Antonelli clinches victory over Verstappen and Norris in Spanish GP

Kimi Antonelli has boosted his title ambitions with victory in the Spanish Grand Prix, the Mercedes driver edging out Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and McLaren’s Lando Norris in a race swayed by strategy.

The opening laps saw plenty of clashes up and down the field, with Norris narrowly holding onto the lead from pole position as Antonelli cut two corners during his concerted efforts to pass the Briton.

Antonelli ultimately didn’t need to overtake him on track thanks to a Virtual Safety Car, which played perfectly into Mercedes’ hands but ruined Norris’ chances for victory. A tale of contrasting pit stops unfolded as the Italian gained the net race lead while a slow change dropped Norris behind both Antonelli and Verstappen.

Despite expressing worries with his steering, the 20-year-old inherited control of the race once Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who didn’t box during the VSC, gave up on his hopes for a Safety Car and finally peeled into the pits after 48 laps.

Adding an eighth win to his season tally, Antonelli has extended his lead to 81 points in the Drivers’ Championship as his team mate George Russell settled for P5, and Lewis Hamilton retired early on due to a issue with his brakes.

Liam Lawson was sixth in the second Red Bull ahead of Franco Colapinto, who made it a successful day for Alpine as their sole scorer, McLaren's Oscar Piastri, Racing Bulls' Arvid Lindblad and Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg.

Haas’ Esteban Ocon just missed out on points in P11 and was followed by Pierre Gasly and Gabriel Bortoleto, while Yuki Tsunoda took P14 in his third weekend competing for Racing Bulls.

Alex Albon was up next as the lone finisher for Williams, leading Ollie Bearman, local favourite Fernando Alonso and Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas.

There were four retirements in total – Carlos Sainz failed to complete his home race, Sergio Perez faced a suspected water system issue, and Lance Stroll joined Hamilton in his brake troubles.

AS IT HAPPENED

The Madring had already delivered some of the drama many have come to expect with the debut of a new circuit – Lindblad, Hamilton and Bearman endured shunts across FP2 and FP3, although all bar the Haas man were able to partake in Qualifying.

Hamilton managed to bounce back and claim provisional pole but was quickly outpaced by Antonelli, before McLaren’s Norris completed what he thought was “one of the best laps” of his career to snatch the top spot in style.

Verstappen took a respectable third for Red Bull to lead both Ferrari drivers and the second Mercedes of Russell, who admitted after Qualifying that problems with overheating tyres had limited his performance over the weekend.

He wasn’t the only one concerned about the Pirelli rubber, as previous sessions had shown that graining and thermal degradation could play a significant role in Sunday’s Grand Prix.

As the race start approached at 1500 local time, Haas confirmed that Bearman would start from the pit lane with a new chassis and power unit elements installed following his crash.

Additionally, Stroll and Sainz had grid penalties imposed after Aston Martin fitted engine components to the Canadian’s car to relegate him to P21, just behind Sainz. The stewards concluded that the Williams driver had impeded Cadillac’s Bottas in Q1, dropping him from P17 to P20.

It was revealed that the teams had opted for a wide range of tyre strategies – the front-row starters were on the medium compound, as were Colapinto and Lindblad at the tail end of the top 10.

Verstappen and Hamilton went for the bold option of softs in the hope of making up positions on the opening lap, while Leclerc, Russell, Piastri and Lawson focused on the long game with the white-walled hard tyres.

They were joined by Bortoleto, Gasly, Tsunoda, Alonso, Bottas, Sainz, Stroll and Bearman, whereas Ocon, Albon and Perez chose the mediums. Audi’s Hulkenberg was the only other driver on softs, seemingly targeting an immediate improvement into the points.

As the five red lights went out for the Madring’s inaugural Grand Prix, polesitter Norris came under instant pressure from Antonelli, who took the inside line but was forced to bail out and cut the first chicane. That allowed the McLaren driver to just about cling onto the lead while Antonelli stuck close by.

As another attack followed, the Italian made a near-identical error and went off track once again, giving Verstappen the opportunity to execute a clean overtake at the Bunker to surge into P2.

However, Hamilton wasn’t happy with how the Red Bull driver had stayed ahead at the first corner, insisting that the position needed to be given back. Verstappen, almost simultaneously, reported that Hamilton “almost shunted into me” and was “out of control”, but his complaints didn’t have the intended effect.

His race engineer instructed him to give the spot to Hamilton in order to avoid a possible penalty, and despite a small argument from the Dutchman’s side, he obeyed the order and subsequently let both Antonelli and the Briton through.

