The Aporia · Antonelli still fastest in Madrid ahead of qualifying for F1's Spanish GP as Hamilton crashes

Antonelli still fastest in Madrid ahead of qualifying for F1's Spanish GP as Hamilton crashes

Read the original at Toronto Star ↗

Cite

APA MLA Chicago

Azzoni, T. (2026, September 12). Antonelli still fastest in Madrid ahead of qualifying for F1's Spanish GP as Hamilton crashes. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/sports/auto-racing/antonelli-still-fastest-in-madrid-ahead-of-qualifying-for-f1-s-spanish-gp-as-hamilton-crashes/article_15a8fd71-bc24-5b55-aecf-b6571e1128ba.html

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Quick Summary

Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes maintained his top position at the inaugural Madrid Grand Prix practice session, setting the fastest time ahead of qualifying. Lewis Hamilton crashed during the session, leading to a red flag, while other incidents included Alexander Albon and Carlos Sainz narrowly avoiding collisions. The track's layout offers few overtaking opportunities, making Saturday’s qualifying crucial for Sunday’s race in this newly added circuit on the F1 calendar.

Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-12, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

In Madrid on Saturday, Kimi Antonelli maintained his position as the fastest driver at the new Madring track during final practice sessions for the inaugural Spanish Grand Prix. He set a time of 1 minute, 32.797 seconds, positioning himself to challenge in Sunday’s race. Fellow Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton crashed during the session, causing one of two red flags; the other was due to Haas' Oliver Bearman crashing. Despite several incidents, Antonelli, who recently won an Italian Grand Prix comeback victory, remained ahead of rivals like Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen, and George Russell. With few overtaking opportunities on this urban circuit, qualifying Saturday is likely crucial for Sunday's race in Madrid after a 40-year absence from Formula One racing in Spain.

Written for “Formula One Spanish GP” on 2026-10-28, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 5% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.

F1 Spanish GP LIVE: Piastri laments ‘shocking’ quali lap; Norris on front row different event · 85%

The Sydney Morning Herald

⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 10 📰 publisher trust 61

“Article A describes the practice session crashes and setup for qualifying, while Article B covers the results of the qualifying session and pre-race interviews.”

How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

1 of 21 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

not political

takes no side on a contested political question

Publisher signals

64/100

Toronto Star's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

Sports

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Analyzed 2026-09-12 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability

Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Toronto Star · 9935 article(s) · 27 correction(s) detected

Running correction rate · 27 correction(s)

2026-10-26

Correction

2026-10-24

Correction

2026-10-22

News Clarification for Oct. 22

2026-10-21

No. 6 Hoosiers try to for rare rebound at Michigan after turning the page on 22-game winning streak

2026-10-19

Driver’s License Suspensions for Court Debt Draw Scrutiny

2026-10-16

Amputations and cancer treatment delays: Lawmakers hear testimony on Mississippi prison healthcare

2026-10-16

UPDATE: Golconda Gold Releases Q3 2026 Production Update at Galaxy

2026-10-08

News Clarification for Oct. 8

2026-10-07

Correction

2026-10-05

Entertainment Correction for Oct. 5

2026-10-03

Tennessee's prisons chief is resigning after failed execution of Christa Pike

2026-09-28

Organizations call for Action to End the Deaths of Indigenous People in Custody

2026-09-27

Police memorial recognizes six officers killed in the line of duty in 2026

2026-09-27

UPDATE: WSP to host Power & Energy-focused investor event virtually only

2026-09-26

News Clarification for Sept. 27

2026-09-26

Former federal public servant seeks better pensions for injured workers

2026-09-25

News Corrections for Sept. 25

2026-09-25

She has not been charged. But the Project South allegations have branded her with a 'scarlet letter'

2026-09-24

Correction

2026-09-23

MULTIMEDIA UPDATE: Smith+Nephew launches the new EVOS™ PELVIC Plating System at the 2026 Orthopedic Trauma Association (OTA) Annual Meeting, expanding the EVOS Plating Platform for pelvic and acetabular fracture management

2026-09-22

Costa Rican man complained of lack of care for diabetes before his death in ICE custody, family says

2026-09-22

Judges' grilling of accused men leads to sex assault and dangerous driving cases being overturned

2026-09-20

Jura Energy Corporation Provides Clarification Regarding Media Reports Concerning Its Petroleum Rights in Pakistan

2026-09-19

New details emerge about Toronto's guns-for-hire and the 'crash-out mission" that sparked the Project South investigation

2026-09-17

UPDATE: Osisko Critical Minerals Corporation Announces C$100 Million Private Placement of Special Warrants

2026-09-17

Alabama set to execute man for pawn shop killings months after his nitrogen gas execution blocked

2026-09-04

Orca Corrects Q3 Quarterly Dividend Announcement

Who wrote this

Tales Azzoni

11 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction

🔮 A win for Barcelona would’ve given the Catalan club a nine-point gap to Madrid, and allowed it to become the first team to win its opening 10 La Liga matches.

2026-10-26 · assertive framing · Kylian Mbappé says 'team victory' against Barcelona sends 'good message' about Real Madrid

🔮 Madrid’s Vinícius will serve the first of a four-game suspension later Sunday for pulling the hair of a Villarreal player and aggressively confronting the referee in the previous round.

2026-10-18 · assertive framing · First Bundesliga loss for Freiburg, Monaco no longer unbeaten in France and Madrid without Vinícius

🔮 It wasn’t the result we wanted, we could have equalized but we didn’t and now we look forward to the next matches.”

2026-09-22 · assertive framing · Manchester City salvages 2-2 draw at Bayern Munich in its return to the Women's Champions League

🔮 Barcelona’s defense will include hosting Arsenal in a rematch of the 2025 final won by the London club.

