Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) took his eighth win of the season in the first F1 race held at Madring. Lando Norris (McLaren), who started from pole and was running six seconds clear, missed the pit entry when the virtual safety car (VSC) came out and slipped to third. Antonelli now leads team-mate George Russell by 81 points with nine rounds remaining, including Baku this Saturday.
A VSC just after the pit entry
According to Sky Sports, the VSC was deployed on lap 14 when Lance Stroll's Aston Martin stopped in a run-off area. Norris had already passed the pit entry, while Antonelli and Max Verstappen (Red Bull) behind him pitted straight away. By the time McLaren brought Norris in at the end of lap 15, the VSC had ended and the field was back up to racing speed. The stop itself was slow, at seven seconds. Norris rejoined fifth and climbed to third, but could not get past Verstappen before the final lap ran out.
GPBlog puts Stroll's barrier impact on lap 20 and says Russell also pitted at that point. The two outlets differ on the lap of the VSC.
The order was shaken up from lap 1. Antonelli cut across the first chicane under braking and handed the lead back to Norris; trying again at Turns 5–6, he ran through the run-off and lost a place to Verstappen at Turn 7, dropping to third. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) suffered his first retirement of the season with a brake failure on lap 7 and is now 101 points off the lead.
"It's good to win today, but I don't feel that good about it. Lando deserved to win," Antonelli said. Norris said: "We were just too quick, that's all. We should have won today." McLaren CEO Zak Brown said the team had a "20–25 second" advantage.
Top 10
| Pos | Driver | Team | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | Winner |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | +4.3s |
| 3 | Lando Norris | McLaren | +5.0s |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +27.1s |
| 5 | George Russell | Mercedes | +28.3s |
| 6 | Liam Lawson | Red Bull | +84.9s |
| 7 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | +91.8s |
| 8 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | +92.9s |
| 9 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | +1 lap |
| 10 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | +1 lap |
The gaps in the table are GPBlog's figures. Sky Sports and Crash.net give different values from fourth place down: Leclerc +29.116s, Russell +29.829s, Lawson +86.746s, Colapinto +94.281s and Piastri +95.839s (per Sky Sports). The winning time was 1:34:23.754 over 57 laps. Everyone from 11th-placed Esteban Ocon (Haas) through to Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin, +2 laps) in 17th and Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac, +3 laps) in 18th was classified, while Carlos Sainz (Williams), Sergio Perez (Cadillac), Stroll and Hamilton retired.
Nine rounds left, 81 points
That is eight wins of the season for Antonelli. McLaren, as Brown said, had the fastest car in Madrid, yet came away with third and eighth. Next up is Baku, a track known for energy management and safety cars turning results upside down, so pit timing is likely to be put to the test once again this Saturday.
Sources
- Sky Sports — Spanish GP: Kimi Antonelli wins first F1 race at Madring to increase title lead after Lando Norris misfortune
- GPBlog — F1 full results: Kimi Antonelli wins the Spanish GP at the Madring
- RacingNews365 — 2026 F1 Spanish Grand Prix - Madrid results
- Crash.net — 2026 F1 Spanish Grand Prix race results