To Hamilton’s frustration, the switch didn’t last for long amid his own struggles with the brakes, and he dropped back behind Verstappen and his Ferrari team mate Leclerc. The issue rapidly worsened and he could only watch as his rivals charged past, with the Scuderia deciding to retire the car just seven laps in.

With Hamilton out of contention, Norris had steadily built his lead to 4.5s over Antonelli, aided by the Italian suffering an off-track moment that cost him a chunk of time. The closest battle at this stage was between Colapinto and Lawson for P6, both drivers having fought past McLaren’s Piastri when the Australian made contact with Russell on the opening lap.

Elsewhere, Russell had clearly spent some time revising his tyre management overnight, suggesting to the team that they could try an alternative strategy to get past Leclerc, who was running in P4 just ahead of the Briton.

A check-in on the grid’s two Spaniards showed that their home crowd had little to celebrate – not only was a top-10 finish a distant prospect, but they also came to blows at Turn 5, with Alonso adamant that Sainz had squeezed him into the wall. The stewards agreed with his view, later handing the Williams driver a five-second penalty for the collision.

Meanwhile, Norris’ advantage at the front continued to increase, and he received further encouragement when the team informed him that Antonelli’s medium tyres weren’t coping with the high-grip asphalt as well as his, implying that he might try to extend his opening stint.

That approach soon fell apart when Aston Martin’s Stroll came to a halt at Turn 20, marking the second retirement of the day caused by brake problems. The Virtual Safety Car was deployed, handing Mercedes and Red Bull the perfect opportunity to call Antonelli, Russell and Verstappen into the pits.

The mandatory reduced speeds only lasted as long as it took to bring Stroll’s car behind the barrier, meaning that Norris ran out of time to take advantage and only stopped once normal racing conditions resumed.

Adding insult to injury, it was an agonisingly slow tyre change that kept him stationary for 7s and he eventually emerged in P5 behind Leclerc – who hadn’t pitted – Antonelli, Verstappen and Russell.

With the sole Ferrari driver now leading, Antonelli initially closed the gap before falling further back, stating that “the steering wheel feels weird”. Mercedes couldn’t find any reason why in their data, but did warn him that any further track limit violations could result in a time penalty.

Over half the race distance down, Norris was giving it his all to recover from the disastrous timing of the Virtual Safety Car as he battled to get past Russell, which was made much easier when the latter was brought in for a second stop.

Ferrari were on a considerably different strategy as they continued to keep Leclerc out, hanging their hopes of a podium finish on the chance of a Safety Car or red flag. Antonelli consistently remained around 2s adrift and led Verstappen and Norris, who spent multiple laps searching for a way past the Dutchman.

Further back, a thrilling contest occurred between eighth-placed Bortoleto, Colapinto, Piastri in the second McLaren, who had been knocked back early on with a damaged front wing, and Racing Bulls’ Lindblad.

Battling for the final few spots in the top 10, the group nearly came together as the race entered the last 10 laps, but a similar fight was also developing at the front between Antonelli, Verstappen and Norris.

Leclerc was called into the pits at the end of Lap 48, releasing the trio to decide who would claim the honour of winning the Spanish Grand Prix.

That was the ideal time for Antonelli to pick up the pace as he left Verstappen in the clutches of Norris, who had the best opportunity to improve to P2 when the Dutchman cut Turn 5. The reigning World Champion drew alongside but couldn’t make a move stick, remaining in third place as the chequered flag fell.

Antonelli won with a comfortable margin of 4.2s over his nearest rivals, with Leclerc and Russell much further behind in P4 and P5 respectively. Lawson finished a respectable sixth in his third weekend substituting Isack Hadjar at Red Bull, leading Colapinto, Piastri, Lindblad and Hulkenberg.

Ocon was next as Haas failed to score for the ninth time this season, with the Frenchman taking P11 ahead of Gasly, Bortoleto and Tsunoda. P15 belonged to Albon, who was followed over the line by Bearman, Alonso and Bottas.

Ferrari’s Hamilton wasn’t the only one hampered by his brakes as Aston Martin’s Stroll retired for the same reason, while Sainz and Perez also didn’t finish the Spanish Grand Prix due to separate issues with their cars.

Key quote

"It was a very difficult race, not straightforward at all, especially trying to manage tyres," Antonelli said. "It’s good to win, but it doesn’t feel as good because I think Lando today deserved to win. But overall, you know, we’ll take it. And other than that, it was a very strong race. I think especially on the hard at the end we had really good pace, and yeah, now we’re gonna keep pushing."

What's next

After a short break, the teams and drivers will embark on the first triple header of the 2026 season, beginning with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix over the weekend of September 24-26. Head to the RACE HUB to find out how you can follow the action from Baku.