Antonelli wins Spanish GP after McLaren VSC disaster costs Norris

Kimi Antonelli may have been late to gain the lead at the new Madring circuit, but he was P1 when it counted and held off Max Verstappen to win the Spanish Grand Prix.

Lando Norris had to settle for third, having held a comfortable lead over the chasing pack before a VSC for Lance Stroll’s crash cost him, as he was just passed the pits when it was shown. Lewis Hamilton retired with brake problems having had an earlier flashpoint with Max Verstappen that had the Red Bull driver fuming.

Kimi Antonelli wins Spanish Grand Prix ahead of Max Verstappen

Tyre degradation was the big question as the track temperature hit 53°C as the drivers lined up on the grid for the start of the 57-lap Spanish Grand Prix at the new Madring circuit. All three compounds made it onto the grid.

Polesitter Lando Norris and Kimi Antonelli were on the medium tyres, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton were on the soft Pirellis, and Charles Leclerc, George Russell, Oscar Piastri and Liam Lawson were on the hard rubber. In total, seven drivers were on the mediums, three on the softs, and 12 on the hard compound.

It was a good reaction off the line from Lando Norris, who moved across the track to cover off Antonelli. The two went into Turn 1 side-by-side with Antonelli off the track and cutting the corner. He let Norris through, only to have Max Verstappen all over his rear wing. Antonelli was again off – twice on Lap 1 alone!

Hamilton was calling for Verstappen to give him a position back having cut a corner. Verstappen blamed Hamilton: “Lewis almost shunted into me, he was out of control. If I didn’t move, he just shunted into me. I would’ve been ahead.”

Meanwhile, Piastri dropped to tenth after not one, but two moments with Russell. Piastri’s McLaren lost its front wing endplate.

Norris led ahead at the end of Lap 2 ahead of Verstappen, Antonelli, Hamilton, Leclerc and Russell.

Verstappen, who was noted leaving the track and gaining an advantage, was told by Red Bull on Lap 4 to give a position back to Hamilton. He hit back: “What the f*** are you talking about?”

The problem was that Verstappen had Antonelli between himself and Hamilton. He followed the team’s order, allowing Antonelli and then Hamilton to pass him. Stewards ruled no further action against Verstappen.

A lap later, Verstappen was back ahead of Hamilton at between Turns 3 and 4. The Ferrari driver was still running but clearly had a problem. Leclerc overtook him, with Hamilton losing several positions in a handful of corners while he went off the track several times.

It looked to be brake issues. He confirmed that: “I don’t have brakes guys.” He limped back to the pits to retire his car, despite being “barely” able to stop his car.

Antonelli was also struggling to keep his Mercedes on the track, but held onto second place, four seconds behind Norris, and a second ahead of Verstappen. Leclerc and Russell were running behind Verstappen, with Russell telling Mercedes that unless Leclerc picked up the pace, Mercedes would have to consider the “undercut”.

Lawson overtook Franco Colapinto for seventh place, with Arvid Lindblad and Piastri right behind them. That capped a dramatic opening 10 laps.

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F1’s Spanish drivers, Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz, collided on Lap 13 as Alonso tried to pass his compatriot down the outside but felt Sainz “squeezed” him towards the wall. Alonso lost pieces of his Aston Martin’s front wing. Alonso pitted for a new nose, while Sainz was given a five-second time penalty for causing the collision.

The VSC was out on Lap 15 as Lance Stroll crashed into the barrier at Turn 20. Norris had just passed the pit entrance when the VSC was shown, while Antonelli, Verstappen and Russell pitted. The VSC was lifted just as Norris arrived at the pit entrance, while a slow front-right tyre change also cost the world champion time. He came out behind Russell.

Leclerc, who had yet to pit, led the race ahead of Antonelli. Despite the Italian closing in quickly, he spent several laps running within a second of Leclerc, only to drop back three seconds. Antonelli told Mercedes to “check the car”. Mercedes told him, “no concerns”.

Sainz’s day went from bad to worse as he was shown a black-and-white flag for track limits. One more and he’d be hit with another five-second penalty. He was running at the back of the field in 20th place.

Antonelli began to reel in Leclerc again and dropped Verstappen by six seconds in the process. A frustrated Piastri asked McLaren if the team was going to change his front wing when he pits. He was told no, as it would cost him more time than he was losing on track.

Russell pitted for a second time on Lap 29 and dropped to sixth. Sergio Perez was the third retirement from the race as he pulled into the pits to park his Cadillac. Norris told McLaren that his pace wa “zero”, and then fired in the fastest lap of the race.

Russell caught Lawson, with any hope of the Red Bull driver defending undone when he ran wide at the Turns 5 and 6 chicane and opened the door for the Mercedes driver. Russell questioned the decision to pit him, telling Mercedes that he could have been ahead of Norris by now.

Yet to pit, Leclerc asked Ferrari on Lap 39 what was the race situation. He was told that if he pitted now, he’d drop behind Norris. Ferrari was instead keeping a Safety Car gap to the McLaren.

McLaren pitted Piastri for the first time on Lap 43, the Australian swapping his hard Pirelli tyres for a set of mediums for the final 14 laps. He came out behind the Gasly, Bortoleto, Colapinto, Lindblad battle in 11th place.

Piastri passed Lindblad, but couldn’t make enough gains to challenge Lawson for position when the Red Bull pitted. Lawson came out in seventh place while Piastri was still trying to pass Colapinto. Bortoleto led a five-driver train for the final points-paying positions as his teammate Nico Hulkenberg tagged onto the back.

With seven to go, Leclerc finally pulled into the pits for his one and only stop of the day. Antonelli moved into the lead, but was only a second ahead of Verstappen with Norris a further second off the pace. Leclerc was down in fourth, 24s behind the podium battle.

With clear air ahead of him, Antonelli began to eke out a bit of a lead over Verstappen in the fight for the victory. That gap was up to 2.5s only be done to 0.6s the next lap, and all the while Norris closed in on Verstappen.

Antonelli finally broke Verstappen’s challenge and romped three seconds down the road. Norris challenged Verstappen for second and complained that the Red Bull went off the track.

Antonelli took the chequered flag to win the inaugural race at the Madring by 4.3s ahead of Verstappen with Norris third. Verstappen was noted for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

Spanish Grand Prix: Top ten

1 Kimi Antonelli – winner
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull +4.3
3 Lando Norris McLaren +5.0
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +29.1
5 George Russell Mercedes +29.8
6 Liam Lawson Red Bull +86.7
7 Franco Colapinto Alpine +91.8
8 Oscar Piastri McLaren +95.8
9 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls +1 lap
10 Nico Hulkenberg Audi +1 lap

The full results from the Spanish GP

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