Kimi Antonelli achieved his eighth career Formula 1 victory by winning the first Madring race as Lando Norris was caught out by the virtual safety car.
Norris led from the front after pulling away in the early stages of the race, but he pitted right after a virtual safety car period, which affected him so far back that he lost the victory.
Pirelli predicted a difference between soft and medium tyres at the start, so it was interesting for second-row starters Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton to pick the soft compound, unlike polesitter Norris and Antonelli alongside him.
Hamilton did take a better launch but ran out of space to attack into Turn 1, after which chaos ensued. Both Antonelli and Verstappen cut Turn 2, but while the Mercedes driver handed the lead back to Norris straight away and did so again in the next sequence of corners, his Red Bull counterpart retained the advantage over the Ferrari.
Verstappen argued that he had to take avoiding action due to Hamilton’s driving, but Red Bull was adamant he should make sure to avoid a penalty, so Verstappen let Antonelli – whom he was now leading – and Hamilton by on lap four.
Seconds later, the seven-time world champion started complaining about braking issues. He started losing pace on lap five, went off the track on lap six, and retired after being repeatedly asked to pit.
On lap 10, Norris led Antonelli by five seconds, Verstappen by 11 seconds, Charles Leclerc by 13 seconds and George Russell by 15 seconds. Liam Lawson was a further 15 seconds, leading the ‘midfield’.
Another brake problem, this time for Lance Stroll, took the Aston Martin out of the race on lap 13 and caused a virtual safety car. Antonelli, Verstappen and Russell pitted – despite the latter starting on hard tyres, like Leclerc and Piastri – but Norris and Leclerc stayed out on mediums and hards respectively.
Race leader Norris was called in right when the VSC period ended. He could have stayed out but pitted anyway and, to compound his fate, had a slow tyre change. The McLaren driver emerged back on track in fifth place – 16 seconds down on Leclerc, 14 seconds away from lead pitter Antonelli.
Unsurprisingly, Kimi caught Charles as early as lap 18, but he did not launch an attack and started dropping back on lap 21. “I didn’t touch the wall, but the steering feels weird,” Antonelli told his engineers. By lap 25, he was over three seconds adrift.
Russell, who had started on hards and switched to mediums, made a second pitstop as early as lap 28 of 57 to go back to the white-walled compound. He went on to take fifth away from Lawson with an around-the-outside move on lap 35, but was not convinced by his strategy. “Why did we pit? I think we could have held Norris off,” the Mercedes racer said.
Meanwhile, Antonelli’s gap to Leclerc consistently hovered around three seconds, but by lap 45, the frontrunners grew closer and closer to one another. Antonelli was now right behind Leclerc and Norris was putting pressure on Verstappen for third, with those four drivers within four seconds.
At that stage, it was extremely clear that Ferrari was delaying Leclerc’s single pitstop in the hope of a safety car – virtual or not – but there was none, and he finally pitted on lap 48. Charles was given soft tyres for a nine-lap dash, but emerged in between the top three and fifth-placed Russell.
The end of the race was a three-way contest for victory between Antonelli, Verstappen and Norris. Despite running very close to one another, none of them was able to make anything resembling a move – until the penultimate lap, when the Red Bull driver cut the Turn 5 chicane after encountering traffic and the reigning champion applied some pressure.
Antonelli eventually pulled away to take his eighth victory of the 2026 championship from his Red Bull and McLaren rivals. Leclerc narrowly secured fourth place from Russell despite the new soft tyres on the Ferrari. Lawson took sixth for his third race back at Red Bull.
Pierre Gasly completed a massive 55-lap stint on hard tyres to hold seventh position for the longest time, hoping for a late safety car of the race, but he eventually had to pit under green flag and ended up P12 under the chequered flag.
Gasly’s Alpine teammate Franco Colapinto finished seventh after starting on mediums and switching to hards under the early VSC.
After a qualifying performance he himself described as “pretty shocking”, Oscar Piastri ended up eighth in a race where he sustained front wing damage straight away due to contact with Russell at the start. The McLaren driver never had his teammate’s pace.
Arvid Lindblad and Nico Hulkenberg scored the remaining available points for Racing Bulls and Audi, ahead of Esteban Ocon for Haas. Those three drivers, like Colapinto, pitted under the VSC – showing this was the optimal strategy.
Among the last seven drivers in the classification, Alexander Albon was the only one to make the most of a cheap pitstop – the others missed out.
Home fans was not pleased by the collision between Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz over P17, which damaged the Aston Martin’s front wing, while the Williams driver received a five-second penalty.
Alonso finished in this exact position, while Sainz was one of four retirements alongside Sergio Perez, Stroll and Hamilton.
