Kimi Antonelli takes victory in our first running of the Spanish Grand Prix at the Madring, ahead of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.
Lights Out
It was a relatively clean start for everyone as the grid got away. There was contact between George Russell and Oscar Piastri into Turn 1 and on the pit straight. This resulted in front wing damage for Piastri who ended up in P10 on Lap 1.
Verstappen had a great start and was up to P3 after the first few corners. However, Hamilton argued his rival had overtaken off the track at Turn 5 and wanted the position back.
This ended up a complicated situation as Antonelli had gotten between the two. In the end, Verstappen was ordered to let both Antonelli and Hamilton through to avoid a penalty, leaving him in P4.
Reliability Troubles
Despite being given P2 back, Hamilton almost immediately reported a brake failure and quickly fell down the running order. He fought to stay out, hoping the issue would resolve itself, but eventually had to concede and retire on Lap 8.
Not long after on Lap 14, Lance Stroll also reported a brake failure, he went off into the run off area at Turn 20 and retired from the race, causing a Virtual Safety Car.
Mixed Strategy
It was a rather mixed strategy for the grid in this race. We saw all three tyre compounds on the grid but the timing of the VSC allowed most to change to the hard tyres on Lap 14.
After the leaders pitted under the VSC, Charles Leclerc was left in the lead on the hard tyres. Ferrari left him out for 48 laps, nearly the entire race, in hope of another Safety Car.
Despite driving on ancient tyres, Leclerc held the lead against Antonelli and his pace never really dropped off. Eventually, he pitted on Lap 48 and exited in P4 behind Norris.
George Russell was left out on his own in this race. After pitting on to mediums under the VSC he could not go to the end as the others did. He then had to pit again on Lap 29 to the hards. He couldn’t make up the pit loss time and ended up over 20 seconds behind the leading pack in P5.
Chequered Flag
Fortune swings the way of Kimi Antonelli once again as he took the win with a four second lead. After the strategy blunder for Norris he held the virtual race lead and managed his pace to take the lead back when Leclerc pitted.
This marks an eighth win for Antonelli this season and results in an 81 point lead in the championship.
Max Verstappen came home in P2 and Lando Norris in P3 after a hectic few laps between the two. The difficulty of overtaking led to strategy taking most of the credit for any movement in positions leaving Norris unable to recover up the field.
After leading most of the race, Leclerc crossed the line in P4 and Russell behind in P5.
Image Credit: Formula 1 on X