Pacesetter Russell says Madrid 'has less margin than Monaco'

Mercedes driver George Russell says the new Madrid circuit is "very high risk" after British rookie Arvid Lindblad crashed in Friday practice at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Racing Bulls' Lindblad was the only driver to have an accident, although several drivers brushed the wall while learning the new Madring circuit.

The 19-year-old lost control into Turn 13, and slid sideways into the wall, damaging his front and rear suspension and breaking his front wing.

Despite that, Lindblad ended the session an impressive fourth fastest, just 0.228 seconds behind pace-setter Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were second and third fastest, just over 0.1secs behind Antonelli.

Russell was fifth fastest ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen and McLaren's Oscar Piastri. World champion Lando Norris did not set a time in his McLaren because of a gearbox problem.

Russell said: "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."

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He said: "It's not an easy track, so we're all pushing to find the limits. It's new for all of us and I just made a bit of mistake and overdid it a little bit in Turn 13.

"A bit of a shame, I apologised to the mechanics and team because it's a bit of extra work for them.

"But looking at the big picture, it's been a good day. We're very fast, I was running P4 on merit. I was only 0.2secs from P1 which is really strong."

Russell said the drivers had experienced significant problems with tyre degradation on the new track surface.

"The grip is very high but you are sliding quite aggressively," Russell said. "With the (tyre) deg we had in P1, a six-stop race would be the fastest way. P2 was slightly better. I'm sure the race will be better again but that is the biggest question mark."

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