George Russell draws first blood in Madrid as drivers frustrated by traffic chaos

George Russell has topped the opening practice session of the Spanish Grand Prix, as F1 enjoyed its debut event at the Madring.

The long-awaited debut of the new track in Spain saw the drivers ease into proceedings in a bid to avoid the barriers, which were positioned perilously close around the circuit.

Having started the session with the harder compounds, the field soon switched to the soft compound, with Russell boosting himself to the head of the timesheet with a 1:34.077.

He ended up almost three-tenths ahead of team-mate Kimi Antonelli, who enters the weekend looking to extend his championship.

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Despite fears that the session could be heavily disrupted by red flags due to the challenge of the circuit, there were no stoppages during the outing.

A yellow flag was deployed late in the session - however it was only momentary.

With Mercedes sealing first and second to cap off a strong start to the weekend, Ferrari occupied third and fourth.

Charles Leclerc led Lewis Hamilton on this occasion, as Ferrari look to pick itself up from a difficult home event in Monza last weekend.

Max Verstappen was fifth for Red Bull, while reigning champion Lando Norris was sixth - albeit a second down on the benchmark.

Arvid Lindblad can take confidence from a positive opener to the weekend with a run to seventh, as he outpaced the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri.

Nico Hulkenberg stuck his Audi into ninth place as he lapped just 0.010s faster than Liam Lawson, who rounded out the top 10.

One problem that proved to be prevalent throughout the session was traffic, as multiple drivers took issue with being held up around the lap.

It's a topic that will no doubt be discussed amongst the drivers ahead of qualifying on Saturday.