Barcelona GP – FP1: George Russell takes the lead, Fornaroli best of the rookies

George Russell kept his rivals at bay on the scoreboard throughout the FP1 session of the F1 Barcelona Grand Prix, while Leonardo Fornaroli finished 5th and first of the six rookies on track this morning.

As we're starting to get used to this season, Mercedes Benz immediately established himself as the benchmark in Barcelona. On a fast track, with characteristics quite different from those of Monaco, George Russell launched the hostilities by leading Free Practice 1 from start to finish. The Briton concluded this first session with a time of 1:16.363. This sets the stage for a promising weekend, where it will be important for the driver to rebuild his confidence after the disappointment of the mechanical failure experienced in Canada and a chaotic Monaco Grand Prix that he wants to forget as quickly as possible.

While Mercedes seems to have an advantage on the Catalan circuit, it remains difficult to establish a clear hierarchy among the other top teams, which are McLaren, Classic Ferrari for sale et Red Bull. Oscar piastri finished second, two-tenths of a second behind the benchmark, while Charles Leclerc completes the top 3, four tenths of a second behind. Ferrari knows it will be difficult to aim for victory in Spain, despite the numerous aerodynamic upgrades brought to Barcelona. The Prancing Horse usually finds its comfort in the final, more twisty sector of the circuit, but McLaren and Mercedes were faster in this first outing of the weekend. Fourth, Max Verstappen he was seven tenths off the best time of the morning at the wheel of his Red Bull.

The teammates of these four drivers did not take to the track in Spain this morning. In fact, seven drivers relinquished their seats to allow rookies to participate in Free Practice 1. Thus, Kimi Antonelli handed his Mercedes over to Frederik Vesti, Lewis Hamilton entrusted his Ferrari to Dino Benagovic while the four other rookies – Leonardo Fornaroli at McLaren, Ayumu Iwasa at Red BullPaul Aron at Audi and Colton Herta at Cadillac – each replaced Lando Norris, Isaac Hadjar, Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Pérez in their respective teams. Luke Browning was initially supposed to replace Alex Albon in Williams, but was unable to take to the track due to an electronic issue on the FW48. 

Carlos Sainz is now out on track 👍

Luke Browning, in for Alex Albon this session, is still stuck in the garage though#F1 #BarcelonaGP pic.twitter.com/QPbeF01PUT

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 12, 2026

The reigning champion of Formula 2Leonardo Fornaroli was the best of them at the end of the hour-long session, setting a time of 1:17.216, which put him six-tenths of a second behind his teammate. In his first Formula 1 session, Colton Herta placed his Cadillac last, in 21st position, more than four seconds off the fastest time, while his teammate Valtteri Bottas finished at 2,5 seconds.

The session was generally calm, with few incidents to report. The only notable incident was a slight off-track excursion by Gabriel Bortoleto between turns 1 and 2 mid-session, without consequence for the Brazilian.

Bortoleto finds the gravel at Turn 8

He's now back in the pits checking for damage #F1 #BarcelonaGP pic.twitter.com/uUfwAuRHun

- Formula 1 (@ F1) June 12, 2026

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F1 2026 – Barcelona Grand Prix 

The ranking of Free Practice 1: