". front puncture and, he finally pulled up, knowing he had ignored orders, driven in an unsafe condition and probably faced a penalty. It was, he knew, a bad incident for him.

With 15 minutes remaining, Race Control stopped the timer to allow a final quarter of an hour action once repairs were completed.

This was a rare occurrence as F1 does not usually allow for additional time, except for qualifying sessions, but it guaranteed a frantic finale for a sell-out crowd basking in the sun with the young Italian jousting with Leclerc.

Hamilton urges Ferrari to 'work harder'A frustrated Lewis Hamilton urged Ferrari to "work harder" after seeing his bid for a first pole position in three years slip away by just 0.189 seconds in Saturday's tense qualifying session for the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix.

The seven-time world champion had set the pace after the first flying runs in the decisive Q3 session, but just when a record-increasing 105th pole appeared to be possible he was unable to resist his Mercedes-powered rivals. "The only thing to say is nothing," he smiled.

"Qualifying was pretty decent and generally it has been feeling good. It takes everything for us to compete with the two powerhouse motors ahead of us! "They seem to be able to turn the engine up or something when we get to qualifying, which we just cannot match so the only answer is that we have got to work harder.

""We had no real issues and it was good execution from the team," he said. "I think they did a really good job, but I just didn’t have the pace.”Looking ahead to Sunday's race, he said: "I have no idea (of what to expect).

I haven't seen the other races, but I am to overtake. "It's a pretty cool track to drive with some karting-esque elements, with the kerbs, which is cool, and the really cool banking. I think they have done a really great job.

"