George Russell says Formula 1's new circuit in Madrid "has less margin than Monaco" as the sport races there for the first time at the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver set the pace in first practice at the Madring, a street-circuit style track built around an exhibition centre near the Spanish capital's airport. Russell was 0.286 seconds faster than team-mate Kimi Antonelli in second place.

Russell said: "There's a lot of really fast corners, but the barrier is kind of like coming back onto the track. So, if you are to go wide and hit the wall, you're not hitting it kind of at the same angle as the car is going. The wall is sort of coming in at you."

He singled out Turns Five, Seven and 17, where Lewis Hamilton's team-mate Charles Leclerc went off into the run-off area. Ferrari set the pace on medium tyres early but could not match Mercedes on softs. Leclerc was third, 0.459secs off Russell, ahead of Hamilton, with Max Verstappen fifth and Lando Norris sixth. Arvid Lindblad, Oscar Piastri, Nico Hulkenberg and Liam Lawson completed the top 10.