Ferrari’s final practice session at the Spanish Grand Prix delivered both encouraging pace and a costly setback, as Lewis Hamilton crashed at Turn 22 while Charles Leclerc remained firmly in the fight near the front. Round 14 of the Formula 1 season had already shown considerable promise for the Maranello team on Friday, but the SF-26 still needed another step in its set-up to extract its full potential and challenge Mercedes as strongly as possible.
The picture heading into FP3 was therefore positive but far from settled. Ferrari had shown that the SF-26 could be competitive, while the team’s Friday data in Madrid suggested that further gains could still be found through the car’s set-up before qualifying.
Ferrari changes tyre preparation in Madrid FP3
Around 10 minutes passed before the two Ferraris left the pit lane and began their first runs. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton both started on the red-walled Pirelli soft tyres, but the tyre preparation procedure appeared different from the previous session. The drivers used less speed and paid greater attention to the rear axle, with the aim of putting the correct amount of energy into the tyres and optimising grip.
One important technical factor was the track temperature, which was lower than it had been during FP2 on Friday. On the first push laps, the behaviour of both SF-26s was almost ideal. The remaining question was whether that balance would remain as good once Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton began pushing closer to the limit.
Lewis Hamilton initially went around a tenth and a half quicker than Charles Leclerc. Both drivers then completed two cool-down laps while receiving the usual feedback and recommendations about the car’s handling.
Lewis Hamilton adjusts the SF-26 before Turn 22 crash
Lewis Hamilton was told he needed to improve his exit from Turn 6, where he was losing time compared with the sister Ferrari. For Charles Leclerc, race engineer Bryan Bozzi suggested adding one point of brake balance to manage the load transfer through Turn 7 more effectively. Braking behaviour is particularly significant around this layout, where the Madrid circuit places specific demands on braking and energy recovery.
As Charles Leclerc prepared for another push lap, Lewis Hamilton passed through the pit lane for a front-wing adjustment. Ferrari added two points of front-wing load in an attempt to improve the overall balance of the SF-26.
Charles Leclerc then began exploring the limits more aggressively, running extremely close to the walls. Building confidence is particularly important on a circuit of this nature, and the Monegasque lowered his lap time sufficiently to move ahead of Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes.
Lewis Hamilton also began another flying lap, but it ended badly. Approaching the end of the lap, the seven-time Formula 1 world champion locked the front axle, flat-spotted the tyres and went straight into the barriers at Turn 22.
Lewis Hamilton ordered to stop after damaging Ferrari
Lewis Hamilton was able to get moving again because the impact had not been particularly violent. However, the front wing had become trapped underneath the front of the car. Lewis Hamilton wanted to return to the pits, but the Ferrari pit wall repeatedly instructed him to stop. The instruction followed an FIA directive designed to prevent damaged cars from scattering debris around the circuit.
That brought Lewis Hamilton’s FP3 to a disappointing early conclusion. The incident also reinforced the warnings surrounding the challenging nature of the new venue, where drivers had already highlighted the risk of crashes and red flags.
With the session stopped, every car returned to the garage while the circuit was cleared and the barriers were repaired. During the interruption, Charles Leclerc studied the telemetry with his engineers and requested a change to the amount of front-end load on the SF-26.
It took around 15 minutes before the session could resume, leaving the teams with very little time to complete their final qualifying simulations.
Charles Leclerc finds the pace to challenge Kimi Antonelli
When the green light returned, Charles Leclerc immediately headed back onto the circuit with a fresh set of soft tyres. Ferrari once again used a targeted warm-up procedure, and the requirement for Charles Leclerc was clear: he could not afford to make a mistake with so little running time remaining.
At the final corner, race mode was engaged and Charles Leclerc began his flying lap. It was an excellent attempt without requiring excessive risk, and the Ferrari driver went three tenths quicker than Kimi Antonelli. Charles Leclerc then completed another lap to cool the tyres before preparing for a further push.
Charles Leclerc did not improve on the following attempt, although he made progress through Turns 18 and 19, two corners where he had previously not felt completely comfortable. Bryan Bozzi also recommended reducing the brake balance by one point for Turn 20 to keep any potential micro-locking under control.
Another tyre-cooling lap followed before one final attempt. By that stage, however, Kimi Antonelli had improved and moved to the top of the timesheets. The margins confirmed how close the leading teams were becoming as Ferrari continued its search for the final qualifying gains, an area Charles Leclerc had already identified as particularly important for the Madrid Grand Prix weekend.
Ferrari has the pace to believe in a front-row fight
Charles Leclerc was just preparing to begin his final push lap when Oliver Bearman crashed, triggering another red flag and bringing FP3 to an end.
Ferrari nevertheless showed encouraging pace and an SF-26 balance that appeared better than before. The leading teams remain separated by extremely small margins, however, setting up a qualifying battle that could be decided by thousandths of a second.
The key question is now whether Ferrari can convert that potential into a genuine challenge at the front of the grid. Despite Lewis Hamilton’s mistake and the loss of valuable running, Charles Leclerc’s performance suggested that the pace required to fight for the front row is there. Qualifying will reveal whether the Maranello team can go one step further and challenge for pole position.
Leave a Reply