So not the most thrilling race at this new track but in terms of the championship, Kimi Antonelli has extended his points lead over his rivals.
Spanish Grand Prix, race results:
1 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:34:23.754
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford +4.351s
3 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes +5.089s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +29.116s
5 George Russell Mercedes +29.829s
6 Liam Lawson Red Bull-Ford +86.746s
7 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes +94.281s
8 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes +95.839s
9 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford +1 lap
10 Nico Hulkenberg Audi +1 lap
11 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari +1 lap
12 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes +1 lap
13 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi +1 lap
14 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls-Ford +1 lap
15 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes +1 lap
16 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari +1 lap
17 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda +2 laps
18 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari +3 laps
Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes DNF
Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari DNF
Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda DNF
Lewis Hamilton Ferrari DNF
Kimi Antonelli has boosted his title ambitions with victory in the Spanish Grand Prix, the Mercedes driver edging out Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and McLaren’s Lando Norris in a race swayed by strategy.
The opening laps saw plenty of clashes up and down the field, with Norris narrowly holding onto the lead from pole position as Antonelli cut two corners during his concerted efforts to pass the Briton.
Antonelli ultimately didn’t need to overtake him on track thanks to a Virtual Safety Car, which played perfectly into Mercedes’ hands but ruined Norris’ chances for victory. A tale of contrasting pit stops unfolded as the Italian gained the net race lead while a slow change dropped Norris behind both Antonelli and Verstappen.
Despite expressing worries with his steering, the 20-year-old inherited control of the race once Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who didn’t box during the VSC, gave up on his hopes for a Safety Car and finally peeled into the pits after 48 laps.
Adding an eighth win to his season tally, Antonelli has extended his lead to 81 points in the Drivers’ Championship as his team mate George Russell settled for P5, and Lewis Hamilton retired early on due to a issue with his brakes.
Liam Lawson was sixth in the second Red Bull ahead of Franco Colapinto, who made it a successful day for Alpine as their sole scorer, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad and Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg.
Haas’ Esteban Ocon just missed out on points in P11 and was followed by Pierre Gasly and Gabriel Bortoleto, while Yuki Tsunoda took P14 in his third weekend competing for Racing Bulls.
Alex Albon was up next as the lone finisher for Williams, leading Ollie Bearman, local favourite Fernando Alonso and Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas.
There were four retirements in total – Carlos Sainz failed to complete his home race, Sergio Perez faced a suspected water system issue, and Lance Stroll joined Hamilton in his brake troubles.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/antonelli-clinches-victory-over-verstappen-and-norris-in-spanish-gp.644ZZfPzRPEaUh2JBHcB9
Kimi Antonelli has shared his belief that Lando Norris “deserved to win” the Spanish Grand Prix after the reigning World Champion was forced to settle for third – a poorly-timed Virtual Safety Car impacting his chances of victory.
Norris had taken the challenges of the brand-new Madring in his stride as he executed a superb lap to pip Antonelli to pole position, and despite the Italian’s best efforts, he couldn’t find a way past in the opening stint.
He cut two corners in his attempted overtakes and gradually settled into second place behind Norris, who built a confident advantage at the front of the field before disaster struck for McLaren’s strategy.
A Virtual Safety Car was deployed as Lance Stroll came to a halt with brake issues, handing Mercedes the opportunity to change Antonelli’s tyres without losing as much time as they would in normal conditions.
But Norris had already passed the pit entry when the race was neutralised, and by the time he eventually entered for his stop, the VSC period had ended, dropping him from the lead to P5.
Although the Briton managed to recover back to the podium, Antonelli didn’t feel able to fully celebrate his win due to Norris’ misfortune, as he explained: “It was a very difficult race, not straightforward at all, especially trying to manage tyres.
“It’s good to win, but it doesn’t feel as good because I think Lando today deserved to win. But overall, you know, we’ll take it. Other than that, it was a very strong race. I think especially on the hard [tyres] at the end we had really good pace, and now we’re going to keep pushing.”
The 20-year-old also held off Max Verstappen to secure his eighth Grand Prix triumph of the season, which opened up his lead in the Drivers’ Championship to a commanding 81 points over team mate George Russell.
With nine rounds to go, it’s looking increasingly likely that Antonelli could be crowned the sport’s youngest-ever World Champion, but he was adamant that the prospect isn’t on his mind.
Asked if he’s able to start thinking about the title, he replied: “That’s exactly what I don’t want to do. I want to keep pushing race by race, you know, keep delivering and keep enjoying all the way, and then trying to do my best every race, and then we’ll see where we end up at the end of the year.”
