Arvid Lindblad caused the first red flag in F1 practice around the sport's newest circuit.
The 22-corner Madring, based around the IFEMA district in the Spanish capital of Madrid, had been predicted in the build-up to cause chaos given the nature of the track.
But it was not until FP2 was 35 minutes old that the maiden stoppage occurred, with Lindblad, who has impressed in his rookie season with Racing Bulls, losing the rear end of his car into the fast Turn 13 left-hander.
Trying to hold the slide, the rear of the car initially hit a TecPro barrier, with the front following suit, leaving his mechanics with a major overnight repair job.
"Yeah, I'm really sorry," said Linblad over the team radio. "I lost it super early."
At the time, he was a superb fourth on the timesheet with a lap of 1:33.890s, just 0.228s behind Kimi Antonelli in his Mercedes.
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