Kimi Antonelli tops incident-packed Madrid FP3 as Lewis Hamilton crashes

The third practice session (FP3) at the Madrid Grand Prix was heavily impacted by disruptions, featuring three red flags, a curfew breach, and technical issues. Prior to the session, Aston Martin violated the overnight curfew while addressing a battery problem on Lance Stroll's car, leaving him facing a grid penalty. Meanwhile, Racing Bulls worked to assemble a new chassis for Arvid Lindblad following his FP2 crash. Early track action saw Carlos Sainz clip the Turn 7 barriers with his front wing, while Stroll locked up into the runoff area.

The first red flag was triggered when Lewis Hamilton crashed his Ferrari into the final-corner barrier, tearing off his front wing and puncturing a tyre. Despite instructions from race control to stop the car, Hamilton informed his team over the radio and continued driving the damaged vehicle back to the pits. Shortly after action resumed, Alex Albon brought out the second red flag by hitting the wall in his Williams, snapping a rear axle. The resulting stoppage cut into running time and affected Max Verstappen, whose Red Bull remained inside the garage throughout the delay.

A third and final red flag halted the session permanently in its closing minutes. Lando Norris slid wide in the final sector and made contact with Pierre Gasly, shortly before Oliver Bearman lost control between Turns 10 and 11, spinning heavily into the barriers and launching a tyre onto the roof of his Haas car. Bearman climbed out unhurt, but the session was not restarted. Kimi Antonelli finished atop the timesheets with a lap of 1:32.797s, ahead of Charles Leclerc in second place by a tenth of a second.