Spanish GP 2026: Antonelli wins inaugural Madring race in Madrid
Kimi Antonelli won the inaugural Spanish Grand Prix at Madrid's Madring circuit, though he was candid about how it came to him. The Mercedes driver finished in 1:34:23.754, with Max Verstappen second at +4.351 seconds and Lando Norris third at +5.089 seconds. It was Antonelli's eighth win of the 2026 season and extended his drivers' championship lead to 81 points.
How the VSC decided the race
Norris had led from pole position and built a 4.5-second advantage over Antonelli by lap 13, when Lance Stroll stopped at Turn 20 with brake failure and brought out the virtual safety car. Mercedes pitted Antonelli and George Russell; Red Bull pitted Verstappen. Norris had just passed the pit lane entry when the VSC was called and had to complete a full lap at reduced speed before he could stop. His pit stop was also slow, costing him around seven seconds. He rejoined fifth, behind Leclerc, Antonelli, Verstappen and Russell.
Charles Leclerc, who had started on hard tires and stayed out during the VSC, inherited the lead on lap 17. Ferrari kept him out for 48 laps hoping for another safety car or a red flag. When neither came, he pitted and dropped to fourth. That left Antonelli in front, where he stayed to the finish.
"It's good to win, but it doesn't feel as good because I think Lando today deserved to win," Antonelli said after the race. Over the radio during the race he told his engineer, "I feel sorry for Lando, but…" On managing the tires in the closing laps he said, "It was a very difficult race, not straightforward at all, especially trying to manage tyres." He also reported unusual steering behavior after the pit stop; Mercedes found no clear cause in the data but warned him that further track-limits violations could result in a time penalty.
Opening laps: corner-cutting, position swaps and Hamilton's retirement
Norris held the lead off the start despite immediate pressure from Antonelli, who took the inside line at the first chicane but had to bail out and cut the corner. A near-identical move at Turn 5 followed, which gave Verstappen a clean run around the outside at the Bunker section to move into second.
Lewis Hamilton then argued that Verstappen had held position illegally at Turn 1 and demanded he give the place back. Verstappen radioed that Hamilton had "almost shunted into me" and was "out of control," but his engineer told him to yield anyway to avoid a penalty. Verstappen let both Antonelli and Hamilton through without receiving a penalty.
The swap was short-lived. Hamilton's brake problems worsened through the early laps. He fell behind Verstappen and Leclerc, went off track on lap 6, and Ferrari retired the car on lap 7. With that, Hamilton lost his record as the only driver to have completed every racing lap of the 2026 season.
Tire strategies at the start
Norris and Antonelli started on medium tires from the front row. Verstappen and Hamilton chose softs, targeting positions at the start. Leclerc, Russell, Piastri and Lawson started on hard tires, as did Bortoleto, Gasly, Tsunoda, Alonso, Bottas, Sainz, Stroll and Bearman. Ocon, Albon and Perez used mediums, while Hulkenberg was the only other driver on softs. Previous sessions had shown graining and thermal degradation as potential factors, and Antonelli's team had noted his medium tires were not handling the high-grip asphalt as well as Norris's.
Rest of the order
Russell finished fifth after two pit stops, despite having started on hard tires. Liam Lawson was sixth in the second Red Bull. Franco Colapinto finished seventh as Alpine's only points scorer. Oscar Piastri was eighth; he had sustained front wing damage from contact with Russell on lap 1 and raced with it for much of the distance. Arvid Lindblad was ninth and Nico Hulkenberg tenth.
Esteban Ocon finished 11th, just outside the points. Pierre Gasly was classified 12th; he had received a five-second penalty for a pit lane speeding infringement, with some race-day reports indicating that dropped him to 13th depending on the timing of application. Gabriel Bortoleto was 13th. Yuki Tsunoda was 14th in his third weekend with Racing Bulls. Alex Albon was the sole Williams finisher in 15th, ahead of Ollie Bearman, who had started from the pit lane after a heavy crash in FP3 required a new chassis and power unit components. Fernando Alonso and Valtteri Bottas rounded out the classified finishers.
Four drivers retired. Stroll's brake failure triggered the VSC. Hamilton was out by lap 7 with brakes. Sergio Perez retired with a suspected water system issue. Carlos Sainz failed to finish his home race; earlier in the race he and Alonso had made contact at Turn 5, and Sainz received a five-second penalty for the incident.
On lap 56, Verstappen was reported to have cut the Turn 5 chicane; Norris complained over the radio, but the stewards took no further action.
Championship standings
Antonelli leads the drivers' championship with 292 points after 14 rounds, 81 points clear of Russell on 211. Hamilton is third on 191. With this victory, Mercedes also matched Ferrari's all-time total of 251 Grand Prix wins as a power unit supplier.
About Madring
The Madring is a permanent-street hybrid circuit in Madrid with 22 corners over 5.414 km, including a banked Turn 12, and a top speed of 340 km/h. It replaced Barcelona-Catalunya as Spain's Formula 1 venue and holds a contract through 2035. Madrid last hosted a Formula 1 race approximately 40 years ago, when the Spanish Grand Prix was held at the Jarama circuit, located roughly 30 km north of the city.
The next round is the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, scheduled for September 24–26, 2026.