Antonelli wins inaugural Spanish GP at Madring as Norris misses out under VSC
Kimi Antonelli has won the inaugural Spanish Grand Prix at the Madring by beating Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in a strategical race that boosts his title bid.
Norris led off the line in a turbulent first lap which saw Antonelli cut the first two chicanes and had to lift off to reinstate the McLaren driver as the race leader.
Max Verstappen behind also avoided the first chicane after banging wheels with the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton before ceding position to the Briton and Antonelli a few laps later.
Hamilton was soon out of the running with a brake failure which saw his points-finishing streak in every round this season come to an end.
The Virtual Safety Car was brought out on lap 15 when Lance Stroll parked his Aston Martin in the run-off area which changed the race dynamic.
The VSC was called late and meant race leader Norris missed the opportunity for a cheap pit stop while Mercedes and Red Bull were able to capitalise with Antonelli and Verstappen.
Norris’ stop the following lap under green flag conditions was slow and dropped the reigning World Champion behind the pair and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who extended his first stint on hard tyres.
Leclerc held out for a Safety Car but was unable to catch a break, ultimately peeling off into the pits with less than ten laps to go and was the cork in the bottle for the rapid trio behind him.
With free air, Antonelli stretched out a four second lead to seal his eighth career victory and the first ever in Madrid, while Verstappen just held on from Norris for second after running deep at the start of the last lap.
Leclerc wound up in fourth and was closely followed by the other Mercedes of George Russell, who was unable to make an impact in a race which increased the margin between himself and his teammate in the standings to over 80 points.
Liam Lawson earned good points in sixth for Red Bull while Franco Colapinto finished seventh.
Oscar Piastri finished eighth after suffering with race-long front wing damage following double contact with the rear of George Russell’s car at the start.
Arvid Lindblad and Nico Hulkenberg took the final points scoring positions for Racing Bulls and Audi respectively.
Esteban Ocon came home in P11 and was followed by Pierre Gasly, Gabriel Bortoleto and Yuki Tsunoda.
Alex Albon finished fifteenth for Williams while Ollie Bearman came home in sixteenth.
Home favourite Fernando Alonso finished seventeenth but was hit by compatriot Carlos Sainz early in the race. Sainz drove aggressively in his home race and also clattered into Tsunoda at the start, ultimately retiring his car.
Valterri Bottas rounded out the classified finishers for Cadillac.
The four drivers who failed to finish the race were Carlos Sainz, Lance Stroll, Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez who retired with a suspected water systems issue.
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