The first day at Madring made the picture pretty clear: one red flag in Formula One practice, four in Formula 2 and one car in flames. The capital’s new circuit immediately put the drivers under pressure, not just in Formula One but in the junior categories too. Beyond the huge banked section, with its extraordinary change in elevation, the main difficulties are in the narrower parts of the track. As El Mundo noted, the crowds were out in force, with the grandstands beginning to fill and the weekend taking on the feel of a celebration, helped by the arrival of VIPs along the streets of the small city built inside IFEMA. More than a great spectacle, though, the spectators saw a lot of crashes.
Formula One practice was interrupted just once, compared with four red flags in Formula 2, and in F1 it was rookie Lindblad who ended up in the barriers at Madring. The Racing Bulls driver went straight on into the protection at the entry to Turn 13, just after La Monumental, prompting plenty of discussion in the paddock. Shortly before that, Thailand’s Inthraphuvasak had set his Formula 2 car on fire after hitting the wall in practice, just as George Russell was speaking to a group of journalists in the Mercedes motorhome: “This circuit is very demanding mentally,” the Briton said, struck by the violence of the Thai driver’s crash. “There is less margin than at Monaco because of the speed. At Monaco the walls are closer, but you’re going slower. If you make a mistake, you don’t immediately end up in the barriers: you have time to recover the car. Here the margin is smaller,” admitted the championship runner-up. There was another car in the wall during Saturday’s sessions, Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari, although he still managed to take part in qualifying, where there were no mistakes, and secure fourth on the grid.
If all the drivers had expressed their curiosity and uncertainty on Thursday, facing a circuit still largely unknown, by Friday only Alonso and George Russell had stopped to speak to the media. “It’s always exciting when you come to a circuit for the first time. So many things change between the simulator and reality, especially the feeling of danger: in the simulator you can run wide, press a button and start the lap again, whereas here the walls are close,” Alonso said, turning once again to La Monumental. “The car bounces a little when you compress the suspension in the middle of a corner and there are some bumps, especially under braking for Turn 5.” Fortunately, Saturday’s qualifying went smoothly, with Lando Norris taking pole and edging Kimi Antonelli by just 11 thousandths, followed by Verstappen and the Ferraris of Hamilton and Leclerc. It was the 19th pole of the British driver’s career, his third this year and his 33rd front-row start. One curiosity: Madring is the 16th circuit on which Norris has taken pole. But perhaps the best news for the drivers and organisers was that nobody went into the wall.