– Williams driver Carlos Sainz had already expected chaotic conditions before the Spanish Grand Prix at the new Madring in Madrid. His fears were quickly confirmed: the Formula 2 free practice had to be interrupted after just a few minutes due to a spectacular fire accident.
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What happened? ART driver Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak lost control of his car in turn 19 and crashed heavily backwards into the track barrier. Apparently, the fuel system of the Formula 2 car was damaged, as shortly afterwards the car was already on fire.
Inthraphuvasak was able to quickly leave his burning car under his own power. The 20-year-old Thai driver was unharmed, but the damage to his car is likely to be significant. Participation in qualifying (from 3 p.m.) therefore seems rather unlikely.
After the accident, the Formula 2 training was interrupted for a longer period. The emergency services first had to extinguish the fire and recover the car, then the damaged track barrier was repaired. The track also had to be cleaned again at the accident site.
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Formula 2 drivers start with little practice time
When it finally continued, there were only four minutes left on the clock, but there was little room for an extension given the tight Formula 1 schedule. The premier class starts its first practice at 1:30 p.m. (here in the live ticker!), so the Formula 2 session was only extended by a few minutes.
This is especially bitter for the Formula 2 drivers: unlike the Formula 3 talents, they had not yet been able to collect test kilometers on the new street circuit before the weekend. Now they are also missing valuable practice time. Meanwhile, the first best time in practice went to the overall leader Campos driver Nikola Tsolov.
Previously, Formula 3 was already on the Madring. After the junior series caused quite a stir with a chaotic test two weeks ago, the first session of the weekend was much less spectacular. Only shortly before the time expired did DAMS driver Nicola Lacorte touch the barrier in turn 9 and cause a red flag.
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