2026-09-21 · assertive framing · Women's Champions League returns: Manchester City returns and Barcelona defends title

🔮 “We could skip the news conference, because the story of the match is right here (on the photos),” Mourinho said.

2026-09-20 · assertive framing · Mourinho blasts referee and VAR after Real Madrid’s 2-1 loss at Atletico

🔮 After Barcelona’s biggest win of the season, Raphinha said he and his teammates are hungry for goals and will keep pushing for more.

2026-09-17 · assertive framing · Raphinha is leading high-scoring Barcelona, says players are hungry for goals

🔮 Rayo Vallecano triumphs in Butarque again Rayo Vallecano beat Espanyol 2-1 with first-half goals by Álvaro García and Adria Pedrosa in what may have been its last match before returning home to Vallecas Stadium.

2026-09-15 · assertive framing · Real Madrid pulls off late La Liga win after squandering 2-goal lead at Elche. Mbappé scores again

🔮 MADRID (AP) — Changes are expected to the new Madring track next year after its lackluster debut at the Spanish Grand Prix this weekend.

2026-09-14 · assertive framing · Layout changes expected next year at new F1 track in Madrid to make racing more exciting

🔮 There were a few other incidents in the final practice session, with Alexander Albon brushing the wall and his Williams teammate Carlos Sainz just barely avoiding hitting the barrier after not being able to turn on a corner.

2026-09-12 · assertive framing · Antonelli still fastest in Madrid ahead of qualifying for F1's Spanish GP as Hamilton crashes

Also by Tales Azzoni

Kylian Mbappé says 'team victory' against Barcelona sends 'good message' about Real Madrid

2026-10-26 · Toronto Star

First Bundesliga loss for Freiburg, Monaco no longer unbeaten in France and Madrid without Vinícius

2026-10-18 · Toronto Star

Manchester City salvages 2-2 draw at Bayern Munich in its return to the Women's Champions League

2026-09-22 · Toronto Star

Women's Champions League returns: Manchester City returns and Barcelona defends title

2026-09-21 · Toronto Star

Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

All 11 articles by Tales Azzoni →

Topics

Ferrari MADRID Mercedes Spain Spanish

Subjects

Hamilton GPE · 5× Antonelli PERSON · 4× Ferrari ORG · 3× MADRID GPE · 3× Mercedes PERSON · 2× Spain GPE · 2× Spanish NORP · 2× Haas ORG · 1× Kimi Antonelli PERSON · 1× Lewis Hamilton PERSON · 1×

Narrative

Hamilton’s crash prompts red flag Hamilton went straight on the final corner after locking up and crashed less than half-an-hour into the one-hour practice session, forcing the first red flag and a long delay as workers tried to restore the safety barriers.

framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-12

2026-09-12 · Toronto Star

Antonelli still fastest in Madrid ahead of qualifying for F1's Spanish GP as Hamilton crashes · assertive framing

Claims (21 extracted, 1 hedged)

MADRID (AP) — Kimi Antonelli stayed on top at the new Madring track on Saturday, setting the fastest time in practice and establishing himself as the driver to beat ahead of the decisive qualifying session for the inaugural Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid. asserted

Antonelli → stay → Madrid

The final practice session was marked by two red flags following crashes by Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Haas’ Oliver Bearman. asserted

session → mark → Hamilton

Qualifying later Saturday was likely to be crucial ahead of Sunday’s race, as the hybrid urban circuit debuting in F1 ‘s return to the Spanish capital area after more than four decades yielded few overtaking opportunities. asserted

circuit → debut → opportunities

Antonelli, coming off an epic comeback win in front of his home fans in the Italian GP, set a time of 1 minute, 32.797 seconds in his Mercedes. asserted

Antonelli → come → Mercedes

The McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris ended third and fourth, respectively. asserted

McLarens → end → Piastri

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen came next, ahead of Antonelli’s Mercedes teammate George Russell, who had been fastest in the first practice session. asserted

who → come → session

The 20-year-old Antonelli, who leads Russell by 66 points in the drivers’ standings, was quickest in the second session. asserted

who → lead → session

There were a few other incidents in the final practice session, with Alexander Albon brushing the wall and his Williams teammate Carlos Sainz just barely avoiding hitting the barrier after not being able to turn on a corner. asserted

Sainz → be → corner

workers → prompt → barriers

Hamilton, who has been at odds with Ferrari recently, initially questioned the team’s request for him to stop the damaged car instead of returning to the garage after he reversed back into the track. asserted

he → question → track

His front wing was broken and got tangled underneath the right-front tire. asserted

wing → break → tire

“Cars’ going ... asserted

Cars → go → ?

I can make it back,” Hamilton said in one of the radio exchanges apparently trying to convince the team that he could return to the pitlane with the damaged car. uncertain

he → make → car

He eventually parked in a safe area by the track and lost the rest of the session. asserted

He → park → session

The practice ended in another red flag because of a hard crash by Bearman, who apparently lost control after clipping the wall. asserted

who → end → wall

The 5.4-kilometer (3.3-mile) Madring track, the newest circuit to join the F1 calendar since Las Vegas debuted in 2023, has been giving drivers little margin for error. asserted

Vegas → join → error

The Spanish GP is returning to the Madrid region for the first time in 45 years. asserted

GP → return → years

It took place at the Jarama circuit in the capital’s outskirts in 1981. asserted

It → take → 1981

The Jerez de la Frontera track in southern Spain hosted races from 1986-90, and in 1994 and 1997. asserted

track → host → 1994

Barcelona has been hosting races in Spain the past few years. asserted

Barcelona → host → Spain

Madring signed a contract with F1 through 2035. asserted

Madring → sign → 2035