Kimi Antonelli moved another step closer to his goal of capturing the 2026 World Championship when he capitalised on a pit‑stop mishap that befell Lando Norris and secured the win at the inaugural Spanish Grand Prix at the famed Madriña circuit. Norris, driving for McLaren, had looked set to dominate the event after turning his pole position into an early race lead that seemed comfortable and unassailable. However, the race’s decisive moment arrived on lap 14 when a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was deployed after Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll came to a stop in a runoff area. The VSC gave every driver a chance to pit under reduced speed, a scenario that often results in a "cheap" stop because the field is travelling slower.
Unfortunately for McLaren, Norris had just passed the pit‑lane entry when the VSC was activated, meaning the team could not bring him in straight away. By contrast, the cars of Antonelli in the Mercedes and Max Verstappen in the Red Bull were still on the track and therefore were able to take advantage of the VSC window.
While Norris was forced to continue circulating at a controlled, reduced speed while marshals cleared Stroll’s car, his rivals pitted and rejoined the race with fresh tyres. McLaren finally managed to pit Norris at the end of the following lap, but the VSC had already been lifted. The race had returned to full speed, and the pit stop itself was unusually slow, taking roughly seven seconds to change the tyres.
This combination of a missed VSC opportunity and a protracted service cost Norris valuable track position. When Norris re‑entered the race he found himself in fifth place. Demonstrating the blistering pace that has become his trademark, he fought his way back through the field, eventually finishing just behind the race winner, Antonelli, and ahead of Verstappen, who completed the podium in third.
Despite his rapid recovery, Norris was unable to mount a successful overtaking maneuver on the Red Bull in the closing stages. George Russell, Norris’s teammate at Mercedes, could only manage fifth place, trailing a long‑running Ferrari driven by Charles Leclerc.
Antonelli’s lead in the championship therefore swelled to a season‑high 81 points, with nine races still to contest. After crossing the finish line, Antonelli reflected on his win: "I think today it's good to win but it doesn't feel as good because I think Lando today deserved the win but overall, we take it." His comments underscored the bittersweet nature of a victory that came partly from another driver’s misfortune. The race also saw Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari suffer his first retirement of the season after a catastrophic brake failure forced him out within the first seven laps, leaving him 101 points behind the championship leader and effectively out of title contention. Further down the order, Liam Lawson secured sixth place for Red Bull, while Alpine’s Franco Colapinto finished seventh, ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in eighth.
Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad took ninth, and Audi’s Nico Hülkenberg rounded out the top ten. The provisional top ten was therefore: 1.
Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 3.
Lando Norris (McLaren) 4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 5. George Russell (Mercedes) 6. Liam Lawson (Red Bull) 7.
Franco Colapinto (Alpine) 8. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 9.
Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) 10. Nico Hülkenberg (Audi) Before the VSC was triggered, Norris appeared poised to replicate the dominant performances he had shown at the Hungaroring and Zandvoort. He built a six‑second gap over Antonelli and seemed in full control of the race.
At the start, the reigning champion Verstappen challenged the race leader, but Antonelli briefly cut the first chicane under braking, gaining a temporary advantage before yielding the position back to Norris. A similar incident occurred at the next chicane (turns five and six) where Antonelli again cut across the runoff area, allowing Norris to pass a second time.
Verstappen, following closely, also took the lead at turn seven, pushing Antonelli down to third. Red Bull soon instructed Verstappen to fall back behind Antonelli and Hamilton after Hamilton had re‑joined the race by running off at turn one. Verstappen later disputed the team’s directive over the radio, claiming he had no alternative but to go wide, but he complied. Meanwhile, Norris continued to extend his lead, pulling ahead of Antonelli by 3.2 seconds after Verstappen dropped back on lap four.
By lap nine his advantage had grown to five seconds, and it increased by another second before the VSC was deployed. Ironically, the very speed that had given Norris such a commanding lead became his undoing when the VSC came out; because he was already past the pit entry, he could not pit immediately, while his rivals, who were still on the main straight, could. After the race, Norris summed up the feeling on team radio: "Just take it on the chin.
We were too quick, that's all. Very unlucky today guys, we should have won." McLaren chief executive Zak Brown echoed the sentiment, telling Sky Sports F1: "That was our race by 20 or 25 seconds. He was dominant, he was gone.
Managing, great tyre wear – a league of his own." When Norris finally made his delayed pit stop, he re‑joined behind Russell in fifth place. The Mercedes then made a second stop, promoting Antonelli to the lead with roughly 40 laps remaining. However, Antonelli did not take the outright lead until the end of lap 48, as Ferrari kept Leclerc on hard tyres hoping for another safety‑car period that never materialised.
As Leclerc’s pace began to drop, Antonelli closed in, but the Madriña circuit offers few overtaking opportunities, especially on the long, flowing sections. Consequently, the Mercedes driver was forced to trail the Ferrari for several laps, allowing Verstappen and Norris—both on the fastest machinery— to close the gap.
Once Antonelli finally found clear air, he began to pull away, eventually finishing four seconds ahead of Verstappen. Norris, despite his early dominance, could not find a way past the Red Bull, cementing Antonelli’s second win in eight days after his dramatic, back‑to‑front victory at Monza.
When asked whether he was already thinking about the championship, the 20‑year‑old Italian cautioned against looking too far ahead: "That's exactly what I don't want to do. I want to keep pushing race by race, keep delivering and keep enjoying it all the way and try to do my best every race and we will see where we end up at the end of the year." The F1 calendar now moves on to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which will kick off a triple‑header weekend from September 24‑26, with the Baku race scheduled for a Saturday. Fans can continue to follow the action live on Sky Sports F1 or stream via NOW, with the flexibility to cancel at any time.