F1 Spanish GP: Kimi Antonelli leads tricky second practice as Arvid Lindblad crashes

Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli topped second practice at Formula 1's Spanish Grand Prix, pipping Ferrari's Charles Leclerc on Friday afternoon at a hot and challenging Madring circuit.

Antonelli set the fastest lap around the halfway mark in the second one-hour session as drivers and teams gradually kept chipping away at their set-ups on the extremely difficult circuit in Madrid.

The 5.4km track, a hybrid of street portions and a purpose-built loop featuring several high-speed corners, proved tricky to tame from the outset. And with runoff virtually non-existent, teams made a conservative start to the weekend in first practice, sacrificing optimal lap time as drivers settled into a rhythm and built up muscle memory.

Some of those training wheels started to come off in FP2, although lap times didn't take as much of a tumble as first thought, despite the improving grip levels.