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/antonelli-insists-spanish-grand-prix-victory-doesnt-feel-as-good-because-norris-deserved-to-win.3xzbDrPVlNml5vNEy24fMo
Max Verstappen finished second in the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid, losing out only to Kimi Antonelli – yet could he have won had Red Bull not instructed him to concede two positions during the race? Team boss Laurent Mekies believes that wasn’t realistic.
Verstappen moved past Antonelli on the opening lap, but by that point he was already doomed to concede that place because of an incident at the start. The Dutchman had battled with Lewis Hamilton for third and cut the corner in the process, emerging back on track ahead of the Ferrari driver.
Hamilton then called on the radio to his team – and effectively race control, which also has access to the feed – to point out that Verstappen needed to give the position back. But by that point, the Red Bull driver was already ahead of Antonelli too.
He had overtaken the Italian during the opening lap, after the Mercedes driver himself had experienced an eventful start to the race, cutting corners and needing to give a position back to Lando Norris. That meant that if Verstappen agreed to let Hamilton through, he would also have to concede a position to Antonelli, who was now between them.
When the call from Gianpiero Lambiase came, Verstappen clearly wasn’t in agreement, arguing that Hamilton had pushed him off the track.
“What the f*** are you guys talking about?” he said to the team. “He would’ve shunted it. Like, what are you guys talking about? If I just stay on the track, I am out of the race.”
Verstappen nevertheless followed the instruction on lap four, allowing both Antonelli and Hamilton back through.
As Mekies explained, by that point Red Bull had already analysed the incident and decided it wasn’t worth risking a penalty, believing it was better to take the immediate hit and allow Verstappen to fight back.
“Look, it’s always going to be a painful and a difficult decision, but the guys on the pit wall had a very, very good look at it and did the analysis fast, because we had to make decisions fast,” Mekies told F1 TV.
“And of course we were not expecting the ‘thank you’ email at that moment from Max in the car, but we felt it was better to take the pain at that moment and to fight back after, which Max has done exceptionally well as always, rather than wait and risk bigger penalties that could have been more costly later on.”
Crucially, Red Bull was not acting on an instruction from race control. Had Verstappen stayed ahead, the incident would instead have been left for the stewards to investigate, with Mekies saying the potential sanction could have been five or 10 seconds.
“The decision of the stewards is never to give back positions,” he explained. “In that case we would have simply been penalised, either five seconds or 10 seconds – it’s at their discretion.
“So that’s what would have happened and, of course, if you can imagine race scenarios with safety car or other circumstances, it can cost you a lot more than the position or two.
“So luckily Max gave away the positions before Lewis retired and ultimately continued to fight the race from that point. And of course it is frustrating, but in fairness I think P2 was the absolute best we could have achieved today.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/red-bull-defends-decision-to-force-max-verstappen-to-give-back-two-positions/10855489/
Lewis Hamilton believes that Ferrari “had the car to fight for a win” in the Spanish Grand Prix, after the seven-time World Champion was an early retirement with brake problems.
The Briton started fourth for Sunday’s 57-lap race at Formula 1’s newest venue, the Madring, and made a strong start on the soft Pirelli tyre.
Hamilton initially moved ahead of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull on the run to Turn 1 and briefly looked to overtake front row starters Lando Norris and Kimi Antonelli before backing out.
Having been handed third-place back after Verstappen cut the first corner, Hamilton started to encounter braking issues in the opening laps and reported over the radio that he glanced the wall.
Hamilton continued to lose positions over the following laps and ran deep into the Turn 20 run-off area, rejoining the circuit before pulling into the pits and retiring after just seven laps.
“It was already basically before that,” Hamilton told Sky F1 when asked if the contact with the wall had caused the braking issue.
“Braking for Turn 5 I hit the brake, the car started stopping and then the pedal took a step and all of a sudden the car didn’t de-accelerate as fast a normal.
“I ended up carrying a lot of speed in and just brushed the barrier. After that the pedal came back and then a few corners later, the pedal went long. I don’t really know where that’s come from.”
Hamilton had challenged for pole position on Saturday, while in Sunday’s race team mate Charles Leclerc led the most laps as Ferrari tried to keep the Monegasque driver out in the hope of a late Safety Car before finishing fourth.
“We’ve had a pretty decent car, a good car this weekend and I think we will continue to try and improve it and I think we have better results coming in the future,” said Hamilton.
He added: “I think the team’s done an amazing job, so I’m sad for them today that they couldn’t get max points. I think we had the car to fight for a win today, and unfortunately it just didn’t work out.”
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/had-the-car-to-fight-for-a-win-hamilton-explains-brake-issues-that-caused-spanish-gp-retirement.3NzWcY1clsL8KQPyc9ONqm