F1 Spanish GP: Kimi Antonelli wins again as VSC costs Lando Norris

Kimi Antonelli prevailed in the Spanish Grand Prix, Formula 1’s first race at the Madring, as polesitter Lando Norris’ race was derailed by strategy.

Norris comfortably pulled away in the early stages of the race, but he pitted right after a virtual safety car intervention, which pegged him so far back that he lost the victory.

Scruffy start as frontrunners cut corners

Pirelli predicted a 2.31m 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 red-walled compound, unlike polesitter Norris and Antonelli alongside him.

Hamilton did take a better launch but ran out of space to launch an attack into Turn 1, after which (mild) 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 staunchly argued that he’d had to take evasive action due to Hamilton’s unruly 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 11s, Charles Leclerc by 13s and George Russell by 15s; Liam Lawson was a further 15 seconds in arrears, leading the ‘midfield’.

Strategic blunder by McLaren and Norris

Another brake problem, this time for Lance Stroll, took the Canadian out of the race on lap 13 and caused a virtual safety car intervention. 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 stop. The McLaren driver emerged back on track in fifth place – 16 seconds down on Leclerc, 14 seconds away from lead pitter Antonelli.

Unsurprisingly, the Italian caught Leclerc as early as lap 18, but he didn’t 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 wasn’t convinced by his strategy. “Why did we pit? I think we could have held Norris off,” the Mercedes racer said.

Lance Stroll brought out the virtual safety car

Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images

Meanwhile, Antonelli’s deficit 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.

Leclerc waits for a safety car – to no avail

At that stage, it was extremely clear that Ferrari was delaying Leclerc’s sole pitstop in the hope of a safety car – virtual or not – but there was none, and the Monegasque pitted on lap 48. He was given soft tyres for a nine-lap dash, but emerged in a no man’s land 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. Albeit very close to one another, none of them was able to make anything resembling a move – until the penultimate lap, when the Red Bull racer cut the Turn 5 chicane after encountering backmarker traffic and the reigning champion unsuccessfully put him under pressure.

Antonelli eventually pulled away to take his eighth victory of the 2026 campaign 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.

More to follow...

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