F1 Spanish Grand Prix: Antonelli Takes Victory in an Uneventful Madrid Race

Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli takes the victory in the 2026 F1 Spanish Grand Prix to inch ever closer to a World Championship. It was a patient and calculated drive for the 20-year-old Italian driver, who now sees his championship lead increase to 81 points over teammate George Russell.  

The Madring race didn't deliver the amount of chaos we initially expected, but the opening laps did cause several surprises. Still, it showed us Antonelli's composure, a great asset that defined most of the World Champions in Formula One.

Let's look back at the events from the first-ever Spanish GP held at Circuito de Madring. 

McLaren's Lando Norris, who started from pole, looked like the favorite early. He nailed the start and initially controlled the race. 

Behind him, the positions were constantly changing, with Red Bull's Max Verstappen overtaking Antonelli early. However, Verstappen's race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, advised Verstappen to give back his position. Interestingly, the Red Bull driver had to give up two positions, as the potential infraction he had was against Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton, who was slotted in P4.

Hamilton inherited P3, but not for long. He suffered an issue with his brakes, and it got worse as he tried to fight through it. Eventually, Ferrari had to call for him to retire on Lap 7.

The next big event happened on Lap 15 when Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll lost control of his car and crashed into the barriers. Stroll's crash triggered the Virtual Safety Car, with almost every driver taking advantage of the reduced pit stop time. 

Almost every driver.

Norris, who was leading comfortably at that point, was already past the pit lane entrance when the VSC was called. When he made it to the pits in the next lap, the light was already green. To add insult to injury, he suffered through a slow pit stop.

That, right there, unfortunately took the win out of the British driver's hands.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who started the race on hard tyres, didn't pit under the VSC. He took the lead of the race, with Antonelli right behind him.

But the Mercedes driver displayed his composure and smarts. Despite having the fresher tyres, he didn't force an overtake on Leclerc, knowing that the latter would eventually pit at some point. Leclerc did box later in the race, giving the lead to Antonelli.