Antonelli triumphs in Madrid as VSC thwarts Norris

Kimi Antonelli won the first Spanish Grand Prix at the Madring after a well-timed virtual safety car undid what had been a comfortable lead for Lando Norris.

Pole-getter Norris had got the perfect start, launching well and chopping to the left to prevent Antonelli from occupying the inside line. With his lead intact exiting the first chicane, he put his foot down to gap the field, establishing more than a 5s advantage over Antonelli to put the race in what appeared to be a stranglehold.

Verstappen, who had been running as high as second, was a distant third after being told by his pit wall to hand position back to Lewis Hamilton for passing the Briton off the road at the first chicane. Hamilton, though, was behind Antonelli by the time the call was made, costing the Dutchman two places. Ironically Hamilton retired shortly afterwards with brake problems, the incident serving only to put Verstappen behind Antonelli.

It was good news for Norris, but his rosy outlook lasted only until the end of lap 13, when Lance Stroll reported that his Aston Martin’s brakes had failed. He ditched into the run-off zone at Turn 20 and couldn’t rejoin, forcing a virtual safety car. The timing was disastrous for Norris, who had just passed the pit entry line, but it was perfect for Leclerc, who dived into pit lane to switch his starting mediums for hards.

The virtual safety car lasted almost an entire lap as marshals rescued the stricken Aston Martin, but the caution was withdrawn before Norris could reach pit lane. McLaren, however, committed to pitting him anyway despite the more-than 10s loss it would incur relative to those who stopped during the VSC. Making matters worse, his right-front tire was sticky, blowing out his stationary time to 7s.

From a comfortable lead, he rejoined the race fifth, behind George Russell – though Russell, having started on hards and switched to mediums, soon had to make a second stop back onto hards, dropping him out of contention.

Charles Leclerc inherited the lead, Ferrari having opted against stopping to leave him out on the hard tire, which quickly emerged as the most robust compound on the sizzling 129-degree F track surface.

Leclerc was happy in the lead, reeling off personal bests to keep Antonelli at arm’s reach. Mercedes eventually told the Italian to back off to keep his temperatures in check.

The quality of the hard tire turned what had been a somewhat uncertain race into a comfortable one-stop, the only question being when Leclerc would give up the lead and what he could do with fresh rubber at the finish. With nothing to lose, Ferrari committed to leaving him on track for as long as possible in the hope another interruption could lock in the lead for him, but as his hard tires faded and as his pursuers lost patience waiting, the top four closed onto the back of Ferrari.

With 10 laps remaining, Leclerc led Antonelli, Verstappen and Norris by less than 4s in a battle pack.

Ferrari finally pulled the trigger on lap 48, with Leclerc approaching slower traffic and with Russell upping his pace, setting the fastest lap of the race. He dropped to fourth with too little time and too great a gap to improve his position.

Antonelli, briefly under pressure from Verstappen, rediscovered his pace with the benefit of clear air and began pulling away from the Red Bull Racing car. Other than a brief scare after tapping the wall entering Turn 7, he was untroubled converting to victory from there, winning the first grand prix at the Madring by 4.3s.

“I think today it’s good to win, but it doesn’t feel as good, because I think Lando today deserved the win,” he said. “Other than that, it was a very strong race, and especially on the hards at the end we had really good pace.”

The victory extends Antonelli’s lead to 81 points at the end of the European campaign, with Mercedes leading Ferrari by 145 points in the constructors' race.

The battle for second climaxed on the penultimate lap when he and Norris stumbled across the lapped Arvid Lindblad and Nico Hulkenberg battling for ninth.

Verstappen was compromised as he maneuvered around the battling midfielders, and Norris pounced, briefly pulling alongside the Dutchman before being forced to yield. He complained over team radio that Verstappen had defended the place unfairly, but there was little in it and the stewards shortly afterwards ruled no investigation was necessary, allowing the Dutchman to hold the position to the flag.

“For us it’s a great result,” he said. “Of course we know that Lando got unlucky with that VSC, so for us today P2 is an incredible result because you could see how much Lando was catching me, but around here you can’t pass, so I could keep him behind. For us of course to be P2 is incredible.”

Norris was forced to settle for third, ruing the misfortune of the timing of the virtual safety car.

“There was nothing I could do,” he said. “Just luck not on our side.

“A tough race, one that just got away from us. I felt like we deserved it today, but that’s racing sometimes. We’ll take it on the chin and try again next time.”

Leclerc finished fourth ahead of Russell, who resented being stopped twice rather than being allowed to attempt to make it to the finish on his post-VSC medium tires.

Liam Lawson was a strong sixth, pitting off his hard tires late to avoid dropping into the squabbling midfield.

Franco Colapinto finished an equal career best seventh, holding off Oscar Piastri for the place. Piastri’s race was compromised by first-lap front wing damage picked up when Russell inadvertently squeezed him against the pit wall off the line, costing him three places and pace.

Lindblad prevailed over Hulkenberg for ninth ahead of Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly, Gabriel Bortoleto, Yuki Tsunoda, Alex Albon and Oliver Bearman, all a lap down on the leaders.

Fernando Alonso was two laps down in 17th ahead of Valtteri Bottas, who finished three laps behind the leaders.

Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez both retired from the race, joining Stroll and Hamilton on the sidelines before the finish.

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