George Russell described the new Madring circuit as "very high risk" after his Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli topped a second practice session marred by a crash from Arvid Lindblad.

Several drivers had close calls with the wall on the first day of running at the Spanish Grand Prix's new location in the capital, but 19-year-old Lindblad was involved in the only major incident.

He lost control going into Turn 13 during practice two, spinning into the barrier at high speed and breaking his front wing, as well as doing damage to his front and rear suspension.

Lindblad still finished fourth fastest in FP2, with driver's championship frontrunner Antonelli leading the way ahead of Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.

Antonelli's team-mate Russell was fifth-fastest, having topped the first session ahead of Antonelli, Leclerc, Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

"Without doubt, it is a circuit of very high risk and probably all the drivers were giving that bit of margin today. Let's see tomorrow," Russell said of the new track, where he believes overtaking will prove difficult.

"In Monaco, the walls are closer, but because you're going far slower, if you make a mistake, you're not into the wall as quickly, and you can recover it sometimes, a small lock-up.

"There's a lot of really fast corners, but the barrier is kind of coming back on to the track. So, if you are to go wide and hit the wall, you're not hitting it at the same angle as the car is going. The wall is sort of coming in at you. 

"Another element of the challenge here, which probably won't cause major crashes, but I think there'll be a lot of lock-ups. You've got three corners where you're turning and braking, and if you lock up, the wall is right in front of you."

FP2 is complete 

Kimi Antonelli led the way from Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton #F1 #SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/YB6eIQbpGw

— Formula 1 (@F1) September 11, 2026

Lerclec, though, is relishing the first race at another street circuit, though he knows the layout will give Saturday's qualifying session additional importance.

"The track is very exciting, very challenging," he said. "It's a street track as well, and these are the tracks I normally quite enjoy. This is no exception to that.

"Qualifying is for sure going to be the key moment of the weekend, because in P2 it was extremely difficult or impossible to overtake, so most of the performance this weekend will be based on qualifying."

The Madring will be the seventh Spanish circuit to host a Formula One race, after Pedralbes, Jarama, Montjuic Park, Jerez de la Frontera, Barcelona and Valenci.

Only the United States (12) has had more different circuits in the history of the sport (France has also had seven). 

It will be the 79th different F1 circuit, and the first to debut since Las Vegas in 2023.

The pole position for the first Grand Prix at every new circuit in the last decade was achieved by current Ferrari drivers (Hamilton at Mugello, Portimao, Lusail and Jeddah during his time with Mercedes, and Leclerc in Miami and Las Vegas with the Scuderia).