Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli extended his championship lead by winning Formula 1’s Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid, as an ill-timed virtual safety car period denied Lando Norris.
Norris started the race from pole, and led the early stages despite a first-lap challenge from Antonelli, who went off track twice and had to let the McLaren driver back through both times.
Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton made the best launch from the grid’s second row to make it three-wide for the lead into turn one, but backed out and lost third to Max Verstappen who missed the corner in the process.
Verstappen capitalised on Antonelli’s errors to move into second, but he was soon asked by his Red Bull team to back off and drop behind Hamilton, who was running fourth, to avoid a penalty for his first-corner overtake.
Despite his protestations on the radio, Verstappen eventually obliged, by which time Hamilton had dropped further back after running wide, costing the Dutchman more time as he waited for his rival.
Verstappen quickly reclaimed third from Hamilton, who was complaining of braking issues. Those problems soon worsened, with the Briton tumbling down the order after locking up and ending up down an escape road, and he then drove slowly back to the pits to retire the car.
Norris pulled over six seconds clear during the early laps, but the race was turned on its head when Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll came to a halt after sliding down an escape road, also due to failing brakes.
Officials called a VSC just moments after Norris had passed the pit entry, and while he stayed out on track, many of those behind him were able to dive into the pits to change tyres.
Norris was called in on the next lap, but the VSC ended just as he entered the pitlane, and he then lost further crucial seconds by a slow tyre change, resulting in him rejoining behind Russell in fifth.
Having started on the harder tyre, Leclerc opted not to pit and led until making his mandatory stop with 10 laps to go.
Chased by Verstappen and Norris, Antonelli was promoted to first, and he edged clear to claim victory.
Verstappen went off track while defending from Norris late on, but was able to remain ahead to finish second.
Leclerc came home one place behind Norris in fourth, while Red Bull’s Liam Lawson took fifth ahead of Alpine’s Franco Colapinto.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri damaged his front-wing on the first lap and struggled to 8th ahead of Arvid Lindblad and Nico Hulkenberg.
Featured image credit: Formula 1 on X
