Spanish GP: Kimi Antonelli wins F1's first Madring race to increase title lead after Lando Norris misfortune
Kimi Antonelli increased his championship lead to a commanding 81 points with his eighth race win of the year; Lando Norris appeared to have race under control before untimely Virtual Safety Car lost him the lead; Max Verstappen second, while Lewis Hamilton suffered first DNF of his season
Monday 14 September 2026 06:10, UK
Kimi Antonelli took another step in his quest towards winning the 2026 world championship by benefitting from pit-stop misfortune for Lando Norris to win the first Spanish Grand Prix at the Madring.
McLaren's Norris had looked in control of the race after converting his superb pole position into a comfortable early race lead but the battle for victory turned on a lap-14 Virtual Safety Car when Aston Martin's Lance Stroll stopped in a run-off area.
With a VSC offering the field the chance of a so-called 'cheap' pit stop, McLaren were unable to pit Norris immediately as the Briton had just passed the pit-lane entry road.
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But the following Antonelli and Verstappen had not, allowing Mercedes and Red Bull to pit their drivers respectively while Norris was running to a controlled reduced speed on track while marshals moved Stroll's car.
McLaren did pit Norris at the end of the next lap but, by then, the VSC had ended, meaning the field was back up to racing speed, with that misfortune then compounded by a slow seven-second service at the tyre change.
Norris rejoined in fifth place and, underlining his prodigious pace, eventually finished on second-placed Verstappen's tail in third but was tantalisingly unable to find a way past the Red Bull through the closing laps.
With George Russell finishing only fifth in the second Mercedes behind a long-running Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, Antonelli's title lead grows to a season-high 81 points with a scheduled nine races remaining.
Antonelli said: "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."
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton is now 101 points back and all but out of contention after he suffered his first race retirement of the season after his car ran into terminal brake issues inside seven laps.
Liam Lawson was sixth for Red Bull with Alpine's Franco Colapinto seventh ahead of Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren. Racing Bulls' Arvid Lindblad was ninth with Audi's Nico Hulkenberg in 10th.
'We were too quick, that's all it was' - How luckless Norris' speed led to his misfortune
Before the VSC was initiated on lap 14, Norris appeared to be shaping up for a repeat of his dominant recent wins at the Hungaroring and Zandvoort as he raced into a lead of six seconds over Mercedes' Antonelli.
The reigning world champion had come under attack from the championship leader at the race start but Antonelli was soon on the back foot when he cut the first chicane under braking. It put the Italian into the lead on the exit, but he clearly had to give the place back to Norris, which he swiftly did.
Antonelli attempted to go around the outside of the McLaren again into the next chicane at turns five-six but had to bail out of it once more, again cutting across the run-off. But when he let Norris through for a second time, he was unable to prevent Verstappen following through too at turn seven and so dropped to third.
But Antonelli was soon back ahead of Verstappen after Red Bull told their driver to drop back both behind the Italian and Hamilton having jumped the latter back at turn one by running off track. Verstappen disputed that interpretation of events over team radio, saying he had no choice but to run wide, but heeded the order.
Norris, meanwhile, had quickly set about building a lead and was already 3.2 ahead of Antonelli when Verstappen dropped back on lap four.
The Briton was five seconds clear by lap nine and his lead had grown the lead by a further second by the time the VSC was initiated. In the end, that supreme speed proved to be Norris' undoing, as he was already beyond the pit entry so could not pit immediately whereas his fortunate pursuers were not and so could.
Speaking on team radio after the race, Norris said: "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 concurred, 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."
Is there now any stopping Antonelli in the title chase?
With Norris returning to the track after his delayed and then slow stop initially behind Russell in fifth place before the Mercedes pitted for a second time, a victory for Antonelli appeared almost inevitable despite there still being 40 laps to go.
However, the Italian did not actually lead the race until the end of lap 48 as Ferrari kept Leclerc out on hard tyres in the hope of their being another Virtual or full Safety Car intervention. There was not.
As Leclerc's pace eventually started to drop, Antonelli caught up with the Ferrari but, with passing opportunities severely limited around the Madring lap, the Mercedes had to follow behind. That allowed Verstappen and Norris, easily the fastest car on the track, to close right in on the top two before Leclerc finally pitted.
In the end, once in clear air, Antonelli pulled away from Verstappen by four seconds over the closing laps, with Norris unable to find a way past the Red Bull, for his second win in eight days after his stunning back-to-front triumph on home soil at Monza.
Asked afterwards whether he was now starting to think about the championship, the 20-year-old Antonelli cautioned: "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."
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